When a lack of sleeve notes gets really silly.....

[mathias broucek]

Just received the Marriner set of Schubert symphonies with all the Newbould completions.

It's on Decca and there are NO NOTES AT ALL. There doesn't even seem to be a link to a website.

Now if we just had the usual 7.5 symphonies that would be fine. But we have the 7th, the 10th (three movements anyway) a four movement 8th and some "Symphonic Fragments in D" all completed by Newbould. Surely SOME explanation should be provided.

Thankfully I already know some of the historical background but I resent having to look up the background info on the extent to which the "new" bits are by Schubert as opposed to Newbould.

Do the idiots at Universal really think this is OK?



Edit - this is the one to avoid

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-10-Symphonies-Symphonic-Fragments/dp/B007NUP65Y/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1384176366&sr=1-3&keywords=schubert+marriner

[LeMartinPecheur]

Edit - this is the one to avoid
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-10-...ubert+marriner

mb: thanks for the steer, I might just snap it up at that price!

You see, I already have a charity-shop copy of the LP box set with notes, but some of the discs are a bit gritty.

Do PM me if you want any info from the notes, or even a scanned copy.

[DublinJimbo]

Do the idiots at Universal really think this is OK?

All too often it is the so-called 'majors' who fail in this respect. They did it with their pared-down booklets for re-issues, most annoyingly omitting texts where these were vitally important.

Now they're displaying the same penny-pinching tendencies with downloads. In the majority of cases Sony and Warner and Universal fail to provide PDF booklets with their downloads, whereas the vast majority of independent labels not only provide them but in many cases produce versions optimised for PDF readers. It really is disgraceful, and epitomises the disdainful attitude of companies run by bean counters.

[Bryn]

Performances of Newbould's versions of 7, 8 and 10 were included in Afternoon on 3 in the last week of March last year. I must search them out and check what the presentation was like.

[Barbirollians]

Yes - the EMI Icon series is particularly disappointing in this regard . The Silvestri box has a longish article by Tolansky but nothing to say about the music and little about the recordings and their history .

[doversoul1]

After reading the Hippolyte et Aricie at Glyndebourne thread

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?8860-Hippolyte-et-Aricie-at-Glyndebourne

and watching this in period setting,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_KDx_0oxo0

I bought William Christie’s CD mainly to see the libretto (and the translation). I was most annoyed to find that the sleeve note/booklet had a list of performers’ names and a two-page synopsis. Nothing else.

[Richard Tarleton]

Mind you I quite often don't read the sleeve notes properly because the print is so small

[Bryn]

Also re. Schubert/Newbould notes, this might help.

[Dave2002]

Sleeve notes - huh - for many downloads there effectively aren't any, or maybe I don't always know how to find them. I was prompted to download an Itzhak Perlman collection (£7.99) recently, but some of the items are obscure - or at least not known to me. That plus the problems with gapless playback tend to mean that there has to be a strong financial incentive for me to buy a download - though sometimes there is.

[Petrushka]

Yes - the EMI Icon series is particularly disappointing in this regard . The Silvestri box has a longish article by Tolansky but nothing to say about the music and little about the recordings and their history .

Perhaps the Icon series is aimed at a niche market within a niche market. In other words prospective purchasers would, I think, on the whole be discerning collectors who are already familiar with much of the music on offer rather than someone starting out?

Some of the Sony boxes fall into this category as well, though others do not. No notes whatsoever! It doesn't personally bother me too much if it helps keep the cost of these boxes down. My own particular bugbear is CDs without text and translations. I don't really need multiple Wagner libretti, for example, but in cases of contemporary music or music with very few or no other recordings it's inexcusable.

For years I had to use a concert programme for reading the text of the Shostakovich 14 as no recording I then had carried them - an incredible omission as the work is nonsense without an understanding of the text.

[Beef Oven!]

I'm trying to switch completely to downloads and I'm finding one of the downsides is the lack of any surrounding information about the works, performers and performance. I downloaded a version of Gruppen, and it didn't even tell who the orchestra is, never mind the two other conductors.

Edit: I've just seen Dave2002's earlier post.

[Sir Velo]

Do the idiots at Universal really think this is OK?



Edit - this is the one to avoid
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-10-...ubert+marriner

Interestingly, for only a few quid more one can get a boxed set of the same recordings with "good" sleeve notes, to quote an Amazon reviewer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Academy-St-Martin-Fields/dp/B00006IU7X/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1384242987&sr=1-1&keywords=schubert+marriner

[Dave2002]

I'm trying to switch completely to downloads and I'm finding one of the downsides is the lack of any surrounding information about the works, performers and performance. I downloaded a version of Gruppen, and it didn't even tell who the orchestra is, never mind the two other conductors.

Edit: I've just seen Dave2002's earlier post.

Actually the obscure works may at least have identifiable names. Often with large download collections the track listings are so awful that simply selecting the pieces becomes a problem. Identifying the composer can even be a problem - whose concerto in D, whose opus 76.5 etc.? You end up trying to find the tracks by the key and opus number, and perhaps trying to correlate with internet sources, or other CDs, and eventually listening, which is just about OK if you know the music already. Doesn't work for music you don't know though, does it?

At least if you thought you had Gruppen you'd have known it was by Stockhausen!

[mathias broucek]

Update: had a nice email back from Decca. Nice to see some good customer services from the oft-derided majors.

Dear Mr Broucek,

Thank you for your email. I’m sorry to learn of your disappointment with this product.

As you note, this is a (super-)budget reissue; releases at this price point generally have track-listings only (though our Virtuoso series does incorporate liner notes).

You have a point regarding the non-canonical presentation of the repertoire, and I will pass on your comments to our Australian team who are behind the Eloquence series.

I would be pleased to offer you Abbado’s set of the Schuberts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe by way of compensation upon receipt of your address.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Forbes

DECCA CLASSICS

[verismissimo]

When I moved from LP to CD with the Dorati Haydn symphonies, I kept all the LP booklets with their extensive notes by Robbins Landon. The CD set is in itself terrific and does include a track-listing.

Good response from DECCA, Mathias.