While the London Symphony Orchestra has been on tour with Valery Gergiev and Mahler’s fifth symphony, its principal flute and chief blogger Gareth Davies has been reading my new book Why Mahler? in his down time.

‘Why Mahler?‘ wonders Gareth. ‘Sitting in Gstaad (Switzerland) playing a relatively minor but essential role in the symphony, I was looking around at my colleagues concentrated faces asking myself that very question.

You can read his closely observed reflections here.

I would add only that the question itself expresses Mahler’s uniquely disturbing qualities. I don’t hear anyone asking Why Strauss? Why Sibelius? Why Elgar?

Why Mahler? is published in the US on October 5.

9780571260782.jpg

The Universal Music manager who threatened to stop a singer’s record contract was warned today by Deutsche Grammophon not to wield its name as a blunt weapon against artists, according to senior label sources. DG also assured the singer concerned that their next recording together will go ahead as planned.

The agent, whose emailed threat has gone viral since I blogged it up this morning, is keeping a very low profile. As well he might.

His conduct exposes a dangerous flaw in Universal’s plan to offer ‘360-degree management’ to artists, covering all their activities, live and recorded. By telling a singer who wanted to leave him that his contract would be voided by a Universal record label, the agent gave the unfortunate impression that the company owned the artist, body and soul, and could wreck a career at the stroke of a pen.

It serves due warning to others to keep the different parts of their lives in separate baskets.

Meanwhile, the classical agency business remains in furious flux, with further defections expected early next week. 

The Universal Music manager who threatened to stop a singer’s record contract was warned today by Deutsche Grammophon not to wield its name as a blunt weapon against artists, according to senior label sources. DG also assured the singer concerned that their next recording together will go ahead as planned.

The agent, whose emailed threat has gone viral since I blogged it up this morning, is keeping a very low profile. As well he might.

His conduct exposes a dangerous flaw in Universal’s plan to offer ‘360-degree management’ to artists, covering all their activities, live and recorded. By telling a singer who wanted to leave him that his contract would be voided by a Universal record label, the agent gave the unfortunate impression that the company owned the artist, body and soul, and could wreck a career at the stroke of a pen.

It serves due warning to others to keep the different parts of their lives in separate baskets.

Meanwhile, the classical agency business remains in furious flux, with further defections expected early next week. 

Things are getting tense at the classical artists agency wing of Universal Music. There’s a big merger coming up and three top singers – Elina Garanca, Barbara Fritoli and Luca Pisaroni -have decided they want out.

So when a fourth singer, whose identity I shall withhold for the moment, muttered that he was also thinking of changing ships, the email he got from his agent – leaked to me in the dark of night – gives a rare insight into the balance of terror that prevails between a soloist and the person who supposedly has his or her best interests at heart.

I have deleted three names. The rest is verbatim, the stuff of nightmares. Here’s the email, dated last week:

From: (name withheld)

Sent: 11 August 2010 16:55
To: (….)
Cc: (name withheld)
Subject: UNIVERSAL

 

Dear (…),

 

Thank you for your recent e-mails. I am still very surprised by your reactions, and I want the chance to discuss this with you. You are making a major career decision, and I think you need to be very careful with your next steps.

 

You have been clear with (…) and me over the last few months that you need to make more money. What I don’t understand is the following. You may have earned less in the past two years, but the next three years are excellent for you in terms of your income, and we did this for you. Your financial situation now may be very hard, but it will get better very soon. We have shown this to your accountant, and she has accepted this.

 

In the past two years, (….) and I have done for you things that no one else could have done. We made a recording contract for you with Deutsche Grammophon during a time when very, very few singers get recording contracts. You said yourself that we made your dream come true. In the years to come, these recordings will enhance your career and bring you better work and more money. We have also brought you new productions and brought you to new theatres. In short, your career really is better than it has ever been. I understand that in this economic environment that you are making less money. This is in part due to the prestigious new productions in which you are performing (with long rehearsal periods), but (….) and I have made sure that your income will increase greatly in the next two years. Your career is better now than it has ever been. I promise you that no other managers can do for you what we have done. I know this is true.

 

I need to be very, very clear with you. If you leave Universal, my boss will make very strong decisions about what we can do for you in the future. I have seen this before, and I can predict with great accuracy that Universal will do the following:

 

Start a lawsuit to demand immediate payment of the money you owe Universal.
Stop ALL recordings with Universal, including the potential of not releasing your second recording.
Suggest that we remove you from our current recording.
 

You and I have a great friendship, and you have the same with (….), and even (….). You must know that no one can work better for you than (….) and me. We are now working on making some dates for you that earn a great deal of money. NO ONE has more access to these private dates than we do.

 

Also, I need to point out that you are singing in London and Paris in the future. Only Salzburg is left, and I have asked you to give me a few weeks to try to confirm an engagement for you there. 

 

I think you are making a terrible decision for very emotional reasons. I want to speak with you about this with the hope that you will give us a few more weeks or months to show you that we can bring you the income and the engagements (theatres) that you need. We have also hired a new Italian agent who can help to bring you some large fees for the work in Italy that you need.

 

None of what I write is a threat to you. You know that you are my friend and that (….) and I love to work for you. I think you are making a terrible mistake and you need to allow us to address your concerns.

 

Can we speak about this on Thursday or Friday? I am sure that you are making a terrible decision. I want the best for you. Please be careful with the decision you make.

 

Big hugs, 

  

(name withheld)

 

 

     

 

Things are getting tense at the classical artists agency wing of Universal Music. There’s a big merger coming up and three top singers – Elina Garanca, Barbara Fritoli and Luca Pisaroni -have decided they want out.

So when a fourth singer, whose identity I shall withhold for the moment, muttered that he was also thinking of changing ships, the email he got from his agent – leaked to me in the dark of night – gives a rare insight into the balance of terror that prevails between a soloist and the person who supposedly has his or her best interests at heart.

I have deleted three names. The rest is verbatim, the stuff of nightmares. Here’s the email, dated last week:

From: (name withheld)

Sent: 11 August 2010 16:55
To: (….)
Cc: (name withheld)
Subject: UNIVERSAL

 

Dear (…),

 

Thank you for your recent e-mails. I am still very surprised by your reactions, and I want the chance to discuss this with you. You are making a major career decision, and I think you need to be very careful with your next steps.

 

You have been clear with (…) and me over the last few months that you need to make more money. What I don’t understand is the following. You may have earned less in the past two years, but the next three years are excellent for you in terms of your income, and we did this for you. Your financial situation now may be very hard, but it will get better very soon. We have shown this to your accountant, and she has accepted this.

 

In the past two years, (….) and I have done for you things that no one else could have done. We made a recording contract for you with Deutsche Grammophon during a time when very, very few singers get recording contracts. You said yourself that we made your dream come true. In the years to come, these recordings will enhance your career and bring you better work and more money. We have also brought you new productions and brought you to new theatres. In short, your career really is better than it has ever been. I understand that in this economic environment that you are making less money. This is in part due to the prestigious new productions in which you are performing (with long rehearsal periods), but (….) and I have made sure that your income will increase greatly in the next two years. Your career is better now than it has ever been. I promise you that no other managers can do for you what we have done. I know this is true.

 

I need to be very, very clear with you. If you leave Universal, my boss will make very strong decisions about what we can do for you in the future. I have seen this before, and I can predict with great accuracy that Universal will do the following:

 

Start a lawsuit to demand immediate payment of the money you owe Universal.
Stop ALL recordings with Universal, including the potential of not releasing your second recording.
Suggest that we remove you from our current recording.
 

You and I have a great friendship, and you have the same with (….), and even (….). You must know that no one can work better for you than (….) and me. We are now working on making some dates for you that earn a great deal of money. NO ONE has more access to these private dates than we do.

 

Also, I need to point out that you are singing in London and Paris in the future. Only Salzburg is left, and I have asked you to give me a few weeks to try to confirm an engagement for you there. 

 

I think you are making a terrible decision for very emotional reasons. I want to speak with you about this with the hope that you will give us a few more weeks or months to show you that we can bring you the income and the engagements (theatres) that you need. We have also hired a new Italian agent who can help to bring you some large fees for the work in Italy that you need.

 

None of what I write is a threat to you. You know that you are my friend and that (….) and I love to work for you. I think you are making a terrible mistake and you need to allow us to address your concerns.

 

Can we speak about this on Thursday or Friday? I am sure that you are making a terrible decision. I want the best for you. Please be careful with the decision you make.

 

Big hugs, 

  

(name withheld)

 

 

     

 

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is extending its brand. Its season opener will be relayed next week to several cinemas in Britain, copying the successful operacasts by the Met, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne and others. The difference is that in an opera there is lots to be seen. In a concert, it’s just men and women playing instruments.

Will it get an audience? No-one knows. This is a toe-dipping venture. If the reception is warm enough, expect the trend to spread.

Press release below:

NEWS EXTRA: The Philadeplhia Orchestra is working on a similar plan.

 

——————————————————-

THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER AND SIR SIMON RATTLE TO DEBUT

FIRST LIVE UK CINEMA BROADCAST AT THE ODEON COVENT GARDEN ON AUGUST 27TH

 

London, 19 August, 2010 –  The Berliner Philharmoniker’s opening concert of the 2010/2011 season, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, will be beamed live via satellite to the ODEON Covent Garden on Friday, August 27th at 5:45 pm.  For further information and tickets, please go to www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/odeon-plus/ or call 0871 244 1891. Other participating UK cinemas outside of London include Haslemere Hall, a community cinema in Haslemere, Surrey.  www.haslemerehall.co.uk  Tel: 01428 642161.

Over 60 other cinemas across Europe will be part of this historic live cinema event, courtesy of Rising Alternative, a leading international distributor of special event entertainment into cinemas.  Full cinema listings can be found at: www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/cinema

The concert will be performed at the orchestra’s home venue, the Philharmonie in Berlin and will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat major and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major.  Not only does this concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle open the new season, it also marks the start of an ambitious artistic project: the performance of all of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies by the end of 2011. With this series, the orchestra and its conductor pay tribute to two Mahler anniversaries: 7 July 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth and 18 May 2011 will be the centenary of his death.

Founded in 1882, the Berliner Philharmoniker is one of the world’s leading orchestras, renowned for important innovations such as the education project, Zukunft@Bphil,  through which the orchestra addresses a broad public – young people in particular.  For this commitment, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle were appointed international UNICEF Ambassadors in November 2007.  They are the first artistic ensemble to receive this honour. 

Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  He assumed the post of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker in September 2002.  Between 1980 and 1998, Rattle was Principal Conductor, Artistic Adviser and Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Mahler’s symphonic œuvre is of particular significance for the relationship between Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Not only was a Mahler symphony – the Sixth – performed at Rattle’s Berlin debut in November 1987 but also at his inaugural concert as the orchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2002, when the Fifth was played.

For further details on the Berliner Philharmoniker opening concert, please go to: http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/concerts/kalender/programme-details/konzert/7925/termin/2010-08-27-19-00/

 

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is extending its brand. Its season opener will be relayed next week to several cinemas in Britain, copying the successful operacasts by the Met, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne and others. The difference is that in an opera there is lots to be seen. In a concert, it’s just men and women playing instruments.

Will it get an audience? No-one knows. This is a toe-dipping venture. If the reception is warm enough, expect the trend to spread.

Press release below:

NEWS EXTRA: The Philadeplhia Orchestra is working on a similar plan.

 

——————————————————-

THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER AND SIR SIMON RATTLE TO DEBUT

FIRST LIVE UK CINEMA BROADCAST AT THE ODEON COVENT GARDEN ON AUGUST 27TH

 

London, 19 August, 2010 –  The Berliner Philharmoniker’s opening concert of the 2010/2011 season, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, will be beamed live via satellite to the ODEON Covent Garden on Friday, August 27th at 5:45 pm.  For further information and tickets, please go to www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/odeon-plus/ or call 0871 244 1891. Other participating UK cinemas outside of London include Haslemere Hall, a community cinema in Haslemere, Surrey.  www.haslemerehall.co.uk  Tel: 01428 642161.

Over 60 other cinemas across Europe will be part of this historic live cinema event, courtesy of Rising Alternative, a leading international distributor of special event entertainment into cinemas.  Full cinema listings can be found at: www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/cinema

The concert will be performed at the orchestra’s home venue, the Philharmonie in Berlin and will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat major and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major.  Not only does this concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle open the new season, it also marks the start of an ambitious artistic project: the performance of all of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies by the end of 2011. With this series, the orchestra and its conductor pay tribute to two Mahler anniversaries: 7 July 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth and 18 May 2011 will be the centenary of his death.

Founded in 1882, the Berliner Philharmoniker is one of the world’s leading orchestras, renowned for important innovations such as the education project, Zukunft@Bphil,  through which the orchestra addresses a broad public – young people in particular.  For this commitment, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle were appointed international UNICEF Ambassadors in November 2007.  They are the first artistic ensemble to receive this honour. 

Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  He assumed the post of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker in September 2002.  Between 1980 and 1998, Rattle was Principal Conductor, Artistic Adviser and Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Mahler’s symphonic œuvre is of particular significance for the relationship between Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Not only was a Mahler symphony – the Sixth – performed at Rattle’s Berlin debut in November 1987 but also at his inaugural concert as the orchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2002, when the Fifth was played.

For further details on the Berliner Philharmoniker opening concert, please go to: http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/concerts/kalender/programme-details/konzert/7925/termin/2010-08-27-19-00/

 

In a further break-up of music industry structures, the hot mezzo Joyce DiDinato has walked out on IMG Artists with her agent Simon Goldstone. The pair are joining London firm Intermusica, together with 20 other Goldstone singers, including Amanda Echalaz and Soile Isokoski.

Joyce was fulsome last night in the Lebrecht Interview in her gratitude to Goldstone, who signed her after eight New York agents had turned her down. But she gave no hint of the present upheaval, which will further destabilise IMG, whose owner, Barrett Wissman, has officially withdrawn from the running of the business after admitting to fraud in a New York state prosecution. As I have reported here and in The Strad, all the big agencies are in varying states of disarray and a further lurch is expected momentarily. Watch this space.

 

The press release follows.

———————————————————————————————————

 

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release

 

Simon Goldstone joins Intermusica as Director, Vocal & Opera – artists moving to Intermusica include Joyce DiDonato

 

Intermusica is pleased to announce that highly-respected singers’ manager Simon Goldstone is to join the company as Director, Vocal & Opera. Twenty-one of the artists Simon represented at IMG Artists, where he was Vice President in the Vocal Division, will follow him to Intermusica, including Joyce DiDonato, Amanda Echalaz, Soile Isokoski and Scott Hendricks. He will work alongside Julia Maynard, Head of Vocal & Opera, in the continuing development of the company’s exciting vocal roster. 

 

Stephen Lumsden, Founder and Managing Director of Intermusica, said: “It is tremendously exciting that a manager of Simon’s calibre and reputation has decided to join Intermusica. His arrival represents a major development for both our Vocal & Opera department and for the company as a whole. Simon will fit well into a company which values personal care and a concern for long-term thinking for its artists as well as a real passion for music in all its forms.”

 

“I am delighted to be joining Intermusica” commented Simon Goldstone. “In these challenging times I feel that the combination of the company’s very experienced senior management team, spearheaded by Stephen Lumsden, and its vibrant and enthusiastic younger members strike just the right balance. I am very happy to be working once again with my esteemed former colleague, Julia Maynard, and together we look forward to adding to an already well-established roster of talented singers, stage directors and opera conductors.”

 

Alongside Joyce DiDonato, Amanda Echalaz, Soile Isokoski and Scott Hendricks, other artists following Simon Goldstone to Intermusica will be: Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet (soprano), Solveig Kringelborn (soprano), Lyubov Petrova (soprano), Julia Riley (mezzo soprano), Julian Gavin (tenor), Marcel Reijans (tenor), Norman Reinhardt (tenor), George von Bergen (baritone), John Chest (baritone), Jason Howard (baritone), Jacques Imbrailo (baritone), Brett Polegato (baritone), Matthew Willis (conductor), Stephen Barlow (director), Paul Curran (director), James Robinson (director) and Alessandro Talevi (director).

 

These artists join the Intermusica roster with immediate effect.  Simon Goldstone will begin on Monday 20 September 2010.

 

———————————–

 

Biographical notes

Simon Goldstone read French and Music at King’s College, London University. After an early career in real estate he made a major career change and spent the next five years in arts administration, initially at the Royal Albert Hall and then at the Southbank Centre. Simon, a fluent French speaker, moved to Paris in 1990 and into the music agency business for Organisation Internationale Artistique, where his clients included Roberto Alagna and José van Dam. Five years later, Simon was invited to join IMG Artists, where he was an Artist Manager in the Vocal Division for fourteen years. When not at the opera Simon enjoys scuba diving and, as a former member of the British Junior Swimming Team, he still swims several miles a week.

 

Intermusica is one of the leading international classical music agencies, representing some of the foremost conductors, instrumentalists and singers as well as composers and orchestras around the globe. Founded in 1981 by Stephen Lumsden, the company – which now employs nearly 40 staff – works to develop the careers of 80-plus artists and manages touring projects for a number of the world’s leading orchestras. Next year Intermusica celebrates 20 years as promoters of the International Chamber Music Season in London (in collaboration with the Southbank Centre) and among its other promotions, presents an international recital series at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg in conjunction with its artistic director, Valery Gergiev. Intermusica is committed to creative partnership with all sides of the music world whether in building careers, implementing high-level projects or developing new media initiatives.

 

Vocal & Opera, Intermusica

Intermusica manages the careers of leading singers, stage directors and opera conductors, including Felicity Palmer, Susan Bickley, Iain Paterson and David Alden. For a complete list of the new Vocal & Opera department roster, please find an artist list attached.

 

END

In a further break-up of music industry structures, the hot mezzo Joyce DiDinato has walked out on IMG Artists with her agent Simon Goldstone. The pair are joining London firm Intermusica, together with 20 other Goldstone singers, including Amanda Echalaz and Soile Isokoski.

Joyce was fulsome last night in the Lebrecht Interview in her gratitude to Goldstone, who signed her after eight New York agents had turned her down. But she gave no hint of the present upheaval, which will further destabilise IMG, whose owner, Barrett Wissman, has officially withdrawn from the running of the business after admitting to fraud in a New York state prosecution. As I have reported here and in The Strad, all the big agencies are in varying states of disarray and a further lurch is expected momentarily. Watch this space.

 

The press release follows.

———————————————————————————————————

 

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release

 

Simon Goldstone joins Intermusica as Director, Vocal & Opera – artists moving to Intermusica include Joyce DiDonato

 

Intermusica is pleased to announce that highly-respected singers’ manager Simon Goldstone is to join the company as Director, Vocal & Opera. Twenty-one of the artists Simon represented at IMG Artists, where he was Vice President in the Vocal Division, will follow him to Intermusica, including Joyce DiDonato, Amanda Echalaz, Soile Isokoski and Scott Hendricks. He will work alongside Julia Maynard, Head of Vocal & Opera, in the continuing development of the company’s exciting vocal roster. 

 

Stephen Lumsden, Founder and Managing Director of Intermusica, said: “It is tremendously exciting that a manager of Simon’s calibre and reputation has decided to join Intermusica. His arrival represents a major development for both our Vocal & Opera department and for the company as a whole. Simon will fit well into a company which values personal care and a concern for long-term thinking for its artists as well as a real passion for music in all its forms.”

 

“I am delighted to be joining Intermusica” commented Simon Goldstone. “In these challenging times I feel that the combination of the company’s very experienced senior management team, spearheaded by Stephen Lumsden, and its vibrant and enthusiastic younger members strike just the right balance. I am very happy to be working once again with my esteemed former colleague, Julia Maynard, and together we look forward to adding to an already well-established roster of talented singers, stage directors and opera conductors.”

 

Alongside Joyce DiDonato, Amanda Echalaz, Soile Isokoski and Scott Hendricks, other artists following Simon Goldstone to Intermusica will be: Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet (soprano), Solveig Kringelborn (soprano), Lyubov Petrova (soprano), Julia Riley (mezzo soprano), Julian Gavin (tenor), Marcel Reijans (tenor), Norman Reinhardt (tenor), George von Bergen (baritone), John Chest (baritone), Jason Howard (baritone), Jacques Imbrailo (baritone), Brett Polegato (baritone), Matthew Willis (conductor), Stephen Barlow (director), Paul Curran (director), James Robinson (director) and Alessandro Talevi (director).

 

These artists join the Intermusica roster with immediate effect.  Simon Goldstone will begin on Monday 20 September 2010.

 

———————————–

 

Biographical notes

Simon Goldstone read French and Music at King’s College, London University. After an early career in real estate he made a major career change and spent the next five years in arts administration, initially at the Royal Albert Hall and then at the Southbank Centre. Simon, a fluent French speaker, moved to Paris in 1990 and into the music agency business for Organisation Internationale Artistique, where his clients included Roberto Alagna and José van Dam. Five years later, Simon was invited to join IMG Artists, where he was an Artist Manager in the Vocal Division for fourteen years. When not at the opera Simon enjoys scuba diving and, as a former member of the British Junior Swimming Team, he still swims several miles a week.

 

Intermusica is one of the leading international classical music agencies, representing some of the foremost conductors, instrumentalists and singers as well as composers and orchestras around the globe. Founded in 1981 by Stephen Lumsden, the company – which now employs nearly 40 staff – works to develop the careers of 80-plus artists and manages touring projects for a number of the world’s leading orchestras. Next year Intermusica celebrates 20 years as promoters of the International Chamber Music Season in London (in collaboration with the Southbank Centre) and among its other promotions, presents an international recital series at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg in conjunction with its artistic director, Valery Gergiev. Intermusica is committed to creative partnership with all sides of the music world whether in building careers, implementing high-level projects or developing new media initiatives.

 

Vocal & Opera, Intermusica

Intermusica manages the careers of leading singers, stage directors and opera conductors, including Felicity Palmer, Susan Bickley, Iain Paterson and David Alden. For a complete list of the new Vocal & Opera department roster, please find an artist list attached.

 

END

I have just been told by the management of the Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen that, two days after his seven-minute recital, Rolando Villazon agreed to renounce his fee. As a result, the Tivoli is now able to offer a refund to people who attended the unfortunate event.

I am very glad that Villazon has done the decent thing and hope that he was prompted more by personal conscience than by the torrent of adverse publicity. He is a nice man who is having a hard time. He deserves a break, in both senses of the term. 

It is also to be hoped that lessons will be learned from this fiasco – that Villazon will take all the time he needs to recover vocal strength and repair his technique, and that other, less scrupulous singing stars will stop bilking the public with short-measure recitals.

Solomon001.jpg

What you see here is a photograph that cannot be printed in any self-respecting newspaper in the year of our enlightenment 2010.

It shows a man smoking a cigarette. Everyone knows that smoking kills. Depicting a man in the act of lighting a fag amounts to an inducement to homicide. That’s why no newspaper editor will permit it.

So what is it doing on the cover of a classical record?

My first response, when I reviewed the record here and here, was that the German producers had erred against current codes of public decency and should, perhaps, have chosen another photo. On second thoughts, I think they were right.

Nine months after this photo was taken, the pianist in the picture, known as Solomon, suffered a paralysing stroke and never played again. Once you know this, the picture and its story constitute a subtle but highly effective health advertising campaign.  Don’t you think?

 

 

 

Solomon001.jpg

What you see here is a photograph that cannot be printed in any self-respecting newspaper in the year of our enlightenment 2010.

It shows a man smoking a cigarette. Everyone knows that smoking kills. Depicting a man in the act of lighting a fag amounts to an inducement to homicide. That’s why no newspaper editor will permit it.

So what is it doing on the cover of a classical record?

My first response, when I reviewed the record here and here, was that the German producers had erred against current codes of public decency and should, perhaps, have chosen another photo. On second thoughts, I think they were right.

Nine months after this photo was taken, the pianist in the picture, known as Solomon, suffered a paralysing stroke and never played again. Once you know this, the picture and its story constitute a subtle but highly effective health advertising campaign.  Don’t you think?