Label changes man for woman in response to Slippedisc outcry
mainLast summer, the Dutch label Pentatone issued a set of Mahler songs for mezzo and orchestra with a conductor’s face on the front.
Our readers did not think much of that.
So Pentatone have now reissued the recording with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote on the cover.
Which is no less than she deserves. It’s a fabulous recording.
The soloist should always be on the cover of a recording, whether alone or with the conductor. (Or no people and just an alpine meadow or something)
It is a wonderful recording indeed and about time the record label came to its senses about the cover art.
And is it Frau or Herr Mahler?
Last time I investigated, Gustav was a man’s name and Alma, a woman’s.
Any change to that Gordon?
+1
I see no mention of Gustav on that cover, Chris.
Given the repertoire on the disc, I am not aware that Alma wrote any of it, therefore one could/should reasonably assume the name Mahler refers to Gustav of that ilk.
Let the world’s greatest rhymer settle it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWFEy1lVUMI
Composers are commonly referred to by only their last names.
Troll.
I queried that at the time! Seemed most odd. Perhaps the original issue will become a collectors item!
Either way, as Caravaggio says, it’s a wonderful recording.
Sell both versions, see which one sells more.
Magazines regularly sell the same issues with multiple covers.
It’s a great tool to see what works.
Somewhat related:
Last year I bought the “deluxe hard-back edition” of Price’s Decca “Tosca” that was released in honor of her 90th birthday.
The liner notes are all about Karajan and John Culshaw.
I’m sure it’s what Karajan would have wanted…!
It can work both ways.
When RCA released a recording of from the Proms of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, and Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death conducted by Yuri Temirkanov, with Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing the Mussorgsky songs, the CD cover art was a close up of Dmitri’s face.
I was with him when Dmitri saw the cover for the first time. He was appalled that Temirkanov was barely acknowledged on the cover of a CD that was, for the most part, orchestral music.
Have haust had a similar issue with a CD just released. Asher Fisch conducted and I was adamant that Asher and myself received the same billing on the cover, but record company trumped me (contractually they had Artistic control over every aspect) and I lost the fight. When recording Wagner, with someone as auspicious as Asher (in that rep, particularly) I thought, and still think, that equal billing would have been the norm.
Damn right, it would.