Dear Alma, Which record do I make – the one I want or they want?
Daily Comfort ZoneDear Alma
I’m at a career defining moment and any advice you give me is likely to be wrong.
I’m a pianist in my early 20s with a very active agent. She has been approached by a major label with a deal for me to record the Grieg and Schumann concertos. I would rather my debut record was something cool by Missy Mazzola or Miroslav Srnka or various others you’ve never heard of who I get to play with friends at summer festivals.
I’m dying to record this stuff. My agent says, wait. I say, how long? She says, forever.
I’ve been approached by a subsidy label who will let me record what I like without the usual fee. My agent says going off-piste will cost us the major-label deal.
What do I do now?
I love your approach to these issues.
Frank Admirer
PS I don’t even like the Grieg concerto
Dear Frank Admirer,
What a simply lovely dilemma. I can tell you, we are all jealous!! You must be unbelievable. I mean, it’s really really hard to record standard rep, let alone with a major label. I am just grinning thinking of it. I hope I get to hear you some day, I probably already have!
Ok but back to reality. Your dilemma. First things first, there is no burning building, so take a little time to think things through. Not to go all “mom” on you, and I am sure you don’t even want to hear it, but the human brain actually doesn’t become fully formed until the mid-late 20’s. The part that’s still trying to get all done is the prefrontal cortex, which does stuff like planning, prioritizing, and making good decisions. I am just saying this because let’s make sure your decisions are super sound. It’s not you, it’s your under-done brain.
The first thing I would advise is to find a publicist. That is the person who holds both your hand, as well as your agent’s. They are your advocate, help you develop your trajectory, your vision of who you are and who you want to become, have deep knowledge of the musical field, understand the manager’s perspective, and have a bevy of their own contacts that will expand what your agent has to offer. You could start by asking around, checking websites of people you admire, and for sure check in with you agent. You don’t want to pick someone they don’t like.
Brutal truth time.
#1 Your manager doesn’t really care about you. They have a slot for a hot 20-something pianist and you are that person. Don’t ever think they are your friend or on your side. Be nice and professional but don’t be fooled. They are a business.
#2 The record label couldn’t give a rat’s ass about you. They have a slot to fill, and rep to cover. You can’t (maybe I am wrong – you could give it a little try to swap the rep slightly) change it. They know their audience and want a young super pianist to play those pieces so they can sell them to their loyal audience. They have a list and will go to the next person down if you aren’t interested in the project.
#3 Back to the manager. They have a list of presenters – orchestra, recital and festival. They need standard rep and as big of a label as possible to slot you into those dates. They signed you because you worked your way up the traditional soloist ladder. They might have an “alternative” musician but it’s not you. Not yet, anyway.
Ok “mom” again. Frank Admirer, you need to rebel a little. You need to find your voice, have fun. If you are this successful, you must have been practicing so hard and winning so many competitions that you missed out on the pot-smoking, reckless, fun part of your life. That’s really sad. You need that. How can you find that without spinning totally out of control and mutilating your hard-won success?
Record the Grieg and Schumann. Suck it up and be the superstar you are. Play Srnka for all of your encores. Work with your agent and manager to make a classy, cutting edge second recording. Maybe brainstorm with that label to find a good idea that works for all of you. Why not go all out and commission Srnka for 24 preludes, and record them live in Piccadilly Square? Or ask Missy Mazzola, who, according to Google, is the the Art Teacher at Wai’anae High School. She has 49 followers on Instagram. That’s just grand.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
What is this. Grieg and Schumann concertos for debut. What year is this from. 1985? Business still works like this?
And when you’re ready for that second recording, I can think of a bunch of producers and engineers (myself included) would love to work on that project. Artists who take chances make fun and interesting records!
Frank admirer, Alma’s advice is extremely sound – I would take it! Coupling the Grieg and Schumann together is standard and has been since recorded music began. It’s guaranteed to sell vast quantities, which of course is why they want you to do it. Once that’s done, and successful, you will have considerably more leeway and influence with them to start suggesting your own projects, with the help and advice of your agent. Regarding publicity, the major label will have their own publicity department, so in terms of sales, that’s all sorted. A separate publicist will be useful, nay essential, for your personal concert touring agenda.
Tony, no recording these days can be counted on to sell much and make much money for the artists. The days of making real money from recording standard repertoire are pretty much over except for a select few.
My own feeling — talking as a former reviewer — it that from a career standpoint it is likely better to make no recording than to make one which gets negative or “ho-hum another one for the pile” reviews.
True there is still cachet in having the program book say “Frank Admirer records for the XYZ label.” (Heh — back in the day the cachet if any was in saying “….records exclusively for the XYZ label.” Today by contrast the best artists might say they record for a half dozen labels. So being able to say you DO record has real meaning and in a sense the value of that cachet is having the biggest name record label possible, repertoire be damned. So that at least argues for making the Grieg/Schumann for the big label.
But beware — for example the first LP I bought mixing the Grieg and Schumann Concertos was Claudio Arrau’s for Philips and frankly, if that was all I knew of Arrau I don’t know if I would ever have given him a second listen. My hunch is that was a contractual obligation album. A rare dud for Arrau in my opinion.
Preserving one’s playing for future generations to enjoy — let’s call it the Joyce Hatto effect — might matter for some. It was in truth the likely reason Joachim, Sarasate and Auer made the handful of recordings they did. They aren’t great recordings but are listened to avidly. But do we feel similarly about the too-few recordings Charles Treger made? Hmmm.
Preserving a great or interesting interpretation IN THEORY should be the biggest valid reason for recording. It sounds like Frank Admirer is unlikely to give us a Grieg Concerto for the ages. But it is true that after all these years, the wonderful Malcolm Frager is remembered mostly for his take on the first movement of the Schumann for which he unearthed Schumann’s first thoughts. It does not shove aside the fabulous Dinu Lipatti recording, but it is remembered and talked about.
Hi David, thanks for your commentary on this. Joyce Hatto – there’s a name I haven’t heard for a while!
I haven’t heard Arrau or Frager’s interpretations so am looking forward to doing so – thanks for mentioning them.
I keep coming back to Radu Lupu with the LSO and Andre Previn on Decca. One of my favourite records.
Can’t wait to hear the recordings!
I think that our dear Frank Admirer meant “Missy Mazzoli”. She might have even cooler pieces to record.
It’s Missy Mazzoli, not Mazzolla… one of the most important, original, and commissioned composer today… Schumann and Grieg has been so often paired. It’s frankly overdone. Maybe Clara Schumann and Missy Mazzoli?
“You don’t even like the Grieg concerto”
Well you already know the answer to your own question.
Music is a communicative medium and the most basic thing you need to communicate to an audience is how much you love the piece that you are playing and how much you want to share that love with the listener. That is 90% of your job.
I have been to so many concerts recently and thought at the end, what was the point of that? I am not even convinced the performer likes these pieces, let alone understands them, so why did they subject the audience to a lot of accurate but utterly meaningless notes when they could have chosen music that actually matters to them?
So don’t play the Grieg concerto until you love it. Otherwise your first recordings on a major label will be mediocre, poorly reviewed flops and you will be dropped.
Negotiate with the company to record something from standard repertoire that you actually love and want to play. If they won’t budge then they are not the right company for you.
Re: Michael
Caruso did not like the role of Radames- should he therefore never have sung or recorded it?
Toscanini apparently had misgivings about Puccini’s Operas- should he never have performed or recorded any of them?
The person clearly should do the major label thing while he/she has the chance, the publicity for it will mean any more off piste recordings later will get more attention so even if you think the Grieg and Schumann worthless it would still be the best thing for the music he/she really wishes to promote.
For sure, you can fool listeners who aren’t very musical with a performance of a piece that you neither like nor believe in. Some might call that professional. I call it deeply cynical and disrespectful to both the audience and yourself.
How about some Caroline Chaw? Or Carlos Symon? Or even Thomas Odès?
For what it’s worth, I agree. Presuming the letter writer can produce distinguished, distinct recordings of the Grieg and Schumann, they should and use that to sell their own projects.
The reasons to not record the warhorses seem slim.
I presume a pianist of the calibre being asserted here has already been engaged to play those pieces in concert even when no record deal was present so… why not record it since the playing effort is getting expended anyway?
If the pianist has never been engaged to play those pieces… why the clamor for a recording? Classical recordings are a microscopic business today, anyway.
And how does doing the warhorses preclude doing the avant-garde project at some near future date? Exclusivity hasn’t been mentioned.
It’s a tempest in a CD case, really.
Not sure if this is truly to gloat first world problems, or a humble brag. Probably both.
Sorry Frank Admirer, but you really are not going to get any pittance or sympathy from this reader. There are truly bigger problems in the world that actually need attention, not some spoilt brat complaining the orange juice in business class doesn’t have bits in them equivalent.
There are too many piano soloists as it is. The same with competitions. Probably the real culprits of global warming.