The Ring man cometh
OperaDecca is marking the birth centenary of John Culshaw on May 28 with a box set of his early productions.
Culshaw, fresh out of Navy service in 1946, reinvented the role of music producer as initiator and artist controller. He never followed his stars Walter Legge, but was led by two dreams – creating Wagner’s Ring on record and facilitating a lifetime monument to Benjamin Britten.
You can read more in his own two books, and in my work, The Life and Death of Classical Music.
Mr Lebrecht, who came up with your book’s titles? You or the publishers? I liked “when the music stops”. Less so the other titles that invoke death. Classical music is very much alive. Sure, it faces problems. Is there trouble-free life?
The death titles came from US publishers.
Hey, that’s nice! The true unsung heroes of classical music are the producers who largely go unnoticed but without whom we’d all be a lot poorer. Maybe now a Walter Legge box from Warner? A John Pfeiffer box from RCA?
The late Paul Myers at CBS a lovely man
And a very good friend.
Ah memories of seeing John Culshaw, with Bernard Levin and Felix Aprahamian at the last night of Nottingham University Opera Club’s production of “Das Liebesverbot” (Edward Dent English Translation) in 1968. Whilst knowing of Levin and Aprahamian’s work, I was in awe of seeing Culshaw. In my mid-teens, it was the BBC’s “The Golden Ring” documentary chiefly about Decca/Solti’s “Gotterdammerung” that got me hooked on Wagner and I thank Culshaw as much as Sir Georg (and the BBC) for that.
Totally agree.
In the same vein, piano technicians are the unsung heroes behind many concerts and recording featuring the piano. Thankfully, I’ve seen world famous pianists treat technicians with utmost respect and gratitude.
RCA did produce a one-disc tribute to John Pfeiffer after his death in 1995.
His own books are fascinating and at times hilarious. A golden age of recording.
Hillarious prank from the legendary recording of the Wagner Ring under Solti.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxyXRuZEu7E
and full of made up stories, he was not afraid to twist a story. to be taken with a bucket of salt
I’ve just reread my Amazon review of Ring Resounding.
“I’m reluctant to be the first reviewer to give fewer than 5 stars. This is a splendid book, but I feel it has some flaws.”
I shall reread the book and revisit the cycle. Various cognoscenti tell me that the cycle sounds better on LP than on CD.
Any views?
Another great record producer was Christopher Raeburn, who produced many Decca recordings of Cecilia Bartoli.
Culshaw’s Ring is great, however his Aida sounds like recorded in a bathtub.
Wonderful idea! After listening to many Deccas thru my teens, when i read Culshaw’s autobiography, i realised just how much we owed him. Apart from that, many of the anecdotes were very funny and revelatory (piloting Swordfish aircraft in freezing conditions- how to manage your pee and the contraptions devised…..!).
Looking forward.