Outrage in Italy as #1 music store becomes yet another Prada
main‘Ahhh this is unbelievable !!!!!!!’ cry our friends in Milano. ‘The oldest, largest Ricordi shop in Milano, HOME of Ricordi, in the Galleria, has shut down to become ANOTHER Prada fashion shop! This was THE music shop of Milano in the heart of the city. ‘
A conductor adds: ‘It happen to me at least there times to go there to buy scores for a last minute cancellation of a program. Now there is nothing.’ It is generally accepted that Prada made Ricordi an offer they could not refuse.
So much for tradition.
Digitisation of everything and the amount of free stuff we’ve become accustomed to feeling entitled to over the internet is almost certainly what is bringing about the demise of all such commercial enterprises.
So the devil no longer wears Ricordi, then?…
We should have expected this. after all, Prada wrecked Attila at the metropolitain opera a few years ago
Yes, she and those IDIOT Swiss architects! God, what a visual disaster that was. And of course Peter Gelb was ultimately culpable for having assembled the motley crew of big names in the first place (and for ruining any chance of Riccardo Muti back at the Met.
You know, considering their ten-year age difference, it is remarkable how many inconsequential commonalities they shared: those two good recorded Macbeths within months of each other; the two firings by the orchestra of La Scala; their two residencies in Romagna; the one-run-only Met careers, both in Verdi.
… Abbado and Muti, I mean. And a close-parenthesis!
I was there sunday and I was shocked too, but they are relocating on the basement ,in a smaller area, CD/DVD Books and scores.
Since I can’t browse in record shops anymore, I guess I’ll spend my time browsing in book stores now. . .
1. Was that a store with both music and cd’s?
2. Any word from Ricordi about the reasons behind this change?
1. Yes–scores galore and scads of CDs, when I visited in March 2010.
Stores close when people don’t come and buy the goods. Im surprised any city has a record store left (and yes, I buy regularly in the one remaining one in Sydney, Australia) – iTunes and Amazon have made it way too easy to build your library without leaving home. Sad, but I think record stores are going to be a relic of the past.
We are lucky in Toronto to have so many record stores left. We have HMV and Atelier Grigorian with large classical sections and a number independents who also sell classical. Some new classical LPs are even trickling in. Very sad to see this closure though as I was in that store in the Galleria during my last visit some years ago and bought quite a number of cds. Really lived browsing in that nice shop. Also sad to see so many of the excellent HMV locations in the UK close up. The flagship London store was the best record shop I had ever seen. The Toronto flagship HMV has been scaled back in recent years but remains quite good. I think classical music itself is doing quite well but very few people want to pay for a recording of it. Many of us already have large collections and those new to it can get it streamed for free.
Frankly, I bought a couple of classic music scores from the Ricordi shop last week. Prada is occupying mainly a space previously assigned to a McDonalds’, I understand they took a couple of windows from Ricordi.
Ricordi had a large building near the Galleria, the sold the largest part of it about ten years ago, keeping only some office. The present spaces in the Galleria belong to the municipality.
And there are knock-ons. Our Italian distributor is now dealing with many thousands of unsold CDs returned to him by Ricordi (more than a few of them probably not in resaleable condition). So that’s a significant loss to the CD industry. Indeed, another important outlet where you would be attracted to buy unusual repertoire has gone. How often have readers found a musical jewel when searching for something completely different? The online stores can’t so easily replicate that accidental find when browsing in the E-F, or the P-Q, rack. Having a large music store in such a central location did seem wonderfully extravagant – but there again, for instance, Dussmann brilliantly manages it in Berlin…