Thread: What happened to the Bruckner Quintet

Posts: 6

Post by tream October 26, 2013 (1 of 6)
I couldn't easily find the original thread, but there was a discussion about a release of this work on Linn as an SACD, which then disappeared. I recently received the following in an email from John Berky aka Abruckner.com:

"THE FITZWILLIAM STRING QUARTET has a significant unfinished recording project that has been gathering dust for some time now: Bruckner's String Quintet (plus Intermezzo) and String Quartet on 1870s Viennese style gut strings, with violist James Boyd.

The music has already been recorded by engineer Phil Hobbs but they need to find £1,200 to pay for editing before it goes into production, since their regular label found they were unable to fund/release it without a financial contribution from the Quartet.

Record companies in general no longer seem willing to take the risks they once did. Indeed, there have been big changes in the industry since the Fitzwilliam Quartet was first signed up by Decca in 1974. Having invested so much time and study into this recording they decided the only way forward was to dig into their own pockets, leaving the quartet kitty virtually empty. "

Apparently you can make a contribution to help get this done. I would go to the quartet's web site if interested. I sent an email to John to see if he knew if it would still be an SACD.

Post by nucaleena October 26, 2013 (2 of 6)
tream said:

I couldn't easily find the original thread, but there was a discussion about a release of this work on Linn as an SACD, which then disappeared.

Thomas, thanks for the info, but no thanks to Linn who were to release the disc. No wonder they didnt answer my several inquiries about it, given their pressure on the Fitzwilliams to pay for it. It either points to corporate ruthlessness (yeah, I know, a redundancy) or to very tight margins affecting the classical music world. You'd think $1200 would be a pittance to Linn, but apparently not so, - unless they're simply sticking rigidly to a policy. Will just have to keep playing my redbook (Sony L'Archibaldi).

Post by tream October 27, 2013 (3 of 6)
John Berky didn't seem to know if they were considering a SACD, so I sent an inquiry directly to the Quartet.

Post by JohnProffitt October 30, 2013 (4 of 6)
The Board of the Bruckner Society of America has voted to contribute $1000 to the Fitzwilliam/Bruckner Quintet project. We hope that this will help move things along.

Post by nucaleena October 30, 2013 (5 of 6)
JohnProffitt said:

The Board of the Bruckner Society of America has voted to contribute $1000 to the Fitzwilliam/Bruckner Quintet project. We hope that this will help move things along.

Excellent news John, hope that does the trick - and that we get a m/ch SACD. Thanks to the Society.

Post by tream October 31, 2013 (6 of 6)
Wow - thank you for doing so.

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