Thread: Angela Hewitt's call to arms

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Post by toddao October 10, 2008 (1 of 20)
Ms.Hewitt is in Sydney as part of her 2 year marathon of playing Bach's Well Tempered Clavier around the world. She gave a talk this afternoon between performing Books 1 and 2. I asked her about whether her SACDs were to be discontinued by Hyperion. The answer was "yes, unfortunately". She cited the additional costs and that "it never really caught on". However, she was clearly a supporter of the format and after explaining to the rest of the audience what SACD was,she went on to say how good it was and once you have heard it properly set up,there was no comparison."You can't go back to stereo, it sounds quite flat".

A few months ago she re-recorded the Well Tempered Clavier at the Jesus Christus Kirche in Berlin in surround and that is due for release next May."Tell Hyperion that you want SACD's " was her message. Tell them loud and clear.I for one will be doing just that over the weekend to their website and I invite others to do the same.

She also had recounted her early days in the recording industry during her discussion.Her first CD was for DG after her competion successes and although it sold well, DG made it quite clear they weren't interested in making any more unless she got her name "in the yellow press".She wasn't interested of course and took a break for about 10 years and then produced her own recording which she offered around the industry. Only Hyperion took it up.The joys of the record industry!

Post by trntbl October 10, 2008 (2 of 20)
Thanks for the tip. I´ll send some email to Hyperion shortly. BTW, Marc-Andre Hamelin is going to record the Strauss Burleske (and Reger Piano concerto) for Hyperion in 2010. I would give my left arm to get it in mch.

kristian

Post by Amfibius October 10, 2008 (3 of 20)
Thank you toddao. I will be attending her performance in Melbourne next weekend and I can not wait! I will send an email to Hyperion as well.

Post by wehecht October 10, 2008 (4 of 20)
toddao said:

"Tell Hyperion that you want SACD's " was her message. Tell them loud and clear.I for one will be doing just that over the weekend to their website and I invite others to do the same.

Hyperion is a wonderful label in many ways, and has given music lovers much to be thankful for. Unfortunately acknowledging customer feedback is not among them. When the announcement that it is terminating sacd was first made I sent what I believe was a thoughtful and constructive email on the subject. I have never received a response. Several years ago when the company was the victim of a boneheaded decision in a copyright lawsuit it appealed for contributions to keep its recording projects going. I made a contribution immediately. My contribution was never acknowledged.

Because Hyperion is home to two of my favorite artists, Ms. Hewitt and Marc Andre Hamelin, it's inevitable that I'll continue to buy some Hyperion recordings regardless of format, but they won't be the virtually "automatic" purchases that they would be if they were released as sacds. In any event, I thank you John for the information about Ms. Hewitt's views, and I'll certainly add another email to the pile.

Post by Arthur October 10, 2008 (5 of 20)
wehecht said:

Hyperion is a wonderful label in many ways, and has given music lovers much to be thankful for. Unfortunately acknowledging customer feedback is not among them. When the announcement that it is terminating sacd was first made I sent what I believe was a thoughtful and constructive email on the subject. I have never received a response. Several years ago when the company was the victim of a boneheaded decision in a copyright lawsuit it appealed for contributions to keep its recording projects going. I made a contribution immediately. My contribution was never acknowledged.

Because Hyperion is home to two of my favorite artists, Ms. Hewitt and Marc Andre Hamelin, it's inevitable that I'll continue to buy some Hyperion recordings regardless of format, but they won't be the virtually "automatic" purchases that they would be if they were released as sacds. In any event, I thank you John for the information about Ms. Hewitt's views, and I'll certainly add another email to the pile.

I wrote the following to Hyperion:

I am most disappointed by your decision to abandon SACD.

Of course, by releasing double inventories (hybrid was intended to ensure that double inventories would not be necessary, both reducing costs and putting more software in the hands of consumers) and releasing the SACD months later, you ensured its failure! How disingenuous!

The last Hyperion CD I bought was the Marc-Andre Hamlin Brahms 2nd. Of course, when it came out on SACD a couple months later I felt penalized for having supported your products! I own 21 of your SACDs. I'll never by another of your redbook CDs (although there are still another half dozen or so SACDs I'll try to grab before they disappear altogether). After hearing the difference in quality, I simply can't justify giving my money to a company that doesn't care. I ask every lover of music for whom the presentation is also important to follow suit!

To their credit, their response was quick:

Dear Mr Mitchell

I am immeasurably frustrated to receive emails such as yours. So many people have written to me about SACD that are so poorly informed about the commercial implications of SACDs that I usually just ignore the emails because I haven't the time to go into long explanations about the commerce of a small independent record label and the reason why we abandoned the SACD format. The same goes here. I will not make some long defence of our policy on SACD but I will say that I love SACDs. Always have and always will, but not enough peope like you out there agree or even care.

For your information we did issue the Hamelin Brahms in CD and SACD simultaneously and globally and advertised it as such, as we did with every other title in the SACD format (except the Polyphony Triodion disc which suffered a technical delay and we missed the publish date). The fact that the American chain stores (what is left of them) chose not to recognise SACD as a viable format, is not something that we can accept the blame for.

I add that Hyperion prefers to spend the extra money needed to make and press an SACD on making a new standard recording, and most who are serious about the music itself agree.

Sincerely.

Simon Perry

Post by wehecht October 10, 2008 (6 of 20)
Arthur said:

I wrote the following to Hyperion:

I'll never by another of your redbook CDs (although there are still another half dozen or so SACDs I'll try to grab before they disappear altogether).... to their credit, their response was quick:

Dear Mr Mitchell

I am immeasurably frustrated to receive emails such as yours. So many people have written to me about SACD that are so poorly informed about the commercial implications of SACDs that I usually just ignore the emails because I haven't the time to go into long explanations about the commerce of a small independent record label and the reason why we abandoned the SACD format....I add that Hyperion prefers to spend the extra money needed to process and press an SACD on making a new standard recording, and most who are serious about the music itself agree.

Sincerely

Simon Perry

I suppose it's some comfort to know that I am only one among a large number of know nothings who have imposed so thoughtlessly on Mr. Perry's time. Perhaps I too would have received a response had I stated unequivocally that I would not purchase Hyperion rdcd's, but in the 15 years that I was the CEO of a public company I never once responded to threats, while I always made time for customers who expressed their disappointment or concern in a courteous way. I guess each of us is entitled to his/her own management style. Thank you, Bret, for sharing this response, though given your bio I imagine you find it interesting to know that the demise of Hyperion's sacd program is basically Tower's fault.

Bill

Post by Arthur October 10, 2008 (7 of 20)
wehecht said:

I suppose it's some comfort to know that I am only one among a large number of know nothings who have imposed so thoughtlessly on Mr. Perry's time. Perhaps I too would have received a response had I stated unequivocally that I would not purchase Hyperion rdcd's, but in the 15 years that I was the CEO of a public company I never once responded to threats, while I always made time for customers who expressed their disappointment or concern in a courteous way. I guess each of us is entitled to his/her own management style. Thank you, Bret, for sharing this response, though given your bio I imagine you find it interesting to know that the demise of Hyperion's sacd program is basically Tower's fault.

Bill

Bill:

I'm sorry you didn't get a response, and frankly I'm surprised I got one either: I understood my letter was abrasive, but there was no sugarcoating the fact that I am no longer a customer of Simon Perry's (who by he way was also rather condescending with his statement "I add that Hyperion prefers to spend the extra money needed to make and press an SACD on making a new standard recording, and most who are serious about the music itself agree"). (Most musicians I know don't listen to recordings, BTW!)

The truth is, in the last year I can count on one hand the number of red-book discs I've bought from any company even though I own over 4,000. I am a consumer who should be worthy of interest to a company like Hyperion because I'm interested in the artists and the music they record, and I buy almost two albums a week and have done so for the last 40 years (and hopefully will continue for the next 40)!

Bret

PS. I suppose Tower is also responsible for the general decline in pre-recorded music, the Hyperion Lawsuit, the collapse of the housing market, etc! (-:

Post by tream October 10, 2008 (8 of 20)
I add that Hyperion prefers to spend the extra money needed to make and press an SACD on making a new standard recording, and most who are serious about the music itself agree.

Sincerely.

Simon Perry

I guess Mr. Perry was having a bad day. I consider myself as someone who is serious about the music, which is why I greatly prefer to buy SACD's over RBCD's, since you get so much more of that music.

I think some record labels forget that we have more music on our "to buy" list than we have disposable income, and most of us with large collections of recorded music also don't have time to listen to everything we have, so on the margin we might be buying something with the best sound available. If company A (Pentatone or Bis) offers something unusual or interesting on SACD, and company B only offers something unusual or interesting on RBCD, Company A is going to get my $$$ if what I have to spend is $$$ and not $$$$$$$$$.

Post by Arthur October 10, 2008 (9 of 20)
tream said:

I guess Mr. Perry was having a bad day. I consider myself as someone who is serious about the music, which is why I greatly prefer to buy SACD's over RBCD's, since you get so much more of that music.

I think some record labels forget that we have more music on our "to buy" list than we have disposable income, and most of us with large collections of recorded music also don't have time to listen to everything we have, so on the margin we might be buying something with the best sound available. If company A (Pentatone or Bis) offers something unusual or interesting on SACD, and company B only offers something unusual or interesting on RBCD, Company A is going to get my $$$ if what I have to spend is $$$ and not $$$$$$$$$.

Exactly, Thomas!

I have an SA-CD wishlist of almost 100 titles. I could easily double that with more music I'm interested in, but as it is, it's going to take a year to clear that list and more titles will appear in the meantime. I already feel bad that there are so many BIS, PentaTone and Praga titles (for instance) that I haven't yet supported, not from lack of interest, but from lack of resources. Hyperion will have to release a title that's awfully darned impressive for me to shove those other items down on my wishlist!

Post by toddao October 11, 2008 (10 of 20)
I have just sent my email through to Simon Perry and a copy to Angela Hewitt. If only half of those who read this thread did likewise,Mr Perry, should have something to think about.

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