Direct from the source

I have a large CD collection which I've built up over many years. My musical interests are almost exclusively classical, and going to the weekly sessions of the Music Group I'm part of is a big part of my regular routine. Over the past few years, my CD collection has hardly grown at all, mainly because the big four music corporations have abandoned new recordings of serious music apart from by performers who are young, good-looking, attractive and marketable and look good on CD covers. Apart from that, all Universal, Sony, Warner-BMG and EMI do is repackage archive material and get existing big-name artists to bring out 'cross-over' albums.

All these developments have made me turn to download services such as iTunes, and to the independent labels who thankfully continue to record and issue challenging, adventurous and interesting CDs. A couple of weeks ago, one of the guys brought along a CD which was new to me and really caught my attention. I followed up on the singer, a Finnish soprano called Soile Isokoski, and went straight to Ondine, the company she records for. I ordered the CD I'd heard and another one to go with it. To minimise the hit for post & packaging I also ordered a third CD of music by a composer I've only recently discovered. My order arrived in this morning's post, direct from Ondine in Helsinki, and cost me about half what I would pay in a retail outlet here at home.

I did something similar a few months ago, ordering a couple of CDs of music by a composer I'm interested in, again direct from the manufacturer, who in that case is in Denmark. These five discs are all that I've got apart from downloadable music in a very long while, and this trend will definitely continue for the foreseeable future. Universal is the one of the Big Four which especially annoys me. They include under their mantle such renowned labels in the world of classical music as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Philips, but they have ruined these companies since they acquired them, so that they no longer hold the proud status they once did as leaders in the recording industry. It is only independent labels such as Ondine that still produce new and exciting material, and I and my like-minded friends are truly grateful to them and to the likes of DaCapo and Naxos and Harmonia Mundi and Hyperion and Chandos, without whom today's crop of up and coming classical performers would have no outlet for their talent. I look forward to enjoying these CDs during the coming week.