Today, April 21, as part of Record Store Day, Deutsche Grammophon is releasing a new recording of Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
It’s an LP. As in, on vinyl. And you can’t get it in any other format.
Record Store Day is an annual event that helps celebrate and promote independent record stores. (Remember them?) 1000 stores in the U.S. are expected to participate this year. On this day, as far as I can tell, a bunch of new vinyl is released for the occasion, in limited quantities — mostly pop, rock and alternative musics. The release of the Dudamel recording reportedly marks the first time a classical music label has participated in the event.
Vinyl is still around. It’s kind of the in thing with a certain crowd, and big name groups often put out special vinyl recordings. There’s a Record Store Day website where you can type in your zip code and find the participating outlets near you. I did that last night and found Sound Spectrum — Music & Memorabilia in Laguna Beach.
I phoned them last night to see if they’d have the Dudamel release. A friendly, very cool gentleman answered (he sounded like a hippie version of Chuck Niles). Anyway, it seems that independent record stores who participate in the event only order the vinyl they want for Record Store Day. The Sound Spectrum gentleman said they wouldn’t be getting the Dudamel record. I asked him if he knew who Dudamel was. “Of course,” he said. “But I couldn’t sell it.” He said he did have a Leonard Cohen record that I might like, though. He suggested I call him back on Monday, when he could probably order me a copy of the Dudamel. I may.
I checked Amazon for it. The website informs that the record is “Exclusive RSD 180 gram vinyl” — whatever that means, it sounds good. Amazon doesn’t have it, though. But I could get a copy for $29.99 from Jackalope Records through the site.
From DG’s press release:
“This performance was recorded in the Musikverein in December 2011 and is issued here for the benefit of aspiring young musicians in Venezuela’s remarkable El Sistema. Its LP-only release, the first of a Vienna Philharmonic recording in over two decades, is also significant. Gustavo Dudamel has never lost a special fondness for the vinyl records he associates with his earliest musical memories. Tellingly, his favourite 30th-birthday present in January 2011, received with an ear-to-ear grin after conducting in Cologne, was a stack of LPs from Deutsche Grammophon.”
The Dudamel/Vienna recording will be more widely available on May 22, but only on vinyl.
I still listen to and enjoy vinyl, though not exclusively. Some of my old vinyl sounds great, in some cases better than any other format. But never mind. I won’t advocate for it because it’s a lost cause. Still, I see at least one technological (or maybe I should say, design) advantage to vinyl, and that is it’s non-portability. When you put a record on, you pretty much have to sit down and listen to it.
classical life 
Tim, given that you are an august critical personage, I think DG should/would give a free copy!
Well, you have a point.
Interesting timing. Early this morning, without knowing it was Record Store Day, Keith hooked up the new turntable I gave him for his birthday earlier this month. We are listening to vinyl again!
Wonderful!
Tim,
Your observation about the need to actually sit down and listen to vinyl really brought back memories. Sadly, the last time I regularly gave most of my vinyl recordings that kind of undivided attention was during my twenties, back when I acquired my first stereo components, (and most of those recordings).
Back in the 70’s, I was still living under my parents roof and able to spend much of my free time luxuriating in every musical nuance of those recordings. Ah, those were the days.
Of course, when CDs came along, I do remember being overjoyed at listening to an entire work uninterrupted, not to mention sans “pops” and other assorted noises.
But then, as life got more complicated, my concentration on the recordings necessarily diminished. I had to give up those treasured opportunities to singularly focus on (and be transported by) my vinyl records. Fortunately, I (partially) filled that void sometime in my mid-thirties, when I began to attend live classical music concerts a couple of times a month.
Thanks, Bob, for this comment. Yes, unfortunately, I think a lot of people have given up sitting down and listening to recordings. Maybe they listen more while they walk and exercise than they used to, maybe they listen more in the car and other places, but the old habit of sitting down in front of the home stereo is probably less common. I think the best way to listen to anything is to give it your full attention, the kind of attention the concert hall affords and that vinyl records encourage.
Copies are on sale in the LA Phil Store at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
How much?
They are $25.98 at the LA Phil Store, though we’ve only got one left at the moment. More are on order.
I’m puzzled by — but also amused and nostalgic about — the growing fondness for vinyl compared with digital or CD.
I’m also a bit baffled why some people are sensitive enough to notice and appreciate a difference with vinyl or not, but may be relatively blase about the difference of sound recorded in, among other places, the Vienna Philharmonic’s home hall, and overseen by Gustavo Dudamel, no less, compared with anything he or others preside over in Disney Concert Hall.
The differences in sound based on the medium used for recording and playback, or where music is being performed, and the public’s response to one or the other, can be surprising or unpredictable.
Unpredictable may be baffling at times, but it sure beats predictability which is, more often than not, boring.