In the 1980s when it looked like period instrument performances were going to conquer the classical music world, Roy Goodman was in line to be king. Recording for the then-new label Nimbus, Goodman and the Hanover Band made complete sets of Beethoven's and Schubert's symphonies and, with these discs of Mendelssohn's symphonies and concertos, he seemed poised to record the whole corpus of orchestral music of the first half of the nineteenth century. However, when authentic performance practice began to recede into the ...
Read More
In the 1980s when it looked like period instrument performances were going to conquer the classical music world, Roy Goodman was in line to be king. Recording for the then-new label Nimbus, Goodman and the Hanover Band made complete sets of Beethoven's and Schubert's symphonies and, with these discs of Mendelssohn's symphonies and concertos, he seemed poised to record the whole corpus of orchestral music of the first half of the nineteenth century. However, when authentic performance practice began to recede into the eighteenth century, Goodman was left high and dry along with his Mendelssohn recordings. The reasons had nothing to do with Goodman's abilities -- Christopher Hogwood and Roger Norrington lost their recording contracts, too -- and everything to do with the economics of the recording industry. After all, how many Beethoven cycles do any but the most dedicated listeners really need? But while most listeners may not feel the overwhelming urge to keep buying Beethoven cycles, many listeners...
Read Less
