Classical bestseller list

[cocytus]

Does it bother you when CD megastores list "classical" recordings like (i) the 'Gladiator'/'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'/'Star Wars' soundtracks, (ii) the various Bond and Maksim releases, and (iii) Charlotte Church lollipops in its weekly classical bestseller display shelf? The last time I was in such a store I looked at the list and out of that Top 12 I only found one kosher classical recording. And its a compilation of the purplest passages from various works. A hack job!

Its a disturbing and ignorant trend.

 

[NickM]

Yes, CD megastores are there purely to make money. Their management (unlike the shop floor staff) are not interested in what they sell, except as units of turnover. They are disturbing and ignorant people, most of them.

This is one reason why I no longer use such stores. The other is that online retailers offer their goods at non-exploitative prices.

 

[alanbeeb]

I hope people use a specialist classical "bricks and mortar" shop if they have one local.... browsing in a real record shop is a real pleasure, even if a disc costs a pound or 2 more than from Amazon.

I can't sing the praises of Mcallister Matheson in Edinburgh highly enough!

 

[tones]

I get my stuff either online or from the substantial classical departments of a few record shops, so I don't usually encounter this. However, I have noticed the phenomenon in other shops. Unfortunately this is the price we pay for being very much a minority taste (bona fide classical accounts for less than 5% of all record sales, I believe), so I observe shrinking classical selections turning into "classical and any stuff that doesn't fit in anywhere else" sections. Mind you, I think jazz has the same problem.

 

[alanbeeb]

Here is this month's top ten from the shop I mentioned above. Interestingly it has a local slant, nearly half the entries have a Scottish connection of some kind. I wonder if this is apparent at independent classical retailers elsewhere.

http://www.mmmusic.co.uk/top_ten.html

 

[cocytus]

Glad to know I'm not the only one concerned with the direction this sector of classical retail is headed.

Ackermann's 'Merry Widow' on Naxos?!! That's news to me.
Maybe Furtwangler's 'Tristan' will go the same cheapie route. I need a second copy of my aged EMI originals and too lazy to CDR it.