Reflex
Editions
March
29, 2004
MUG
is always happy to profile a labor of love, and if Reflex Editions
isn't a labor of love, we've never seen one. That's the name
of a new classical music record label started by cellist Adam
Grabois (pictured).
"Classical
record labels are having a hard time making money," Mr.
Grabois says, "and are even dropping well-known artists
from their rosters. Even the Philadelphia Orchestra no longer
has a recording contract. Where does that leave the rest of us
lesser-known performers? Basically, we're on our own."
He
also notes, "Big record labels have catalogues to fill in
a certain way (they can't, for instance, have 30 different string
quartets recording the Beethoven quartets but no one playing
Debussy piano preludes) and must also compete with each other
for awards, visionary programming and, most of all sales."
"For
me, though, this has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
By starting my own record label, I am able to maintain complete
artistic control over my projects: I choose the music I want
to record, where and when to record it; I choose the edits, the
mix, even the cover art, liner notes and design. It's a do-it-yourself
kind of enterprise, but the final product is the result of one
vision from beginning to end."
Mr.
Grabois, who began playing the cello when he was nine, now plays
on a cello he commissioned in 1993 from Sam Zygmuntowicz, the
near-legendary Brooklyn violinmaker. (Mr. Zygmuntowicz has made
a small number of cellos, too). The cello is a copy of Rostropovich's
Stradivarius, the "Duport" (1711). Five years later,
his "Brooklyn Strad" was ready.
It
gets put to exquisite use on the first offering from Reflex,
performed with pianist John Nauman. You'll hear Beethoven's 7
Variations in E flat major from Mozart's The Magic Flute, a Debussy
Sonata, and Rachmaninov's Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor,
Op. 19. Mr. Grabois seems to know exactly how to place the microphones,
how to give the listener a sense of immediacy and intimacy that,
in effect, takes you out of the audience and onto the stage.
The Andante in the Rachmaninov Sonata is transcendentally gorgeous,
but, really, the whole thing is a joy.
-
Charlie Suisman
To
read this article on the MUG website, click
here.
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