Klarinet Archive - Posting 001007.txt from 1997/09

From: Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: B&H for sale, any takers here?
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 04:38:08 -0400

> On Sat, 20 Sep 1997 18:23:42 +0100, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
>
> >> According to the Blumberg Business reports digest which appears in
> >> the New York Observer, the British-based Boosey & Hawkes (owner of
> >> Buffet and several clarinet mfrs.) is for sale. [...]
> >
> >I heard reports about this ages ago.
>
> Isn't that nice?
>
> >When did this digest appear?
>
> The New York Observer, dated September 22, 1997, in the Business
> Observer section ("Heard on the Bloomberg").
Ra>
> >> There seems to be nationalist opposition to the sale in Britain, in
> >> part because Boosey and Hawkes's publishing division owns exclusive
> >> rights to many British standards,
> >
> >I'm not sure what you're saying here. Boosey are the publishers for
> >many significant composers, and there is of course concern that those
> >composers' works will continue to be published. Naturally, a good
> >proportion of those composers are British, but the reports I read
> >didn't imply that there was a nationalistic element in the concern
> >about the expected sale.
>
> I was simply paraphrasing the report, without comment. The lead
> (first sentence) of the story reads: "....nothing makes xenophobic
> Brits yowl more than the prospect that their beloved quasi-national
> anthem, 'Land of Hope and Glory,' may soon wind up in foreign hands."
> Rhetorical excess? Maybe, but...
>
> >> as well as a desire to keep the
> >> national B&H manufacturers in place. The report isn't clear but it
> >> would seem that efforts to muster legislation against the sale have
> >> been fruitless.
> >
> >Are there any British B&H manufacturers? (This is not a rhetorical
> >question. I've only ever owned B&H instruments, for odd personal
> >historical reasons.)
>
> ...the story includes a quote: "'I'm concerned that part of
> Britain's national music heritage should continue making instruments
> and publishing music, just as it is now,' said Andrew Dismore, a
> member of Parliament who counts among his constituency 270 employees
> in a Boosey & Hawkes factory devoted to making brass and woodwind
> instruments. Mr. Dismore has spent the past month trying to persuade
> the Government to pass legislation that would block a foreign sale."
>
>
> Satisfied?
>
> >Legislation against such a sale is plainly a ridiculous idea: such
> >things just don't happen. If (I don't quite see how) the sale could
> >be regarded as analagous to the sale of an important "work of art"
> >there already is legislation under which the Secretary of State for
> >National Heritage (yes, that really is Chris Smith's job title) could
> >act to delay while funds were sought to purchase within the UK.
> >However, UKP 200 million is a factor of 10 larger than the largest
> >such appeal I've ever heard of.
>
> Uh-huh.
>
> I didn't really wish to type in the entire Observer story, as much
> for reasons of copyright as anything else. Feel free to take issue
> with it or the issues it raises as you wish, say it's boring, old
> hat, etc etc, I was simply passing on the gist of it. Let me suggest
> you check out the Bloomberg wire if you want to get more information.
>
> Rafe T.
> http://www.quicklink.com/~rtenn
>