Klarinet Archive - Posting 001009.txt from 1997/09

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: B&H for sale, any takers here?
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 06:16:25 -0400

Robin's concern is justified, I expect. However, I don't think many people
are actually "yowling" here - this story didn't make it off a small
number of business pages, as far as I know. The New York Observer looks
pretty "xenophobic" itself, if Rafe's quote is a typical sample of its
language - and grossly ignorant of that about which it expresses its
opinions.
Roger Shilcock

On Mon, 22 Sep 1997, Robin Fairbairns wrote:

> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 09:42:43 +0100
> From: Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns@-----.uk>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.us
> To: klarinet@-----.us
> Subject: Re: B&H for sale, any takers here?
>
> Sorry about the previous mistaken repost of Rafe's message -- my
> arthritic old fingers do stupid things in the morning, sometimes...
>
> What I meant to say was:
>
> Rafe Tennenbaum writes (quoting me):
>
> > >> 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...
>
> I suspect a goodly number of british musicians would be quite happy
> for "land of hopeless tories" to end up in foreign hands. Elgar
> most probably would have been.
>
> There is, however, real concern among serious musicians that several
> lesser-know gems of the British (and other) repertoire could fall prey
> to "modern publishing techniques".
>
> Robin
>