Norman Lebrecht
Encyclopedia
Norman Lebrecht is a British commentator on music
and cultural affairs and a novelist. He was a columnist
for The Daily Telegraph
from 1994 until 2002 and assistant editor of the Evening Standard
from 2002 until 2009. On BBC Radio 3
, he has presented lebrecht.live from 2000 and The Lebrecht Interview from 2006.
Lebrecht has written about the composer Gustav Mahler
, including in books Mahler Remembered (1987) and Why Mahler? (2010). His interest in contemporary music is reflected in The Complete Companion to 20th Century Music (2000) and in the Phaidon Press
series of 20th century composer biographies, of which he was founder and editor.
Other books on music he has written include The Book of Musical Anecdotes (1985), Music in London (1992), and Covent Garden: The Untold Story (2000).
His career as a novelist began with The Song of Names, a tale of two boys growing up in wartime London, which was published in 2001 and went on to win the 2002 Whitbread Award
for First Novel. His second novel, The Game of Opposites, was published in 2009 the U.S.A.
praised The Maestro Myth as an "exposé of the business practices of orchestral conducting (that) is likely to be the most widely read classical music book of the year," the opera critic Michael Tanner wrote in The Times Literary Supplement
that "this may be the most disgusting book I have ever read". Lebrecht was described by musicologist
Richard Taruskin
as "a sloppy but entertaining British muckraker". Although many eminent conductors from Vladimir Ashkenazy
and Daniel Barenboim
to William Christie
and Franz Welser-Möst
maintain cordial relations with Lebrecht and appear in his radio shows, an anonymous informant identified as "one of the world's leading conductors" told The Independent
that Lebrecht had for years been getting away with "pompous, preposterous judgment" and "inept research".
In When the Music Stops (pp. 421–425) he published the concert fees earned by top artists, and in Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness (pp. 136–140) he revealed the true sales figures for classical records.
In October 2007 the founder of Naxos Records
, Klaus Heymann, sued Lebrecht's publisher, Penguin Books
, for defamation in London's High Court of Justice
. Heymann claimed that Lebrecht had wrongly accused him of "serious business malpractices" in his book Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness, and identified at least 15 statements he claimed were inaccurate. The case was settled out of court. As a result of the settlement, Penguin issued a statement apologizing for "the hurt and damage which [Heymann] has suffered". The publisher also agreed to pay an undisclosed sum in legal fees to Heymann, to make a donation to charity, to refrain from repeating the disputed allegations and to seek the return of all unsold copies of Lebrecht's book. Commenting on the affair, Heymann said that "For me it’s beyond belief how any journalist in five pages can make so many factual mistakes. It’s shocking. Also, he [Lebrecht] really doesn’t understand the record business." The settlement did not extend to the US edition of Lebrecht's book, but Heymann vowed to seek its withdrawal in the United States, saying "The book made me look like a shit, so something had to be done. When Lebrecht talks to people he doesn't take notes so he confuses and confounds what people say." In fact, Heymann took no action against the US edition of the book.
In the early blogosphere
, Lebrecht was critical of some online trends, arguing in his Evening Standard column that "Until bloggers deliver hard facts … paid for newspapers will continue to set the standard as the only show in town". One blogger used this statement to charge Lebrecht with hypocrisy in light of the Heymann suit. Despite his early criticism of classical music blogs, Lebrecht launched his own blog, Slipped Disc, in March 2007 and was a keen proponent of social media in his BBC shows.
Radio
Lebrecht has had his own series on BBC Radio 3; Lebrecht Live and the Lebrecht Interviews.
Updated editions published 1997, 2001
Revised edition published 2000 as The Complete Companion to 20th-Century Music.
Also published as Who Killed Classical Music?: maestros, managers, and corporate politics.
Also published as The Life and Death of Classical Music: featuring the 100 best and 20 worst recordings ever made.
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
and cultural affairs and a novelist. He was a columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
from 1994 until 2002 and assistant editor of the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
from 2002 until 2009. On BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, he has presented lebrecht.live from 2000 and The Lebrecht Interview from 2006.
Writings
The Maestro Myth (1991) charts the history of conducting from its rise as an independent profession in the 1870s to its subsequent preoccupations with power, wealth and celebrity. When the Music Stops (US title: Who Killed Classical Music, 1997) is the first documented history of the classical music business, presenting an exposé of its backstage workings and predicting the collapse of the record industry. Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness: The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry (US title: The Life and Death of Classical Music, 2007) is billed as an inside account of the rise and fall of recording, combined with a critical selection and analysis of 100 discs and 20 recording disasters.Lebrecht has written about the composer Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
, including in books Mahler Remembered (1987) and Why Mahler? (2010). His interest in contemporary music is reflected in The Complete Companion to 20th Century Music (2000) and in the Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press is a British publisher of books on the visual arts, including art, architecture, photography, and design worldwide.As of 2009, Phaidon's headquarters are in London, UK, though they were in Oxford for many years, with offices in New York City, Paris, Berlin, Milan, and Tokyo...
series of 20th century composer biographies, of which he was founder and editor.
Other books on music he has written include The Book of Musical Anecdotes (1985), Music in London (1992), and Covent Garden: The Untold Story (2000).
His career as a novelist began with The Song of Names, a tale of two boys growing up in wartime London, which was published in 2001 and went on to win the 2002 Whitbread Award
2002 Whitbread Awards
The 2002 Whitbread Book of the Year Awards was a book award ceremony that took place in 2002.-Children's Book:Winner:*Hilary McKay, Saffy's AngelShortlist:*Julie Bertagna, Exodus*Celia Rees, Sorceress*Philip Reeve, Mortal Engines...
for First Novel. His second novel, The Game of Opposites, was published in 2009 the U.S.A.
Criticism
Lebrecht's polemical writings have often drawn fierce responses. While Robert CraftRobert Craft
Robert Lawson Craft is an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate working friendship with Igor Stravinsky, a relationship which resulted in a number of recordings and books.-Life:...
praised The Maestro Myth as an "exposé of the business practices of orchestral conducting (that) is likely to be the most widely read classical music book of the year," the opera critic Michael Tanner wrote in The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
that "this may be the most disgusting book I have ever read". Lebrecht was described by musicologist
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
Richard Taruskin
Richard Taruskin
Richard Taruskin is an American-Russian musicologist, music historian, and critic who has written about the theory of performance, Russian music, fifteenth-century music, twentieth-century music, nationalism, the theory of modernism, and analysis. As a choral conductor he directed the Columbia...
as "a sloppy but entertaining British muckraker". Although many eminent conductors from Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
and Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
to William Christie
William Christie (musician)
William Lincoln Christie is an American-born French conductor and harpsichordist. He is noted as a specialist in baroque repertoire and as the founder of the ensemble Les Arts Florissants....
and Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Welser-Möst is an Austrian conductor who is currently the music director for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.- Biography :...
maintain cordial relations with Lebrecht and appear in his radio shows, an anonymous informant identified as "one of the world's leading conductors" told The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
that Lebrecht had for years been getting away with "pompous, preposterous judgment" and "inept research".
In When the Music Stops (pp. 421–425) he published the concert fees earned by top artists, and in Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness (pp. 136–140) he revealed the true sales figures for classical records.
In October 2007 the founder of Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
, Klaus Heymann, sued Lebrecht's publisher, Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, for defamation in London's High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
. Heymann claimed that Lebrecht had wrongly accused him of "serious business malpractices" in his book Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness, and identified at least 15 statements he claimed were inaccurate. The case was settled out of court. As a result of the settlement, Penguin issued a statement apologizing for "the hurt and damage which [Heymann] has suffered". The publisher also agreed to pay an undisclosed sum in legal fees to Heymann, to make a donation to charity, to refrain from repeating the disputed allegations and to seek the return of all unsold copies of Lebrecht's book. Commenting on the affair, Heymann said that "For me it’s beyond belief how any journalist in five pages can make so many factual mistakes. It’s shocking. Also, he [Lebrecht] really doesn’t understand the record business." The settlement did not extend to the US edition of Lebrecht's book, but Heymann vowed to seek its withdrawal in the United States, saying "The book made me look like a shit, so something had to be done. When Lebrecht talks to people he doesn't take notes so he confuses and confounds what people say." In fact, Heymann took no action against the US edition of the book.
In the early blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
, Lebrecht was critical of some online trends, arguing in his Evening Standard column that "Until bloggers deliver hard facts … paid for newspapers will continue to set the standard as the only show in town". One blogger used this statement to charge Lebrecht with hypocrisy in light of the Heymann suit. Despite his early criticism of classical music blogs, Lebrecht launched his own blog, Slipped Disc, in March 2007 and was a keen proponent of social media in his BBC shows.
Radio
Lebrecht has had his own series on BBC Radio 3; Lebrecht Live and the Lebrecht Interviews.
Books
Also published as Hush! Handel's in a Passion: tales of Bach, Handel, and their contemporaries.Updated editions published 1997, 2001
Revised edition published 2000 as The Complete Companion to 20th-Century Music.
Also published as Who Killed Classical Music?: maestros, managers, and corporate politics.
Also published as The Life and Death of Classical Music: featuring the 100 best and 20 worst recordings ever made.