> > as in the case of the
> > Houston Symphony, the union required that the broadcasts (Stokowski
years
> > in particular) be destroyed...fortunately some off air copies survive.
>
> Some of the musicians were able to make copies of the tapes as well. I
> recall a copy of some Barbirolli material that made its way to the
composer
> of some works performed by Sir John.
>
At the Chicago Symphony, part of my job was to make dubs of concerts for
musicians who requested them, as well as reference dubs for conductors of
previous versions of works they were preparing to conduct. This brings up an
interesting question. If a soloist or conductor is unhappy with a
performance and nixes distribution, isn't every musician who performed on
the work entitled to a copy of their performance? I once made a set of
copies of performances by the Chicago Civic Orchestra containing all of the
appearances by an orchestra member who later became a lawyer, and stopped
performing. His wife paid for the cost of the transfers, including
preservation copies for the archive, which would not
have been done otherwise. Her husband was thrilled to no end, and wrote a
glowing letter of thanks that I still use in job applications as a letter of
recommendation (I'm still looking for a job, by the way).
