Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You are correct. There were probably 50 more CD's that could have been done (perhaps more if one 
considered being completist on the mono stuff, which was an unlikely track because there was 
specific and limited interest in the pre-1956 catalog and that interest was addressed with the 
handful of mono reissues). Universal decided to discontinue the reissues in 2000 after scaling back 
the previous two releases. Many of the titles are still in print in the US but seem to be taken out 
of print in most other markets, which is pretty idiotic since they sold extremely well in the Orient 
and Europe. A good classical issue is like an annuity -- keep it in print and it will keep sending 
checks to the home office.

While there are probably some on this list who are passionate about small-group and chamber music, 
in Mercury's case it never sold as well as the orchestral and band recordings, so it was considered 
at the bottom of the pile for reissues. Solo and concerto stuff like Janos Starker and Byron Janis 
were big sellers originally and were big sellers on CD. Point is, the reissue was a commercial 
undertaking (and was very profitable), so what was reissued and in what order was considered very 
carefully.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Cox" <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes


<snip>

> > 7. Philips reissued some Mercury Living Presence titles in the
> > ill-fated Golden Imports series. In the early CD era, some titles were
> > issued under the Philips label as part of compilations. The Mercury
> > Living Presence imprint was revived when my mother did the CD reissues
> > in the 1990's. For all the changing of hands since she had retired in
> > 1964, many tapes were still around and many were in good shape. Where
> > they weren't, effective remedies could be taken with the titles that
> > were issued over that period (100+ CD's).
>
> I bought them all, on the assumption that a complete release was not
> likely to happen again.
>
> Not all the LP material was released on CD, however. I have a Brahms
> Horn Trio, for instance, on LP only.
<snip>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx