{"title":"Norman Lebrecht","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"maestros-obras-primas-e-loucuras","title":"Maestros, masterpieces and madness","description":"A year after writing an article announcing the end of the classical music recording industry, Norman Lebrecht had found no evidence to contradict his thesis. Deutsche Grammophon was releasing a record by its illustrious mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter singing songs by ABBA. The classical music magazine Gramophone featured pop singer Elvis Costello on its cover. And production levels were at their lowest since the Great Depression, with only two or three releases per month on the \"major labels.\" According to the author, \"a civilization was coming to an end. It should not be allowed to die without posthumous praise or explanation.\" What, exactly, had the classical music recording industry contributed to modern civilization? What forces drove it, and which opposed it? What is the place of this hybrid object—part art, part engineering—in the kaleidoscope of contemporary culture? These are some of the questions Lebrecht addresses in MAESTROS, MASTERPIECES \u0026amp; MADNESS. The immense variety of recorded masterpieces, now digitized, is preserved forever. They brought to millions of people around the world a form of music that was once restricted to privileged circles. But they also created a mountain of nonsense, excess, egocentrism, and incredibly misguided projects. And all of this ended when the rise of the internet and the intensification of corporate insanity conspired substantially to bring down the industry; after all, with 140 different recordings of Vivaldi's \"Four Seasons\" to choose from, there's no need for any more. MAESTROS, MASTERPIECES \u0026amp; MADNESS is not just an exposé of decline and fall. It is the account of how stars were created and, sometimes, destroyed by the recording industry; of how a war criminal conspired with his victims to create a recording empire; of how technological advances, international politics, and public credulity (and unscrupulous exploitation) intertwined to create the musical landscape of modern life. The splendid legacy will live on, even if the means of production disappear. The book concludes with a tribute to classical recording: the author's critical selection of the one hundred most important recordings—and the twenty most regrettable.","brand":"Totvsrj-record-dc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47175451672828,"sku":"9788501077639","price":74.9,"currency_code":"BRL","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0722\/9197\/5420\/files\/3059f17d406e3046d5b1f7e81221eb96_39bd9a09-b4d1-4449-91da-b59021214200.jpg?v=1778320523"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.record.com.br\/en\/collections\/norman-lebrecht.oembed","provider":"Editora Record","version":"1.0","type":"link"}