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Inside the Recording Studio: Working with Callas, Rostropovich, Domingo, and the Classical Elite [Paperback]

Peter Andry (Author), Robin Stringer (Author), Tony Locantro (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 11, 2008
As a record producer and administrator, Peter Andry has worked with many of the 20th century's greatest classical music artists and performers. Through his work with Decca, his years as president of EMI Classics, and his creation and direction of Warner Classics, he has collaborated with high-caliber artists such as Maria Callas, Yehudi Menuhin, and Herbert von Karajan. He associated with them in close quarters through times of work, play, stress, and relaxation. He has admired their talent, dedication, and charisma, as well as coped with their foibles, idiosyncrasies, and egos.

In Inside the Recording Studio: Working with Callas, Rostropovich, Domingo, and the Classical Elite, Andry recounts his experiences with these exceptional talents, with whom he worked as a musician, a record producer, and a company executive. Andry presents intimate portraits of brilliant artists—such as Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer, Sir Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jacqueline du Pré, and Maxim Vengerov—juxtaposed with the dramatic changes occurring in the recording business during this time, a period that began with 78s and saw successively the advent of LPs, stereo sound, quadraphonic sound, audio cassettes, video, CDs, DVDs, and the growing importance of the internet. A foreword by Plácido Domingo and more than 30 photos of the artists are included along with a discography of Andry's recordings with the three labels. These memoirs will be fascinating and exciting to anyone interested in the classical music and recording industries.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A volume in the line from the late John Culshaw's legendary Decca-related memoirs, this is an engaging stringing-together of tales from Peter Andry's distinguished decades as a producer....No one can fail to enjoy this. (Classical Music, October 2008 )

There are wonderful stories, and you will get to know what went on behind the scenes when great recordings were being made. (VROON American Record Guide, May/June 2009 )

Inside the recording studio is remarkably honest.... Highly recommend this title for any library which has a large collection of recordings. (Richard LeSueur Notes, March 2009 )

Engaging style... (Bbc Music Magazine, August 2008 )

About the Author

Peter Andry, now retired, was a record producer for Decca and EMI. After serving as president of EMI Classics, he left to create Warner Classics. He has written for various magazines including Gramophone and Classical Music.

Robin Stringer is a journalist for The Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard, and numerous arts magazines, including Gramophone and Classical Music.

Tony Locantro works for EMI in a variety of roles, most recently producing best-selling classical compilations. He has written many CD booklet notes and collaborated with Peter Martland on the authoritative EMI history, Since Records Began: EMI: The First 100 Years (1997).

Product Details

  • Paperback: 250 pages
  • Publisher: Scarecrow Press (April 11, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0810860260
  • ISBN-13: 978-0810860261
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,181,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars For the classical record fans, December 21, 2009
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This review is from: Inside the Recording Studio: Working with Callas, Rostropovich, Domingo, and the Classical Elite (Paperback)
Peter Andry's book follows on from similar "insider" books about the classical recording industry by John Culshaw, Suvi Raj Grubb and others. For me it is always interesting to read about the background to famous recordings and to gain some insights into the human side of great performers.

The book's title might lead some buyers astray - there is quite a lot about Callas and Rostropovich, but relatively little about Domingo - and a substantial chapter about Karajan for example, who is very prominently pictured on the cover (with Rostropovich, Richter, Oistrakh and the author). The book is quite short and at times I yearned for more detailed accounts and for more artists to be covered; the discography included in the book is very tantalising. Even so there are signs of padding: the half-chapter on Maxim Vengerov, for example, reads like an artist bio with just a little added about the author's contact with him. Although two co-authors are named, there are still some awkwardly written passages and a couple of bad errors - for example, the statement that Leonard Bernstein's greatest work is his 'Requiem' (presumably this should be 'Mass'). There is a very good selection of photographs but they should have been printed on glossy paper. For these reasons the book could be regarded as somewhat overpriced.

And yet the pluses much outweigh the minuses. Peter Andry was the producer for many of the most famous classical recordings issued by EMI during its golden period of the 1960s and 1970s, recordings which still stand up well today. There are fascinating snippets about Karajan, Klemperer and Giulini and a rather sad account of Callas's latter years, and much more. My favourite story from the book would be the one about the screaming chorister - you will have to read the book to find out!

This is not a book of great revelations or scandals but a very readable and affectionate account of what went on behind the scenes of some of the great classical recordings. Perhaps Peter Andry could be persuaded to write another volume of reminiscences - he surely has enough material for it. In the meantime this one is recommended.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent inside look at some great EMI & Decca recordings, October 4, 2009
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This review is from: Inside the Recording Studio: Working with Callas, Rostropovich, Domingo, and the Classical Elite (Paperback)
"Inside the Recording Studio" is the diary of record producer Pere Andry in which he tells of making recordings with some of the greats of the mid-1950s onward for the labels Decca and EMI - Lodnon and Angel in the US. As a recording fan myself, I have enjoyed these through the years starting with the memoirs of early producers like Fred Gaisberg and Joe Batten. Peter Andry was responsible for many of the recordings we still enjoy today - and are among the best made and by which others are judged.

He is at his best discussing conductors such as Sir Thomas Beecham and Otto Klemperer. I suppose this is so because these bring a more personal touch rather than just reporting the facts.

Don't get me wrong. The other chapters are fun as well although I must say that the chapter titled "Testament" could well have spent more time telling us about his recording the 1955 Bayreuth Ring in stereo rather than digressing into a history about Decca. His stereo Ring has finally been released on the Testament label - hence the chapter title - and which I aired a couple of years ago.

If I have a quibble or two, one is that the photos are rather poor with no better quality than a newspaper photo. Surely they could have reproduced them on clearly on high quality paper. Another is that Mr. Andry gives Charles Munch's name as "Münch" which I don't think the esteemed French conductor would've liked.

Even so, I can still highly recommend this book, "Inside the Recording Studio" by Peter Andry.
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