The Classical Score

RCA REDUX: After a year of uncertainty and backroom planning, BMG has announced the formation of the RCA Victor Group, a new department dedicated to classical music, jazz, world music, Broadway, soundtracks, and crossover genres. The new group, headed by executive VP/GM David Weyner, assumes the role and many of the artists and projects left after BMG Classics was dissolved last June.

Weyner, a recording industry veteran who previously held senior positions at PolyGram and Sony Classical, oversees a department that includes the RCA Red Seal label for classical music, the RCA Victor imprint for Broadway, soundtracks, and crossover, as well as a revitalized Bluebird label for jazz and two additional imprints, Windham Hill and Private Music, for world music, blues, folk, and new age, among other genres. Among those reporting to Weyner are former Buddah label chief Alex Miller, now in charge of worldwide marketing, and former BMG Classics U.K. branch head Richard Dinnadge, who will coordinate international marketing from London.

According to Weyner, even if the labels seem to be clearly delineated, the distinctions may not always be so clear-cut. "The days of every violinist performing every piece of the standard repertoire are behind us," Weyner says, "which is not to say that in the mix of an artist's release schedule you won't find some gems from the standard repertoire. But it had better be well-leavened with some adventurous fare—and adventure can be defined in a lot of different ways now."

Red Seal unleashes a taste of that adventurous spirit Sept. 11, when the label releases Tuck and Roll, a new recording of orchestral music by eclectic young composer Steven Mackey, performed by the New World Symphony under the direction of RCA mainstay Michael Tilson Thomas. (The project was initiated before the BMG Classics shakeup.) The title work, featuring the composer as electric-guitar soloist, was premiered at the San Francisco Symphony's much-feted "American Mavericks" festival last year. Tilson Thomas will follow that release with a new recording of Charles Ives' Symphony No. 4 and other works, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and guest artist Thomas Hampson. The Ives disc is due in February 2002, to coincide with the orchestra's appearances at Carnegie Hall that month.

Weyner's mandate for the label will ultimately push the limits of offbeat fare further still. "I think new repertoire is a very broad basket," he says, "and into that basket falls projects that are born of collaborations with nonclassical artists. Obviously, you also have classical new music. We have fascinating repertoire from some of our international companies that I'm looking at as the basis for compositionally oriented releases. And neglected pieces from the past—from early-music performances to contemporary performers—represent still more new opportunities. And I think at least a percentage of every artist's release schedule must be new music."

Many familiar artists remain part of the RCA Red Seal roster, including piano superstar Evgeny Kissin, who is set to release two new recordings in 2002: one a program of Bach-Busoni, Glinka-Balakirev, and Mussorgsky, and the other a Schumann recital. Octogenarian German conductor Gunter Wand (whose latest revisiting of the first two Beethoven symphonies was released in late August) and veteran Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha will also continue to record for the label.

RCA Red Seal continues to offer an outstanding roster of vocal talent, including Denyce Graves, Vesselina Kasarova, and Ramon Vargas, all of whom have significant releases coming in 2002. High-profile crossover projects, to be issued under the RCA Victor imprint, include new projects by James Galway, Canadian Brass, Keith Lockhart & the Boston Pops, and Three Mo' Tenors.

Beyond this impressive relaunch, the label has quietly begun to sign new artists. First up is the young Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider (signed before Weyner came on board), who will record Glazunov's Violin Concerto and Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony in October, for release next year. "I think you'll see a few more artists joining the roster," Weyner says, "but I don't foresee a rampant buildup. My interests are focused, and I don't think we need another 50 artists on the roster. We'll grow as the market indicates we should, and as artists and composers who feel irresistible present themselves to us."