Under the quintessentially Dutch title 'Dutch Masters', the Philips label has released some 25 CDs, on which recordings of Dutch musicians that have been discontinued for a long time have been brought together, always under the heading: 'Portrait of ..' At first sight this is an unquestionably sympathetic series, which gives a beautiful picture of the Netherlands' most prominent musicians. More
… cynical people will notice that Philips is also trying to make a profit from tapes that were already in the archive: after all, that is cheaper than making new recordings. Finances also play a major role in the record business and Philips has already seen revenues decline to such an extent that Haitink's prestigious Mahler series had to be discontinued halfway through, but this way they can still release 'new' CDs. To be fair, it should be noted that various musicians included in this series owe their sometimes global fame to their recordings for Philips. (JvG)more
