VOA标准英语2013--Classical Sounds Invade Country Music Capital

 

Classical Sounds Invade Country Music Capital

Naxos Records is located in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. The label has more than 7,000 recordings² in its catalog, and stores more than four million CDs in the warehouse³.

Shrink-wrapped CDs and music DVDs are stacked on row after row of shelves 10 meters high and 100 meters long.

Naxos ships 1,000 customer orders from its Tennessee warehouse every day. It’s quite an accomplishment⁴ for a 25-year-old company that began life as a budget label with a reputation for recording¹ minor⁵ works by obscure orchestras.

“To this day, they still record hungry young orchestras that don’t have much in the way of a recording profile,” says Jim Svejda, author of “The Insider’s Guide to Classical Music,” and host of a nationally syndicated classical music radio program. “The Fort Smith Symphony in Arkansas is actually making recordings. The Grand Rapids Symphony in Michigan is recording symphonies by Adolphus Hailstork which are not easy to play, and they’re making absolutely superb recordings.”

According to Svejda, right from the beginning, Naxos distinguished⁶ itself by having those orchestras record music beyond the standard repertoire⁷.

“Twenty years ago it was the same old dinosaur⁸ record companies that every once in a while, every four or five years, would launch a new Beethoven Symphony cycle with, you know, with he newest hot, young conductor with predictable results," he says. "People just kind of lost interest.”

With more than 115 million recordings sold to date, people are clearly paying attention now. And no one is more surprised than Klaus Heymann, the company’s 76-year-old founder⁹.

He launched Naxos, in part, to distribute recordings made by his wife, world-class Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki.

Heymann is a German-born entrepreneur who doesn’t play an instrument and can’t read music. He’s convinced those were the perfect qualifications for the job.

“I had run other very successful businesses before I started the record companies. So I looked at that with the cold eye of the businessman and I said, ‘This is all crazy how they run this business. Why don’t we do it differently?’”

Heymann’s approach was so different, some industry observers initially¹⁰ labeled his tactics predatory. Anne Midgette, a music critic with The Washington Post, says he was accused of taking advantage of artists who were desperate to record.

“They didn’t pay the kinds of expenses or royalties¹¹ or deals that were then customary in the business," says Midgette. "In fact, Naxos was about 10 years ahead of its time in that.”

Midgette says it’s clear now that Heymann’s tactics were evolutionary¹², not exploitive, and she considers his ability to continue to adapt and innovate¹³ the key to his success.

One of those innovations has forever endeared Heymann to American audiophiles. In 1998, he launched the Naxos American Classics series, recording the works of more than 200 American composers not generally well known in the rest of the world.

Heymann launched the series to help Naxos break into the notoriously hard to crack American music market. The series has grown to include more than 400 titles.

“It hasn’t made any money," Heymann says. "In fact, it’s lost a lot of money, but it was wonderful for our prestige. We’ve won so many Grammys with our American Classics.”

The Nashville Symphony has won seven of those Grammys for Naxos. Symphony president Alan Valentine was happy to demonstrate another of Klaus Heymann’s innovations. The Naxos Music Library is an online subscription¹⁴ tool that allows users to play, or stream, selections from the company’s entire catalog.

Heymann embraced online streaming five years before Apple launched iTunes. His staff thought he was crazy, but it was a move he now considers his proudest achievement.

“It’s a veritable reference library for classical music,” Heymann says.

And he's determined¹⁵ to keep adding to it.

“You cannot imagine how much more music is out there. So we’ll not run out of things to record.”

And with Heymann at the helm, it seems likely that Naxos, like the namesake Greek Island long known as a birthplace of classical art, will continue to evolve and inspire. The label recently released an application for Apple’s iPad that introduces children to classical music.

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

3 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

4 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

7 repertoire   

n.(准备好演出的)节目，保留剧目；(计算机的)指令表，指令系统， <美>(某个人的)全部技能；清单，指令表

参考例句：

• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。
• He has added considerably to his piano repertoire.他的钢琴演奏曲目大大增加了。

8 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

11 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

12 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

13 innovate   

v.革新，变革，创始

参考例句：

• We must innovate in order to make progress.我们必须改革以便取得进步。
• It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories.创新和发展军事理论是必要的。

14 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

15 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。