So, the important (to me) project - as most of you know, I have written MANY, MANY times about how much I love Robert Ward's opera of The Crucible. It was a life-changer for me, musically. When we formed Bay Cities and got all the Ward music for our first release, I was disappointed to find that The Crucible had been licensed the year before. I was even more disappointed when I bought it - the sound was horrible - just bad mastering at way too low a level and completely dead sounding and muffled. I could barely listen to it, frankly. A decade later, they repackaged it in a thinner case with yet another unattractive cover and the same master. The fact is, I was baffled how they were able to keep selling it as I know what the licenses were because it was the same company as our Ward material.
So, the opera has been on my mind for some reason for most of this year. And the same label that continues to this day, thirty years later, to sell it, also issued another recording of a college opera production - I bought it, of course, but I didn't like the recording and the cast of students, while certainly competent, can't touch the original cast. So a couple of weeks ago I began to search to see who owned CRI records now - and found that New World Records bought that entire catalog. So, I went on their site and they sell titles from the CRI catalog, but only stuff that's never been issued before, and ONLY downloads or CD-Rs. So, just for grins I sent a note telling the history of my love for the opera, our releases on Bay Cities from the CRI catalog, etc. The next day I got a response and it was a wonderful one, saying she was happy to license to me.
I asked her about the other label, and it transpires that the paperwork is vague but she was fine to do the license anyway - a short run of 500 despite that the other label continues to sell theirs - I don't care, frankly. She told me I had to contact the publisher of the music. So, I wrote them on a form on their website once again explaining my love of the opera and that I knew I had to do the mechanical with them. I got a response the next morning saying they could do that license as long as New World was on board - so I told him the number of units and that New World was absolutely on board. Until that e-mail from the publisher we just didn't know which way this was going to go. So, this morning I got an e-mail from the publisher who is giving this to us gratis - no mechanical - which is fantastic. And more fantastically, New World is giving it to us for free as well - amazing. The reason for that is that I told them that I didn't need digital rights at all, just CD - so she asked if I'd be willing to share our new master with her and that way they'd make it available digitally and I said absolutely. And there you have it. But I'd already sent the tracks to my mastering guy who evaluated them and felt as I did - ridiculous mastering. So he sent me a sample track with his new mastering and it blew me away - all the power and beauty were back, all the warmth and air and punch - it was just as I remembered the original LP although I'm sure this is even better than that, memory being what it is. Yesterday I got the rest and listened straight through and it's just magnificent. I don't expect we'll sell all that many but who knows - and I just don't care with this one because it is so full circle for me - hearing it late in 1962 at 14 years of age and falling in love with it, and here we are fifty-five years later and I'm issuing it on a much-improved CD with great packaging.
I spent the day writing the liner notes, which are VERY personal - I know that will peeve the "I want a musicologist's reading of every word and note in the score, which of course I loathe - but there's an entire book about the opera so I refer them to that. So, it's my notes, a few photographs, a personal and sweet note from Ward to me, and a very detailed synopsis of the opera. I'm not going to go to the expense of including the entire libretto because the booklet would be way too thick and unwieldy - so I've asked the publisher if they'd be okay if we put the libretto on our site but make it viewable but not downloadable. We'll see how that goes but I am over the moon about this. We'll be announcing it maybe early next week.
