I have created an record company called Songful Records and have just made
a professionally produced cd which we recorded in the best acoustic I have
found in the UK in my travels and performances. It is going to be available
direct from me and I am hoping to have it distributed by music shops as
well. I have not yet found out how easy that will be and I believe that it
varies. I have not yet had time to do the groundwork to find out. I
received 1,000 copies three days ago and so far have sold around 40 of
them. I need to sell a lot of the cds to cover the considerable costs of
making a professional recording. I paid for a house for myself, the pianist
and the producer in the country and then paid the producer for editing and
mastering, a designer for the cover and copy in the booklet and a cd
company for the printing, burning and packaging of the product which has
been finished down to shrink-wrapping. I have had to pay rights, a picture
library, and even for the right to a barcode. I have timed the whole thing
to coincide with Christmas in the hope that some people will buy more than
one copy as an exclusive present for a music-lover.
I will be very pleased if Vocalisters want to buy it. The cd is a recital
compilation of songs inspired by Ancient Greece entitled "The Soul of
Orpheus" and includes Haydn's great cantata "Arianna a Naxos". Composers
chosen for the disc, which features songs from 1800 to the present day, are
Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Debussy, Warlock and Walton. I was intrigued
how the stories of characters like Iphigenia, Orpheus and Daphne recur
again and again and are still cropping up. The body of poetry seems very
powerful and the archetypes of characters like Oedipus have made it into
psychology among other areas.
The accompanist is Philip Collin. When I performed the Haydn piece in
Edinburgh last year I got a review saying "Sally Bradshaw swept all before
her with her ardent account of Haydn's Arianna" The Scotsman, November
2000. A previous recording of mine, Handel's "Agrippina" for Harmonia
Mundi, was Sunday Times Record of the Year and Opera Now Record of the
Month.
The disc is available for £10 sterling direct form me plus £1p&p in UK, £2
abroad and is an exclusive Christmas present for music lovers. Order early
to secure your copy as the first issue is a limited edition. I will discuss
with any interested buyers abroad by private mail what the best way to pay
is.
Email: records@s... postal address: Sally Bradshaw Songful Records,
PO Box 25882 London N5 2YQ UK website, where I hope to post one of the
tracks soon: www.songful.net
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