More info on Capriccio records closure & rebirth as Phoenix Edition

http://www.phoenixedition.com/fono-forum

“PHOENIX” RISING FROM THE ASHES
On May 1st, the new label Phoenix Edition came into being. The idea is that of a market niche, apparently quite close to the concept Capriccio is following. This certainly is not coincidental, for the man behind the idea is Johannes Kernmayer, for many years artistic director at Capriccio. Gerhard Persché met him in Vienna.
Gerhard Persché Some months ago, news of the bankruptcy of Delta Music in Frechen broke; and the classical music label Capriccio was involved as well. How could that happen?
Johannes Kernmayer Delta-Music GmbH owns 100% of Capriccio, though the classical label only contributed 12 to 15% of the turnover. If the remaining 85%, mainly pop, jazz and folk music, don’t meet expectations, then it’s impossible for me to save the company with just Capriccio. And thus the label became insolvent, too, although we were operating in the black. And so I acted from necessity when I thought of founding an independent, separated label – Phoenix Edition – because I have a number of productions that had already been planned, and some of them had even been finished, but couldn’t be paid for by Delta.
GP A Phoenix rising from the ashes.
JK Of course, that image did have something to do with it. I found very good investors in a very short time – the kind of financiers who are interested in a long-term investment. And the most important element: the artists agreed to this, Christine Schäfer, the Petersen-Quartett, Reinhold Friedrich, Christoph Spering, Christoph Eschenbach, Simone Kermes and many others – a fact that really encouraged me.
GP Which parts can you take over from the Capriccio programme?
JK Phoenix and Capriccio should be regarded as completely separate. Capriccio is still owned by Delta Music, which means that the liquidator is in charge and makes decisions. All I can say is that I’m trying to save the Capriccio catalogue together with our investors, simply because it would be sad to see a label disappear that has survived for no less than 25 years – as would be the case if, say, a “major” bought the archive and dumped it on the market. If that were to happen, Capriccio would be gone. Naturally, there are other interested parties competing for the Capriccio catalogue, and in the end, it will be the liquidator who decides and sells to the one offering most. Whoever gets his bid accepted: if I was asked to continue to run Capriccio, I could well imagine doing that, because my emotional link to that label is still very strong. But still, my current priorities lie with our new label Phoenix Edition that was launched on May 1st.
GP Are you using, metaphorically speaking, some cornerstones from your work for Capriccio in the Phoenix building concept?
JK Yes, the building blocks, as it were, are being reused to build a new castle. Because I feel responsible for the artists, I felt it was important to offer them and myself, too, a kind of new home. I’ve known a number of them for almost two decades, all the time I worked for Capriccio. I keep my promises, and that’s what I intend to do with Phoenix Edition. It is going to be a similar market niche concept, because that is what made Capriccio successful, and made the label grow continually since the late 1990s. One main area again is the rediscovery of works written by almost forgotten composers – after all, we had committed ourselves to producing the oeuvre of Ernst Krenek, Ernest Bloch and Egon Wellesz at Capriccio. Our partners remained the same, Deutschlandradio Kultur, WDR, even NDR – as well as the Bregenz Festival, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Volksoper in Vienna. We are planning to produce DVDs from the Bregenz performances of Krenek’s “Charles V.” and “Kehraus um St. Stephan”; and then there is also the production of Kurt Weill’s “Der Kuhhandel” from the Volksoper in Bregenz that is due for publication.
GP Anything else?
JK In May and June, we are going to launch two productions with works by Joseph Martin Kraus: secular cantatas (“La Primavera”) starring Simone Kermes and incidental music for “Amphitryon” starring Werner Ehrhard and L’arte del mondo. A suitable companion for that is Mozart’s Requiem, performed by Thomas Quasthoff and Arleen Auger and conducted by Gary Bertini, cantatas for soprano and trumpet with Ruth Ziesak and Reinhold Friedrich and, as a contrast, Alfred Schnittke’s piano concerts played by Ewa Kupiec – and to name but a few of our main fields of attention for the future, we are planning to produce Shostakovich’s cello concerts with Christoph Eschenbach and young Dmitry Maslennikov, then a CD with works by Schönberg, Berg and Webern performed by Christine Schäfer and the Petersen-Quartett, one act operas by Schubert with Christoph Spering, piano sonatas by Boely with Christine Schornsheim and many others. The market we are aiming for may be somewhat more modest than the one you can make money with featuring Netrebko and Villazón, but it is a very faithful and secure market.
GP Phoenix is going to benefit from Naxos distribution.
JK Yes, on a global basis, that was a stroke of luck for me. For me, that has the advantage of having to provide just the masters and printing materials, and that it will then all be integrated into an existing distribution network. With Naxos, I’ll be able to get into those countries that were difficult to reach with Capriccio. Phoenix is to be intentionally marketed as an independent high price classical label. Having a structured distributing system behind you is already half the battle; otherwise you’ll never be able to do something like that.
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