<<  -- 6 --  Bill Newman    IMPULSE AND SPACE

The over-saturation of standard classics on CD has led to many price reductions, while Naxos has cornered the Budget market. 'That has become the killer, I'm afraid, but my recording of the original version of Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony is still in the Best Selling Charts. If the public wants anything bad enough, they will still buy it regardless of price. But there has to be a real reason behind every record release.'

'If I was to say to Brian Couzens that I would like to record the Four Brahms Symphonies, he would reply that he would love to hear them but nobody would buy it because they already have them. So you have to find niches in the repertoire. I love doing this, and after they hear the recordings I become besieged with letters making suggestions. One person who was fantastic in that respect -- thinking of Debussy's Printemps -- was the late Christopher Palmer, who knew every nook and cranny from all genres.

'In his will he instructed Malcolm Smith, late of Boosey & Hawkes, to allow me first choice from all he had worked on in his flat at Maida Vale. Lots of the things we had talked about were there, and the only restriction was that I take what I might use, and for others what they might use.'

I mentioned the perfect alchemy between Richard and Pamela Helen Stephen, his wife. 'We have the most fantastic balance. I have to say that she is the most unselfish girl there is. You saw and heard the quality of her performance -- I don't need to overrate that -- and she could be on the road for a whole year by herself. But ... I am the typical man, selfish, and I love my family. We all need to be together! This was our decision when we married; we would work with each other whenever we could. My conscience is also clear that when the part is right for Pamela, she should certainly do it. My agent is also happy because he has other artists pushing their spouses who are not really up to scratch.'

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