You would certainly expect to see a name like Roberto Alagna or Renée Fleming when browsing lists of new albums released by solo artists, but would you expect to see a name like Susanna Phillips or Nicole Cabell, younger stars in the world of opera? Fantastic news, yes? So how are these younger singers making their debuts in the realm of solo albums? The record companies’ and singers’ answers to that question show that there is no one path that a singer could expect to follow—but singers aspiring to the recording studio should be aware that a number of elements of their career need to be in place before signing on the dotted line. Additionally, singers also share what they learned from their recording experiences.
Mozart’s Garden—Deutsche Grammophon; recorded June 2010, released October 2011
Soprano Mojca Erdmann
Erdmann recorded her first solo album a year and a half after signing with DG. The album reflects a love of Mozart, her favorite composer. “Since I am singing a lot of Mozart on the operatic stage,” she explains, “I wanted to record Mozart arias for my first album. My idea of combining them with arias written by some of his contemporaries was a very interesting journey.”
As soon as she selected her arias—many of which she had sung before—Erdmann began to prepare for the recording sessions. Immediately after the recording, she would be starting rehearsals at the Salzburg Festival for Wolfgang Rihm’s new opera Dionysos. “I had a main role, Ariadne. So, learning that contemporary piece was very demanding and also took a lot of time,” she says.
Knowing of DG’s reputation, Erdmann admits that she never would have had the courage to approach them about recording an album. “I felt so honored to get this offer, and I still feel honored to have the ability to record with the Yellow Label in an exclusive recording contract,” she says. Her manager handled the contract.
Ute Fesquet, DG Vice President, Artists and Repertoire
DG seeks artists who are committed to investing extra time and travel in all stages of the recording process, and who are performing internationally. “It is important that performances take place regularly in cities that get media attention, like Paris, New York, or London,” Fesquet says. An international schedule also fosters recitals, galas, and concert tours, all of which are incredibly helpful to promote a singer. Making the time commitment more complicated is that recording dates have to be planned well in advance, in coordination with singing engagements.
Aside from logistics, Fesquet says that DG wants a singer to have personality, but she admits that “personality” is subjective. “It’s hard to describe or define. When you meet people, you instantly feel whether somebody is charismatic. Every listener or audience member experiences that feeling at some point, of being touched by a singer,” she says. Inner drive is also important—a desire to reach larger audiences and discover new repertoire.
Just as Erdmann mentioned that Mozart is her favorite composer, DG investigates a singer’s “calling cards” when determining repertoire, with a larger desire to surprise listeners with music that broadens an album’s concept. “It is a mutual process,” Fesquet explains. “We don’t tell a singer what to do, but singers appreciate our role in suggesting repertoire.” The process involves finding a singer’s strengths and interests, opening new directions for his or her repertoire, and giving the singer freedom to generate his or her own ideas.
Paysages—Bridge Records; recorded January 2010, released October 2011
Soprano Susanna Phillips
The Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award recipient and the winner of four voice competitions in 2005 (and featured on the October cover of CS), Phillips wanted to make a recording for the experience. “You can be thoroughly prepared musically, know every word inside and out, and have a strong artistic statement—but the logistics of recording are completely different than live performance,” she observes.
Paysages includes Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées, Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi, and four songs by Fauré. “When I first programmed Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi in a recital, I had a lot of difficulty finding a recording of them in their original form, with voice and piano, in the U.S. And I programmed the Ariettes oubliées because I’ve always thought that they work particularly well on disc or on the radio and less well in recital,” Phillips says. The album, in general, resulted from Phillips’ love of classical art songs.
What did she learn in the studio? “I learned the value of taking lots of breaks. You have to take a step back and breathe,” she says. “I learned practical issues: taping pages so there were no page turns, wearing comfortable clothes and shoes—or no shoes at all, and leaving time for the piano tuner to come in throughout the session. The two most important lessons were to trust the ears of your recording engineer and learn to let go and have fun.”
Speaking of the engineer, Adam Abeshouse (the engineer for a Scott Wheeler recording that Phillips worked on a few years ago) played the CD for Bridge Records and piqued their interest. Phillips, a long-time admirer of the label’s “consistent, tremendous artistic merit” and “uncompromising quality,” had originally considered Paysages a personal project without an immediate plan for releasing it. But Bridge, upon hearing the album, contacted her, and Phillips asked a lawyer to review their contract for her peace of mind.
David Starobin, Bridge Records Director of Artists and Repertoire
Even though Bridge learned about Phillips through her producer, the label usually finds younger singers through recitals, opera performances, recordings, recording producers, conservatories, and word-of-mouth, among other sources.
“Criteria involve all of the various elements that go into making a great performer: vocal talent and development, linguistic and musical skills, and repertoire specialties and interpretive insight,” Starobin says. “For us, all of these attributes supersede marketability and professional standing. The purpose of recording an album is to present beauty to as many listeners as we can possibly reach. If the singer is an artist we believe in, then publicity and promotion generally follow naturally.”
Soprano—Decca; recorded winter 2005, released February 2007
Soprano Nicole Cabell
Decca executives attended the semifinals and finals of the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2005, when Cabell won the top prize. They asked her to consider a recital disc containing selections from the competition as well as music representing her current and future repertoire. “I think they were interested in me as an artist with an unusual repertoire and an unusual voice, since I have a darker, richer color but sing high in the range,” Cabell says. Unfortunately, a second Decca album did not materialize because the Decca Artists and Repertoire team that oversaw the first recording were replaced (they were also not reachable for this article).
“When Decca approached me, I had just completed my apprenticeship with Lyric Opera of Chicago. It was challenging to select the repertoire,” Cabell recalls, “but any publicity brings attention. If you’re going to release a CD, you should release a CD of pieces that are unique to you, pieces you think you do particularly well, and maybe some music that is not recorded very often.” Coaching with the album’s conductor, Lyric’s music director Sir Andrew Davis, took place a few weeks prior to recording; Cabell was simultaneously learning new repertoire for upcoming engagements.
Like other singers, she discovered that recording presents a different manner of singing. “You have to get used to it,” Cabell observes. “We spent five days recording, and it took me three days to figure it out because you’re not singing for a big house. You’re singing for a microphone, so any sort of flaw is apparent. At first, my singing sounded out of control to me. I had to become more conscientious of dynamics and diction.”
Wagner—Centaur; recorded August 2010, released November 2011
Heldentenor Marc Deaton
Deaton wanted to record excerpts of his main repertoire while still in his prime, and he knew about Centaur’s reputation as an independent label for classical music, especially emerging and niche artists. Centaur was familiar with Deaton’s name from a previous Centaur project that included him.
Deaton took care of programming before Centaur got involved with the project. “It took nearly a year to organize the recording, and I worked with a number of people including conductor Glen Cortese and a contract manager in Europe for the orchestra. Plus, I had to rehearse with a pianist, get the parts, and make all arrangements and accommodations. I cleared the time I needed for the recording, but worked for quite a long time on the phone and electronically while on the road,” he says.
Recording took place over two days. “I had carefully arranged the more lyrical pieces for the first day and the more dramatic pieces for the second day, but all of that planning went out the window as the harp was suddenly unavailable on the second day. We had to rearrange and I had to sing these very difficult selections in an order that was convenient for the orchestra,” he says.
What other challenges did Deaton encounter? “With recording, I don’t feel the same abandon that I have with an audience,” he says. “It is harder to take risks when a microphone is right in front of you and you are stopping and starting. But there is still the magic of that sound coming from the orchestra all around you and, in the 90-degree heat of the hall, when you do something particularly well, they are all there to tell you so. The key is to record things you know really well and rehearse with your conductor a lot. He is like your dance partner.”
Victor Sachse, Centaur President and Owner
“Marc is a fine singer. This album is just challenging because so many big names have recorded this literature,” Sachse says. When asked if he and Deaton did anything to make the album stand out among those big names, Sachse responds that Centaur’s marketing strategy does not change much from CD to CD: recordings are sent to classical radio stations, appropriate syndicated radio programs, review publications, and online review sites.
Centaur considers an album’s programming and its place in the catalogue before deciding on a project. “Musicians who program their own discs tend to do one of two things—either they record a piece that already has tons of recordings, or they program repertoire that’s all over the place. In many cases, they break the cardinal rule in programming, skipping between periods,” Sachse says. “People usually buy recordings that have one time period or one composer, like an album of Beethoven piano concertos.”
The consensus is that maintaining a busy performance schedule and making a time commitment are the most important factors in signing a singer for a CD. Recording an album does not have to be an elusive dream, but it will take commitment on a number of fronts—and, true, the occasional bit of luck—to get your name in front of the right people at the right time. Then, as long as you have an original programming idea, you should have a release date before you know it.
