Putting the Record Straight: The Autobiography of John Culshaw

by John Culshaw

In the music business for more than thirty years and former manager of the classical division of the Decca Record Company, Culshaw chronicles the growth of the music industry and portrays many of its outstanding figures

Genres: Music

362 pages, Hardcover

First published February 26, 1981

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an enjoyable inside look at making classical records in the 1950s and 60s. Culshaw did wonderful work--the sound of the Solti Ring is still as good as anything I ever heard. he makes nasty remarks about Ansermet and Boskovski--I am pretty sure the former deserves them, but I am not so sure about the latter. And there lies the only problem with the book--it is a little too gossipy for my taste--yet I enjoyed every word of it.

[Dominic H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Culshaw died before he could finish this book and although the Epilogue by Erik Smith claims that this was the more or less the book Culshaw wanted to write - essentially an autobiography finishing with the end of his time at Decca - it's hard to credit that he would be satisfied with this. It's essentially a discography with added gossip, with some very dark things (e.g. the alleged strong anti-semitism of the Vienna Philharmonic of the 50s and 60s, or what Culshaw obviously thought were questionable financial behaviour of one of the Decca executives) thrown in for bad measure. It's really only for classical record nerds (like me), especially those (like me) familiar with that extraordinarily fecund period for recordings (opera in particular) which ran roughly from 1954 - 1967, when Decca/RCA, EMI and DGG were in real and productive competition with each other.
The book is also a sad reminder that Culshaw was a genius of sorts and his early death was a loss to music and the arts more generally.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, quick read about some of my favorite music recordings.