How Hyperion (‘Britain’s brightest record label’ according to their publicity) must be wishing they had kept well away from the murky waters of international copyright law and paid Dr Lionel Sawkins the few thousand pounds he was asking. For those unfamiliar with the case, Hyperion released a disc of music by a long out-of-copyright French composer called Lalande which had been ‘edited’ by Dr Sawkins. Sawkins claimed that he had spent 1200 hours researching the manuscripts and had exercised considerable personal judgement to effectively create a new work. Hyperion disagreed, issued the recording without Sawkins’ permission and failed to credit him as the editor. Sawkins sued for breach of copyright and won his case in the High Court last year. Hyperion took the case to appeal but lost again last week leaving them facing legal bills of up to £1 million – a crippling sum for a small independent label. At first sight the result seems a tragedy for the classical music profession as Hyperion has produced some of the finest – and certainly most interesting – recordings made in Britain over the last quarter century. Perhaps, by continuing to make first-rate recordings of intriguing repertoire, Hyperion can somehow re-invent the wheel and rebuild itself – although times are a lot tougher than when the late Ted Perry founded the label in 1980. Added to which there is considerably less ‘unfairly neglected’ music left to record now. Perry, it has to be said, was in favour of resolving the Sawkins dispute in court. Indeed, he had no qualms about resorting to the legal system: in 1991 he applied to the High Court claiming that Warners had breached copyright by ‘sampling’ a four second phrase from a Hyperion disc. The application was dismissed. Following last week’s judgement Perry’s son, Simon, – who now runs the label – remained defiant: “ Giving someone a copyright for copying something is patently ridiculous”, he remarked, ignoring the fact that a court had ruled for a second time that Sawkins’ work had involved much more than merely copying. Insiders’ say that Perry Junior was well aware Hyperion had – at best – only a 50/50 chance of winning the appeal. It would therefore be surprise if he had no contingency plan in place. Meanwhile musicians, producers and recording engineers who have devoted most of their working lives to the label should not fear. Even in the worst-case scenario recordings of such quality tend to survive. Only last Saturday I heard a review on Radio3 of a recording made for the long-defunct Collins Classics label which has re-appeared on Naxos. The same Naxos, by the way, whose proprietor Klaus Heymann also owns Select – the company which distributes Hyperion. Whatever happens to this proud label in the short term, the case of Sawkins V Hyperion has unleashed a tidal wave in the world of classical recording which has only just begun to roll.
“No statue has ever been erected for a critic” sniffed Sibelius when asked his opinion of this much maligned species. Not strictly true, of course, as George Bernard Shaw – friend of Elgar and long-time music critic – is immortalized in bronze at Dublin’s National Gallery. But if any critic deserves a statue it is surely Felix Aprahamian who died earlier this year, aged 85. With his pointed goatee beard and black opera cloak with a scarlet lining, Felix cut a decidedly more glamorous figure than many of the musicians he reviewed. A life-long devotee of Delius, he espoused the cause of similarly unfashionable composers with relish and, more importantly, was a constant champion of young musicians at the beginning of their careers. A statue of Felix would be a welcome adornment to the leafy lanes of his native Muswell Hill.
Laudable as Radio3’s project may be to play ‘every note’ that Beethoven wrote during next month’s weeklong ‘Beethoven Experience’, I am surprised that their advertisers should select an image of the composer wearing a pair of trendy headphones. Did no one tell the poor souls that the dear old boy was deaf?
