\nOn programs, we see that some pianists offer the 1913 version of Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata, or that a conductor chooses Stravinsky’s 1945 version of music from the “Firebird.” (Some music was revised to recapture lost royalties in the New World.)\n<\/p>\n
\n \nThe changing technologies of recorded sound have effectively withdrawn a lot of recorded material, as new formats eliminate older ones. But then come reissues. A lot of old recordings reappeared with the advent of CDs — as they did with the birth of LPs decades earlier. Huge boxed compilations of the recorded playing of Jascha Heifetz or Vladimir Horowitz. I questioned the reluctance of Jacob Lateiner<\/a> to approve the re-issue on CD of his RCA recordings of music by Beethoven. “I use those as examples of how not to play,” he said. He opted to let the material remain unavailable — except to collectors who might seek out the old LPs.\n<\/p>\n \nThough we might grant today’s composers authority to withdraw or revise, with old music it seems to be different. Some composers had a clear sense of what was public and private. Brahms burned sketches and drafts. Beethoven’s designated “Opus 1” comes after several earlier (less worthy?) published pieces. Chopin left it to the untrustworthiness of others. Unable to destroy some manuscripts himself, he left them to be burned after he died. Of course, they were never put into the fire, Julian Fontana<\/a> made an edition, and we have the Fantasy-Impromptu…\n<\/p>\n![\"LPrecord.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/LPrecord.jpg\")
<\/span>Generally, record labels have “deleted” sound recordings from their catalogs as a matter of commerce — items that don’t sell, or that run out and are not worth the additional investment necessary to “repress” (make more of) them.\n<\/p>\n
![\"Chopin66AJ.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/pianomorphosis\/assets_c\/2009\/03\/Chopin66AJ-thumb-430x121-4228.jpg\")
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