RIP R. Peter Munves

[Szykneij]

He introduced a lot of people to classical music. Before the internet, one of the best ways to sample music from different composers was through recording compilations. I, for one, found them useful.

In Saturday's (9/14) New York Times, Adam Nossiter writes, "R. Peter Munves, a record company executive who revolutionized the marketing of classical music, died on Aug. 19 in Glen Cove, N.Y. He was 97. His death, in a nursing home, was confirmed by his son Ben. Mr. Munves carved out a moneymaking niche [by] selling classical music to mass audiences by applying the techniques of pop music marketing. In the 1960s, while at Columbia Records, he created a series called 'Classical Greatest Hits,' which packaged bits of Brahms, Mozart, Bach and other composers onto single LPs. In 1968, he signed the electronic musician Wendy Carlos to record 'Switched-On Bach'—pieces by Bach on the Moog synthesizer. Both ideas were big hits ... Time said Switched-On Bach was Columbia's 'all-time best classical seller.' Mr. Munves went on to produce an album called 'Themefinder'—a compilation of 222 well-known themes from classical music ... 'Simply put, Peter Munves was the master salesman of classical music ... in the last quarter of the last century,' Clive Davis, the former president of Columbia Records and chief executive of RCA Music Group, said ... 'He packaged them under a 'Greatest Hits' umbrella and sold them to a far greater public than classical music had ever known.' "