Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

[Mandryka]

Kevin Karnes' recent books on Arvo Pärt rather highlight how that composer got lucky from a marketing perspective: Pärt's association with ECM meant that in the public imagination today, he seems to have come out of 1980s West Germany. . .  Consequently, as large-scale public interest in Soviet dissident art waned, he wasn't affected.

@CRCulver Why do you think Shostakovich is so popular?

[CRCulver]

@CRCulver Why do you think Shostakovich is so popular?

I'd argue it is because he got canonical status long ago. Indeed, he is often called one of the last composers to do so. The relationship between him and the Soviet state has become just one biographical detail, and he gets programmed just because he has always been programmed.

[Mandryka]

I'd argue it is because he got canonical status long ago. Indeed, he is often called one of the last composers to do so. The relationship between him and the Soviet state has become just one biographical detail, and he gets programmed just because he has always been programmed.

This is maybe of interest if you don't already know it

https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2.-Weber-1999-The-history-of-musical-canon.pdf

[DavidW]

The answer is, in fact, no. You know this is something that can be easily checked, right? Have a look at the Discogs entry for Schnittke and filter by releases where he is the composer. You'll see that the majors recorded Schnittke frequently in the 1990s, but then that dropped off; later releases are almost solely reissues of those 1990s recordings.

Okay I looked. Harmonia Mundi, DG, Pentatone all have releases in the past several years that are not just reissues. My favorite is the Jurowski recording of the third. But I have a feeling that you're stuck in the past with what you consider a major label. So here is a DG recording from 2021 as an example:

https://www.discogs.com/release/17309128-Schnittke-Daniel-Hope-Alexey-Botvinov-Works-For-Violin-And-Piano