NEW YORKERS

The history of sound recording in New Zealand is inevitably of a more modest nature than that of Australia, largely due to the substantial difference in the size of population (approximately one-fifth that of Australia). During the 19th and early 20th centuries mechanical instruments played a part in New Zealand musical life, just as they did in that of Australia. There are a number of accounts of pianolas in the hands of private persons, and various forms of musical automata were in existence. Advertisements from around 1905 show that companies like Charles Begg & Co., Ltd. and the Dresden Piano Co. stocked a wide range of talking machines and records, primarily from Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd., in England. An advertisement for HMV, with the familiar Nipper photograph, appeared in the N.Z. Free Lance (Wellington) in November 1905. Despite the appearance of discs, Edison phonographs and cylinders were still imported, and in 1910 were still extensively promoted in New Zealand. The Cecil Zonophone, from America, appeared in 1910. His Master’s Voice (N.Z.), Ltd., was incorporated on 10 May 1926, although recordings and equipment were still imported. Only occasionally were records actually made in New Zealand. Such was the case in June 1930 when recordings of the Rotorua Maori Choir were made in the Tunihopua Meeting House at the suggestion of W.A. Donner, of the Columbia Graphophone Co., Australia, after he had visited Rotorua. The discs were subsequently given worldwide distribution. In the 78 era New Zealand artists frequently recorded at the Australian HMV studios at Homebush. Until the late 1980s the industry was dominated by six firms who accounted for over 90 percent of record sales. These were CBS, EMI, Festival, Polygram, RCA, and WEA. EMI and Polygram owned record clubs. Several local companies produced and distributed records by New Zealand artists, among them Viking and Kiwi Pacific. More than 90 percent of records sold were made from imported masters, pressed locally at the plants of EMI and Polygram. In 1978 sales of records and tapes in the country amounted to about NZ$34.5 million. Over 5 million LPs were produced, and about 1.6 million cassettes. National economic conditions forced EMI to close its pressing plant in 1988. No CDs are currently produced in New Zealand. Works by New Zealand composers and artists are recorded locally and master tapes are sent overseas for processing. There are many independent labels in the main cities. A special role in sound recording history has been played by the New Zealand Broad-casting Corp. (now Radio New Zealand), established in 1936, and by the National Orchestra (1946). An important repository is the Radio New Zealand Sound Archive (1956), with rare recordings of Polynesian and Pacific music,

complementing holdings of the Archive of Maori and Pacific Music at the University of Auckland. There are also important materials in the Sound and Music Centre, and in the Alexander Turnbull Library, both units of the National Library; and in the Hocken Library, Dunedin. [Acknowledgments: Beverley Anscombe, Music Librarian, University of Auckland; Auckland Public Library; Tony Chance, Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, Inc.; Roger Flury, Librarian, Sound and Music Centre; Hocken Library; Radio New Zealand; Jill Palmer, Music Librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library.]

GERALD R. SEAMAN

Begun in 1985, by Larry Kraman, this Newport, Rhode Island-based company’s first releases involved keyboardist Anthony Newman in all manner of standard early keyboard repertoire. The company has grown into a provocative and eclectic record label that has released everything from Bach, Beethoven, and Victor Herbert to Feldman, Cage, Luening, Amram, Rorem, Menotti, and Mollicone. Newport has debuted such offbeat pieces as the Concerto for Orchestra, Chainsaw and Cow, and even released a recording from the Newport Music Festival the day after it was recorded. The label’s album Hornsmoke, written by Peter Schickele, and performed by the Chestnut Brass Ensemble and the composer, won the Grammy for Crossover Record of the Year in 1999. [website: www.newport-cd.com/.]

HOWARD FERSTLER

Olivia Newton-John was one of the leading pop-rock recording artists from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. Due to her photogenic good looks, she also made a substantial impact in the visual media. She released a number of best-selling video titles in the early 1980s, made regular appearances on television, and had starring roles in a string of films, including Grease (1978), Xanadu (1980), and Two of a Kind (1984). Born in Cambridge, England, Newton-John grew up in Australia singing folk material. Shifting to mainstream pop styles, she had become an established recording star in England by the early 1970s. Her manager, John Farrar-who had teamed with ex-Shadows guitarists Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch to form a Crosby, Stills & Nash-styled trio earlier in the decadesteered her in the direction of country pop. Several major hits-“Let Me Be There” (MCA #40101; 1973-1974; #6 pop, #7 c&w), “If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” (MCA #40209; 1974; #5 pop, #2 c&w), and “I Honestly Love You” (MCA #40280; 1974; #1 pop, #1 AC, #6 c&w)—resulted in her controversial selection as the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year in 1974. Her albums-comprised for the most part

of soft rock-also sold well; If You Love Me, Let Me Know (MCA #411; 1974) and Have You Ever Been Mellow (MCA #2133; 1975) both topped the charts. While she continued to place high on the country charts for most of the decade, her music took on an increasingly smooth, middle-of-the-road feel. In fact, “Have You Ever Been Mellow” (MCA #40249; 1975; #1), “Please Mr. Please” (MCA #40418; 1975; #3), “Something Better to Do” (MCA #40459; 1975; #13), “Let It Shine” (MCA #40495; 1976; #30), “Come on Over” (MCA #40525; 1976; #23), “Don’t Stop Believin’” (MCA #40600; 1976), and “Sam” (MCA #40670; 1977; #20) were all number one adult contemporary hits, thereby helping broaden the appeal of that genre. By the late 1970s, her releasesmost notably, “You’re the One that I Want” (RSO #891; 1978; #1; with John Travolta), “Summer Nights” (RSO #906; 1978; #5; with Travolta), “Magic” (MCA #41247; 1980; #1 pop 4 weeks, #1 AC), and “Physical” (MCA #51182; 1981; #1 10 weeks)—had incorporated a stronger rock feel. She signed with Geffen in 1989; her first LP for the label, Warm And Tender (#24257; 1989; #124), a collection of lullabies, appears to have been influenced by the recent birth of her daughter. Although Newton-John had ceased being a chart fixture by the mid-1980s and oversees a retail clothing chain, she continues to intermittently tour and make new recordings.