Sybille Werner forwarded Benjamin Ivry’s WSJ article reporting Team Yellow’s decision to dump arguably their most interesting young artist, Yundi Li.   [more]

Ivry took particular umbrage with DG’s packaging and marketing of Li; it looks as if I am not alone in loathing the off-putting, too-refined, Vogue-on-steroids full-bleed artist photos that have replaced the label’s trademark super-sized lemon-yellow cartouche. The gradual shift of emphasis by the label’s Hamburg marketing office from great music played by marquis artists to tightly-image-controlled musical artists who happen (for the most part) to play great music reeks a bit too much of Leni Riefensthal.

Li and his management would do well to rethink his image and launch their own damn label. I’d take an insightful CD (or, for that matter, an uneven but strongly edifying recital) by Li over most of the crap being issued by the major classical labels these days.