I'm not sure if anything I'm about to write here makes any sense so please feel free to write it off as pointless drivel. Lately I've been very much enjoying Gerd Schaller's wonderful cycle of Bruckner recordings, he used various editions not normally used in other recordings and his recordings do bring something genuinely fresh to the table. I have two other complete Bruckner symphony cycles (Karajan's mid 70's set with the BPO and Inbal's under rated and neglected set with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as Karajan's final recordings of the 7th and 8th with the VPO) and to be quite honest wonder what space there is for further recordings other than cases such as Schaller's Bruckner where alternative editions are used? I find that the recorded quality of classical music recorded from the 1960's onwards is fine, in fact in some cases it can be better than later trends in recording using the multi-mic technique if you don't mind a little analogue hiss, it's not low-fi. I have all sorts of older recordings where the recording quality just isn't an issue despite the age of the recordings. And the back catalogue of companies like Warner and Universal means they can just keep offering old recordings of the entire mainstream (and a lot of the less mainstream works) of classical music in versions which were superbly performed and recorded and sell them for peanuts and still be up on the deal. Where does that leave contemporary artists though? If we take Bruckner as an example, Schaller offers something new which has carved out a space, but if looking at the more usual editions I'm perfectly happy with the Karajan set plus the two final single versions he did of the 7th and 8th and see no reason to keep buying recordings of works I already have which in most cases bring nothing to the table that I don't already have. Which begs the question what is the future for the classical music industry? I know music is cheap now, but still. In my younger days I'd not have bought multiple Wagner ring cycles and multiple complete cycles of a whole host of composers symphonies and other works which I now have because it is now so much cheaper and more accessible but there comes a point even with this improved accessibility where I ask myself whether I really need or even want another set of Beethoven symphonies for example. A record label promoting contemporary orchestras and conductors knows that they face competition from a back catalogue that can be re-issued for next to nothing and which includes a host of legendary (iconic) recordings. Maybe the future is a return to music as a live experience for contemporary artists, and anything which promotes music as a live experience is good, but I do wonder what (if any) future there is for further classical recordings.