Forty years of WERGO: A Conversation with Peter Hanser-Strecker
• This autumn [2002] the label WERGO will celebrate its fortieth anniversary. How can a label that stands for ambitious recordings of contemporary classical music as few others have be successful over such a long period?
WERGO’s success is based on several factors. The first that should be mentioned is the unusually high demand it places on quality, measured as much in terms of content as of technique, in terms of the compositions as of interpretation. Next is surely the fact that there are no stylistic confines placed on the program. The label is open to all directions of New Music, to sound art created for radio or for other venues, and for all varieties of ambitious electronic music.
Special emphasis has always been placed on the accompanying texts: some consist of scholarly analysis, some of commentaries by the composers on their own works, and some of sociocultural reflections. In addition, WERGO has made special efforts in the area of first recordings of works.
The documentation of new music cannot be based entirely on fiscal criteria. Independently of the question of profitability, WERGO places great value on keeping the recordings it has made in print as long as possible. This is the only way to communicate adequately the durability of each recording’s value. The financial basis provided by Schott Musik International has made it possible to maintain this course from the beginning up to the present and to hold to it uncompromisingly in the future as well.
• Does WERGO have a motto?
Its motto could be: To recognize the new and to present it systematically and appropriately. New music has many, many faces. WERGO represents a platform for this variety.
• What did or does "Music of Our Time" mean for WERGO?
First of all, it means documentation. WERGO was the first label that systematically recorded new, incredible music that had never been heard before. In the meanwhile WERGO offers reference recordings in nearly all areas of new music. But a second aspect is important to us as well: support for new music as a way to open ears and eyes and to support young artists and composers.
• When WERGO began (under Werner Goldschmidt and Helmut Kirchmeyer) it was known for high standards of music pedagogy in the publication of recordings of the avant-garde of the time; during the 1970s and 1980s under your leadership the repertoire was greatly expanded, including, among other things, areas that are now called world music. In addition, there is ambitious computer music, valuable nature recordings, and documentations of Jewish music. What has changed in WERGO’s program in the last forty years? And what have been the constants?
In principle, nothing has changed, except the range. Thus the perspective also expanded beyond Europe’s borders. The presentation and documentation of the music of other cultures has become a lasting component of the label. The influence of such music on the European avant-garde, the contribution that it doubtless made, and continues to make, to expanding our musical consciousness, or experience of music, was our original motive in adding it to our catalog of new music. Our collaborations with the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of the Cultures of the World) and the music department of the Ehnological Museum in Berlin represent milestones in this effort. To this were added the series of the German Music Council, which presents, in an almost encyclopedic fashion, the works of young composers who live and work in Germany; the comprehensive documentations of electronic music and of acoustic art; and the projects that come from the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM, Center for Art and Media Technology) in Karlsruhe.
• What does WERGO stand for today?
WERGO (still) stands for quality and innovation, for courage in support of the noncommercial, of ventures that lack other support.
• WERGO works together with noncommercial broadcasters. What is attractive about that? Are there new projects in this area?
The collaboration between WERGO and such broadcasters has been an important constant. Radio has from the beginning been one of the most important supporters of new music and it remains so today. In the course of disseminating this music, a kind of symbiosis developed between broadcasters and recording companies. Broadcasters have the ensembles and the recording equipment. For economic and technical reasons, it makes sense to make use of these things. Labels like WERGO capture ephemeral broadcasts for the future.
• To what extent is WERGO the label of the Schott music publishing house?
WERGO is a separate company both legally and in reality. WERGO is thus not the primary label on which Schott composers are presented in recordings. The autonomy and independence of its program from Schott Musik International has been one of the factors in WERGO’s success in establishing itself worldwide as a market leader for new music.
At the same time, the publication of recordings is essentially the continuation of the publisher’s tasks using new means. Many contemporary works cannot be adequately represented and transmitted by a score alone. Consequently, it makes sense that Schott Musik International has extended the range of its publishing goals to include recordings. For example, it made it possible for us to including electronic, computer-generated, and improvisational music among our publications. Without our own label, our possibilities would be restricted here and we would always be dependent on third parties.
• The current situation on the CD market is anything but encouraging. WERGO has recently published new catalogs. It looks like a departure? A departure in what direction?
In its fifth decade, WERGO will continue to fulfill its role as leader and will use large new projects and all the technical possibilities available (including DVD technology) to ensure that new music remains a rewarding discovery, a special experience. One such large project we are currently planning is the documentation of lectures of important twentieth-century composers (including Hindemith, Stravinsky, Eisler, Dessau, and many others). WERGO will thus continue to be synonymous with new music presented in distinctive forms.
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