Friday, September 4, 2009

"Somewhere In Time" but not "Somewhere In Lisztonian"

Most people know Rachmaninoff's 18th Variation on a Theme of Paganini from the popular movie, "Somewhere in Time." It is a beautiful piano/orchestra piece that is distinct and very memorable. I used to have a two-piano recording of this work posted on my website (my mother played the orchestral part while I performed the piano part), but I recently received a "Cease and Desist" order from Boosey & Hawkes, who apparently renewed the copyright to this work in 2004. The work was published in 1934 and so I naturally assumed that it was no longer protected by U.S. copyright, having exceeded the 70-year limit. Apparently I was wrong. In addition to having to pay an infringement fee I also had to remove this recording from my website.

So for those of you searching for a recording of Rachmaninoff's famous tune from "Somewhere In Time", you will now have a hard time finding it "Somewhere In Lisztonian". Very sad day... very sad indeed :(

1 comments:

heroineworshipper said...

They have all of Rach's work under copyright & some crazy ones like Pictures at an Exhibition. Unless they're willing to accept what little advertizing revenue a Goo Tube partnership can produce, there seems to be no way anyone can hear most of the music in the world for free.