<<  -- 9 --  Tess Crebbin    SHOPPING FOR OPERA ...

If you have any questions, most of the staff will be happy to answer them. You need not think that just anyone waits on you at Beck's. The largest classical music section in Germany has its own, high standards. The majority of the sales assistants have actually studied music and are graduates from university or the conservatory. You can ask a pianist to advise you on Liszt, Satie or Chopin. The store's very own opera singer will tell you the difference between the color ranges of Hildegard Behrens and Cecilia Bartoli, and a former violinist from the state orchestra can advise which recording to chose of Busoni's Violin Sonatas. They also advise by telephone, taking calls from the USA, France or Australia, and organize and ship CDs all over the world.

You could also easily get hooked on the fascinating, novel-style life stories of the forgotten composers, which you can read in the accompanying booklets while you listen to their music. You may end up returning to Munich over and over, for many a rainy day, and perhaps even change your taste of music so completely, becoming so biased in favor of the forgotten composers that you want to stay there for good.

But don't think you can make finding rare music at Beck into something as easy as a piece of cake because it doesn't work like that. Each of the shop assistants has their own area of expertise and some of them are friendlier than others. Forgive the haughty ones, if you may. Many of them are geniuses in their own rights, unable to find a place in Germany's overfilled job market upon graduation. It would come as little surprise if, a hundred years from now, someone walks into a music store, finds a fascinating, forgotten symphony, and exclaims upon listening to it -- just like we do today when we stumble upon Berwald, Busoni or Rott -- 'can you believe this brilliant music has been forgotten so long? Imagine, the composer used to work at Ludwig Beck in order to finance his own composition work.'