Four Nobu CDs on Billboard Japan Classical Chart ...

♪ January 11/12
News came that there are FOUR Nobuyuki Tsujii CDs on this week's Billboard Japan classical chart
https://dot.asahi.com/billboardnews/2017011100291.html
This is most likely due to sales at his performances on the ongoing Bach/Mozart/Beethoven Japan .Recital Tour.

 

This is good news, but things are not as rosy as it seems.  Consider these nuances:

• The top selling Nobu CD is his "The Best" album issued in 2014, which has been on the chart 67 weeks (not consecutively).  This is an anthology album that seems to sell well at Nobu's concerts.
• Nobu's brand new 2016 Chopin CD (etudes and ballade) is listed at a lowly #16, and has never risen above #6 on the chart since its release last November  -- this is probably why Nobu is playing the Chopin etudes for encores at his recent recitals, to generate interest for this album.
• The CDs by two other Japanese artists have outsold Nobu's CDs in the last few months: One is "Japan Rhapsody" (on the Chart for 11 weeks) by classical guitarist Kaori Muraji 村治佳織 (a Decca artist), and another (on the chart for 7 weeks) is a recording of performances by a Japanese pianist (known as the "Samurai pianist") Kyohei Toda反田恭平 of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Paganini rhapsody.  I hope Avex (Nobu's record label) take note of the success of the latter, as evidence that a recording of concerto performances with a Japanese orchestra can sell well -- Nobu's Beethoven Concertos (#1 and #3) are candidates for such an album.
• Then again, at the top of the chart is the all-time best seller (on the chart for 240 weeks) : "Classical music for age-zero's ".

The CD business is a tough one. Nobu is very fortunate to have such great support in Japan. In this country (USA), the best selling classical music album last week is reportedly the critically-acclaimed Liszt "Transcendental" album of hotshot Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, which sold a measly 190 copies.

I am the first one to say that as excellent as Nobu's albums are -- especially those recorded in Berlin's Teldex Studio -- there is no substitute for his live performances.  But, darn it, we have to support our favorite artists or they would not last long!