Chandos Records

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CHANDOS Records

logo
legal form Ltd.
founding 1979
Seat Colchester , Essex
management Ralph Couzens
Number of employees 14 (as of January 30, 2012)
Branch Music industry
Website http://chandos.net
As of January 30, 2012

Chandos Records is an English record label for classical music . It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens (1933-2015) in London, moved its headquarters to Colchester , Essex in 1986 and is still family-owned. With around 100 recordings per year, it is one of the largest indie labels for classical music worldwide.

history

The name Chandos goes back to a music club owned by the BBC called Chandos Club , as well as the historical figure of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos . The Duke of Chandos was a patron of the arts who is particularly known in this context for the employment of George Frideric Handel as a composer in his Cannons residence in Middlesex .

Chandos Records originates from a music publisher called Chandos Music and the production company Chandos Productions . Chandos Music was founded in 1963 by Brian Couzens and has mainly published music for wind band and orchestral works by Gordon Langford and Ernest Tomlinson . The Chandos Productions recordings have been released under the Classics for Pleasure , Polydor , Contour and primarily RCA labels .

The founding of the record label Chandos Records arose from an emergency: RCA , whose entire recording activity was carried out at that time by Chandos Productions , closed the London office and the production company remained without orders. The company then turned to the artists who had produced them for other companies, and in future published the recordings on the newly founded label. In November 1979 Chandos Records released seven recordings with their most important artists, the first record under item number ABR1001 : a recording of Sacred Service by composer Ernest Bloch , conducted by Geoffrey Simon .

Chandos has always been a technical pioneer among record labels. In 1978 the company recorded Gustav Holst's The Planets , played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Gibson , their first sound carrier in a completely digital process. In addition, Chandos was one of the first labels to publish sound carriers on CD, the first in 1983. In 2005, Chandos put a new website on the Internet, through which all items in the company catalog - including those that were already out of print - were made available for download. In Germany, Chandos uses the distribution channel of note 1 music GmbH .

Chandos Records is now managed by Ralph Couzens , son of the company's founder Brian Couzens .

repertoire

While in the early years of the company the focus was on the recording and distribution of British music, the catalog has expanded significantly over the years: the recordings now cover a wide range from early music - summarized under the Chaconne label - to contemporary Compositions. The authors come from all over the world, as demonstrated by the collaboration with Takashi Yoshimatsu .

Chando's catalog includes - particularly in the context of British music - lesser-known composers such as Arnold Bax , Arthur Bliss , George Dyson , Moeran and Rubbra . But so-called standard repertoire is also published by the label; From 1984 to 1986, for example, all Tchaikovsky symphonies were recorded with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Mariss Jansons . Chandos generally shows a preference for comprehensive editions: the label has published complete recordings of all of their works by William Walton and Percy Grainger .

The Opera in English series became well known. With the translation of libretti into the English language, the opera was to be made accessible to a wider audience and, in particular, to find a new audience in the English-speaking world. In 1998, Chandos launched a large £ 250,000 advertising campaign spreading the slogan Opera that speaks your language . The series includes many of the most frequently performed works in opera literature, such as Carmen by Georges Bizet .

Artist

Well-known artists who have released recordings with Chandos Records include:

Conductors

orchestra

Soloists

Choirs

Prizes and awards

Recordings of the label have received awards from Gramophone magazine . The Gramophone Awards were among others for:

The following recordings by Chandos also won the Grammy :

There were also nominations, such as for the Classical Brit Critics' Choice Award with a recording of Janáček's The Makropulos Affair , as well as winning the public vote for the Gramophone 30 Year Gold Award .

swell

  1. ↑ a b Bradley Bambarger: British Indie Chandos Marks 20 Years Of Sonic Vision. In: Billboard. 00062510, 07/17/99, No. 111, edition 29
  2. ^ A b c d Paul D. Westcott: Chandos. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd Edition. ISBN 0-333-60800-3 , p. 464.
  3. ^ A b c d e C. Anderson: Thirty Years of Chandos. Ralph and Brian Couzens talk about the history of their company. In: Classic Record Collector. Winter 2008, pp. 39-42.
  4. ↑ a b c Chandos Records: Catalog 2009. ( online ( memento of the original from August 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice . , PDF file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chandos.net
  5. ^ P. Cutts: For the record: Steering clear of the mainstream. In: Gramophone. October 1999, p. 16. ( online )

Web links