German Harmonia Mundi
| German Harmonia Mundi | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
| Active years | since 1958 |
| founder | Rudolf Ruby |
| Seat | Freiburg in Breisgau |
| Website | Klassik.sonymusic.de |
| Genre (s) | Early music , classical music |
The Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (own spelling "deutsche harmonia mundi", short: dhm) is a record label for early music . Although the label's catalog also includes recordings of new music , the program continues to focus on early music.
history
The label was founded in 1958 in Freiburg im Breisgau by Rudolf Ruby . In its first ten years, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi worked closely with the independent French label Harmonia Mundi France , which followed a similar concept. The cooperation ranged from joint interpreters and material exchange to joint sales. The dhm founder Rudolf Ruby found an ally in Alfred Krings, editor at Westdeutscher Rundfunk (then still NWDR ), who became the young label's mentor. The first recordings were made with Elly Ameling , the Deller Consort and Gustav Leonhardt . In 1962 the Collegium Aureum was founded as a kind of in-house orchestra, which played exclusively on historical instruments and was musically directed by its concertmaster Franzjosef Maier. They were among the first to play Mozart's works on historical instruments.
With the establishment of a festival in the Fugger Castle in Kirchheim in Swabia , which was organized annually by the label, more artists came to dhm. Among them were Pro Cantione Antiqua and the Kujiken brothers. Sigiswald Kuijken took over the direction of the second orchestra La Petite Bande , which was founded under the sponsorship of the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi . Large baroque opera productions such as Rameau's Zoroastre and Handel's Partenope were also in the repertoire. Other early music greats such as René Jacobs , Hopkinson Smith and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis joined them. In addition, the collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, from which important chamber music ensembles came from, grew . Contacts with the German Music Council led to the documentation of the German Music Competition , the Choir and Orchestra Competition , the Federal Youth Orchestra and the Jugend Musiziert competition . By recording the Bruckner symphonies of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra with conductor Günter Wand , Deutsche Harmonia Mundi also entered the field of large orchestras with modern instruments. Also Andreas Staier , Cantus Cölln and Konrad Junghänel , Musica Fiata, La Stagione, Camerata Köln, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Thomas Hengelbrock were among the receiving dhm for artists. Gambist Hille Perl , sopranos Nuria Rial and Dorothee Mields, Ensemble Melante, Huelgas Ensemble, Cantus Thuringia & Capella , Quadriga Consort , Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock , Concentus Musicus Vienna under Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Musica Fiata under Roland Wilson and the flautist Dorothee Oberlinger are some of the many artists who have released successful CDs with dhm in recent years.
Acquisitions
In 1992 the company was taken over by the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and the label continued in the spirit of its founder. Now Al Ayre Espanol with Spanish baroque music and Andrew Lawrence-King with the Harp Consort joined them. Thomas Hengelbrock founded his ensembles Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble and Nikolaus Harnoncourt also released important recordings with dhm with his Concentus Musicus. After the merger of BMG with Sony Music in 2004, the label belongs to the Sony BMG company and, after Sony took over the stake from Bertelsmann in 2008, is part of Sony Music Entertainment .
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 58 ′ 48 ″ N , 7 ° 49 ′ 21.1 ″ E