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Naxos.com offers access to all the labels of the Naxos Music Group as well as to leading independent labels such as ARC Music, BR-Klassik, Capriccio, Cantaloupe Music, Cedille, Dacapo, Grand Piano, OehmsClassics, Ondine, Orfeo, Phoenix Edition, OUR Recordings, Sono Luminus, SWR Classic, Tactus, Tafelmusik Media, Vienna Philharmonic, Vox Classics, White Cloud, Yarlung Records, and many more. Also represented on the site are the leading international DVD labels: Accentus Music, BelAir Classiques, Christopher Nupen Films, C Major, Dynamic, Opus Arte, and others. Many different genres are available, mostly classical but also modern and historical jazz, world music, nostalgia and contemporary instrumental. Click on the logo of each label to explore their catalogue, and, in the case of the DVD labels, watch the available promo clips on their product pages.
This is the world’s leading classical label in terms of the number of new releases and the depth and breadth of its catalogue.
No other label covers such a wide range of music and categories, from Early Music to Contemporary composers, from instrumental and chamber music to opera.
There are American Classics, Japanese Classics, Spanish Classics, Greek Classics and several other national collections of classical music.
Naxos is the only truly universal classical label—each month Naxos releases some 30 new titles, recorded in more than 20 countries around the world.
Naxos Classical Archives has an extensive list of digitally transferred historical recordings. These include: Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and Stravinsky’s Song of the Nightingale from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Eduard van Beinum (1955/1956); Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto from Claudio Arrau, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy (1953); and David Oistrakh’s 1955 recording of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4, also with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. All recordings on Naxos Classical Archives are available for streaming and downloading only.
Naxos sees it as its mission to promote the appreciation and understanding of classical music and has produced a wide range of educational texts and recordings.
There are the lives and works of the great composers; analyses of the most important works of classical music; introductions to all the most popular operas; A–Z of Classical Music and A–Z of Opera; an introduction to the instruments of the orchestra; and many others.
Naxos Educational is charting new territory. Using the wealth of Naxos recordings combined with approachable, absorbing narrative, it aims to broaden the understanding of musicians and their music.
Please visit our books and ebooks page for a full range of our educational products.
This label is devoted to keeping the great recordings of the past alive and accessible. Naxos uses the services of the finest transfer engineers, such as Mark Obert-Thorn and Ward Marston, to produce restorations of outstanding quality. There are separate series devoted to the greatest conductors, pianists, violinists, cellists and singers of the past.
A truly international jazz label offering the finest contemporary jazz from around the world and featuring artists and ensembles from the United States, Scandinavia, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.
This label is devoted to the great jazz musicians of the past, from Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Django Reinhardt.
The Broadway Musical is one of the great American art forms. The Naxos Musicals series explores the original sounds of Broadway, ranging chronologically from the 1932 recording of Jerome Kern’s Showboat to the 1953 recording of Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town. All recordings feature the original cast and also include rare bonus material. Transfers from historical material were made to the highest professional standards. This series is a true treasure gem for collectors of the genre and music lovers in general.
This label offers access to the stars of popular music of the first half of the 20th century, from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland to Fred Astaire, Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier.
Naxos Rock Legends focuses on rock and pop recordings from the 1950s, encompassing a significant collection of these within numbered volumes entitled The History of Rock and Roll. Chuck Berry, Joe Henderson, Victor Young and many others feature. All recordings on Naxos Rock Legends are only available for streaming and downloading.
This label offers the traditional or folk music of many countries around the world. Chinese ethnic and cultural music are particular strengths of Naxos World.
Established by the owner of Vox in the 1980s, around the advent of the CD era, Allegretto was intended to create compilations derived from the Vox catalogue’s extensive archives, themed for a more contemporary generation than its sister labels’ focus on repertoire and collectors. Eschewing its history of comprehensive liner notes and artistic approach to cover art, Allegretto took a more populist approach to its themes, packaging and design.
Altissimo! Recordings has been dedicated to the continuing production and distribution of the vast array of music from the wonderful musicians of the United States military bands, orchestras, ensembles and choruses. The Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and the Navy are all richly represented here. View catalogue 
Website: militarymusic.com
This is the super-budget label of the Naxos family of labels. It offers a wide range of original recordings of the core classical repertoire but also titles deleted from the Naxos catalogue.
Established in 1976, it is a goal of ARC Music to preserve the ethnic music of world cultures, and to spread traditional and original music with a positive message. The label now offers the largest selection of traditional and contemporary ethnic music from all corners of the world.
Website: www.arcmusic.co.uk
Founded in 2004 by the producer François Duplat and managed by Jacques-François Suzzoni, BelAir Classiques is the video label subsidiary of the French production company BelAir Media. It releases audiovisual productions of classical music programmes (operas, ballets, concerts and theatre) on DVD and Blu-ray. BelAir Classiques strives to achieve a very high artistic and production standard in association with many of the great opera houses, such as the Opéra de Paris, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Mariinsky Theatre, La Scala Milan, the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Munich Staatsoper; it also collaborates with leading festivals such as the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Working with renowned directors such as Andy Sommer, Vincent Bataillon and Don Kent, as well as artists of the highest calibre that include Simon Rattle, Roberto Alagna and William Christie, BelAir Classiques’ growing catalogue of over 130 titles has been recognised by prestigious awards from the international music press.
Website: belairclassiques.com
belvedere edition was founded in 2006 by renowned producer François Duplat and has developed the successful series Die Theateredition which was the first label for theatre and drama on DVD within the German-speaking market. The international catalogue includes premium drama productions, classical music, documentaries and children’s programmes on DVD as well as CD. Bestselling titles include the legendary staging by Peter Stein of Goethe’s Faust and the 10-DVD boxed-set Klassiker des Theaters. View Catalogue
Wonderful, fantastic, splendid, excellent, blessed brilliant… In the Welsh language, one word covers it: bendigedig. This label believes in great music with a passion. We release it with a wider vision, embracing a 360 model; production, touring, live performance, agency, artist and project management, PR, marketing, distribution, publishing, creative development and investment. We nurture the best, we’re rigorous, working hard with love and care. We’re selective, doing less but supporting it better. We believe in shared investment and shared benefit, wonderful artists and superb music. We are from Wales, England and Germany. bendigedig, a label owned and managed in common partnership by Theatr Mwldan and ARC Music Productions International Ltd.
Website: www.bendigedig.org
Founded in 1973, BIS Records belongs to the most highly respected classical labels in the world, praised for the sound quality of its recordings – whether released on regular CDs or as Hybrid SACDs with optional surround sound – and for the versatility and variety of its catalogue, which to date includes more than 1700 titles. BIS Records is one of of today’s leading independent classical labels with a strong focus on Scandinavian and Baltic composers, with landmark projects including the complete works of Sibelius and the Suzuki Bach cantata series.
Website: www.bis.se
The classic music label Capriccio was founded by Delta Music in 1982. From the beginning, it was not this label’s aim to compete with the major companies and their classical labels, their stars and their vast archives. Capriccio always wanted to fill the niches that other labels kept neglecting. This philosophy has not changed over the last 25 years. Capriccio is committed to the music fans that look beyond the paths of mainstream classical music and who are curious to discover unknown repertoires, young artists, as well as inventive programs. All this offer artists like Christine Schäfer, Petersen Quartet, Tabea Zimmermann, Vladimir Spivakov and many others.
Website: www.capriccio.at
Chandos Records is one of the world’s premier classical music record companies, best known for its ground breaking search for neglected musical gems. The company has pioneered the idea of the ‘series’ and proudly includes series of such composers as Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Parry, Walton, Grainger, Berkeley and Bridge. Renowned for its superb sound quality, Chandos has won many prestigious awards for its natural sound.
Website: www.chandos.net
Daphne started as an independent record company with a principle to present unusual and interesting musical repertoire with top quality Swedish musicians. The company was founded by Björn Uddén, former oboist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for almost 40 years. Daphne spare no effort in producing sound, music and performances of the highest possible quality. Among its recordings are compositions by Dag Wirén, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Rolf Martinsson, Gösta Nystroem, Laura Netzel and Valborg Aulin, and performances by Matti Hirvonen, Mats Widlund, Roland Pöntinen, Stenhammar Quartet and Mats Rondin. In October 2021 the label was acquired by Naxos, and is now a part of Naxos Music Group.
Website: daphne.se.hemsida.eu
Founded in 1978 as an independent Italian record company based in Genoa, Dynamic subsequently assembled an impressive catalogue of some 700 CDs and DVDs, many of them devoted to operas and works for violin from the 18th and 19th centuries. A significant portion of the catalogue comprises works that fall outside the traditional repertoire, with many of them featured in world première recordings.
Website: www.dynamic.it
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Launched in 2012, the Grand Piano label has quickly gained a reputation for producing high quality recordings of rare keyboard gems. Dedicated to the exploration of undiscovered piano repertoire, the label specialises in multi-volume recordings and complete cycles of piano works by many lesser-known composers, whose output might otherwise have remained unknown and unrecorded. Spanning almost four centuries of music from around the world, the Grand Piano catalogue includes music by past composers such as Leopold Koželuch, Alexander Tcherepnin and Mieczysław Weinberg, as well as works by living composers such as Valentyn Silvestrov, Martial Solal and Philip Hammond. Grand Piano artists are very often authorities on these less well-known composers and experts on the chosen repertoire, giving their performances a unique stamp of authenticity. Drawing on such a rich resource, the label is able to boast that most of its 60-plus recordings to date include world premières. The covers of Grand Piano releases are adorned either with figurative paintings by the award-winning artist Gro Thorsen or atmospheric images by international photographer Tony Price.
Website: grandpianorecords.com
In a recording career of more than 50 years the Turkish pianist Idil Biret made over 80 LPs and CDs for 10 record labels in Europe and the USA including Véga, Decca, Atlantic (Warner), EMI and Naxos as well as recordings for many radio and television stations around the world. Idil Biret Archive was established in 2002 with the aim to make available to the public the many recordings Idil Biret made since she first entered the studios of Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française in Paris at the age of eight. As the copyrights are obtained old recordings are being released together with her new recordings. The IBA emblem embodies the engraving of an angel by Albrecht Dürer presented to Idil Biret by Nadia Boulanger with the following inscription: ‘To my little Idil. Christmas 1959. May the Angel protect her on the beautiful and dangerous path she has engaged herself in. With all my heart.’
When the label was launched in 1982 it was the first label devoted to world premiere recordings mostly of repertoire from the second half of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century.
The recordings covered unknown works by well-known composers and the most important works of little-known or forgotten composers. Light classical music was also represented extensively. Landmark projects included the complete orchestral works of Johann Strauss II [on 52 CDs] and Josef Strauss [on 27 CDs], a wide range of British Light Music, and series devoted to Suppe, Waldteufel and others.
The Swedish label Musica Rediviva was founded by Sven and Satoko Berger in 1978. The company initially specialised in reproducing and restoring early instruments. The first album was released in 1989 and today the catalogue has 28 titles focusing on early music.
Musiques Suisses is a record label that promotes the diversity of Swiss musical life. Its imprint Grammont Portrait of the Association for the Promotion of Swiss Music focuses on Swiss composers and performers. Titles under Musiques Suisses’ second imprint Neue Volksmusik comprise recordings of Swiss folk music and alpine instruments. View catalogue
Website: www.musiques-suisses.ch
NXN Recordings was established in Oslo in 2019 to release Norwegian crossover projects. Its aim is to put out interesting, innovative and original music which bends, explores and challenges the established genres. There’s a lot to discover in its catalogue from neo-classical, ambient, jazz, contemporary music, and everything in between. NXN Recordings’ releases have the recognisable “Cool Nordic sound” in common, and the music has proven to have global appeal.
Website: www.nxnrecordings.no
Oehms is the brainchild of Dieter Oehms. After working for 35 years in the recording industry (DG/Poygram and Arte Nova/BMG), he created this independent label in 2003. Artists include Pascal Rogé and James Levine; repertoire is very varied, including Haydn’s Creation, Bruckner symphonies and piano music from Armenia. View catalogue
Website: www.oehmsclassics.de
Ondine was founded in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland, where the company is still based and today offers an extremely eclectic catalogue of both contemporary Finnish music, as well as recordings with major Finnish and international artists. Ondine’s extensive catalogue includes more than 600 recordings (more than 300 of which are available digitally) of artists and ensembles such as conductor and pianist Christoph Eschenbach, conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sakari Oramo, Leif Segerstam, John Storgårds and Mikko Franck, orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the London Sinfonietta, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic, sopranos Karita Mattila and Soile Isokoski, pianist Olli Mustonen, violinist Pekka Kuusisto and clarinettist Kari Kriikku. The label has also had a long and fruitful association with the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, having recorded the premieres of many of his works and garnering many awards along the way.
Website: www.ondine.net
We are delighted to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Opus Arte in 2021. Founded as a production company by Hans Petri in 1999, the label released its first DVD in 2001. From the outset Opus Arte has been releasing recordings from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, one of the closest and longest-standing relationships we have had. So much so that the ROH acquired Opus Arte in 2007 and we became their in-house DVD label. In 2018 we joined the Naxos family, although we continue to work very closely with the ROH and maintain our base of operations at the Royal Opera House in London.
Opus Arte now boasts a catalogue of over 800 programmes, including recordings in 4K, 3-D and Dolby ATMOS, and was one of the first labels to release high definition content on Blu-ray. We are proud to be associated with many of the world’s finest arts organisations, which aside from the Royal Opera House includes Glyndebourne, Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Teatro Real, Bayreuth, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The theatrical side has always been a core part of the label’s identity: in the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe we distribute the two pre-eminent Shakespeare theatres in the world and have an unrivalled catalogue in this sphere. As theatres return to normal after the devastating impact of Covid we look forward to many more great opera and ballet productions being added to the Opus Arte catalogue, and last but by no means least the completion of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s landmark project to record the entire Shakespeare canon.
Website: www.opusarte.com
Founded in Munich in 1979, Orfeo has achieved its current international standing thanks to the consistency of its policy towards repertoire and artists. Orfeo has always focused on releasing first-rate recordings of famous as well as lesser-known and neglected works by leading composers in addition to individual masterpieces by composers who are less well known. Their aim is to ensure the fascination that classical music can exert transcends generations and remains a living force, while remaining true to traditional, classical values even when offering listeners surprises.
Website: www.orfeomusic.de
The label Phoenix Edition is the brainchild of Johannes Kernmayer, for many years artistic director at Capriccio. Phoenix Edition features artists such as Christine Schäfer, Reinhold Friedrich, Arleen Auger, Simone Kermes, Thomas Quasthoff, Christoph Eschenbach, the Petersen Quartet, L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, WDR Radio Choir and Orchestra Cologne, Kontraste Koln, Das Neue Orchester conducted by Christoph Spering, Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and other leading performers. The label focuses on rediscovering works written by neglected composers. View catalogue
Prophone is a high-quality independent label focusing on jazz with a touch of Sweden; it was founded by Erland Boëthius, the son of Proprius’ founder Jacob Boëthius. The label shares Proprius’ reputation as an “audiophile label”. Since its inception in 1990, many internationally renowned artists have contributed to its catalogue: Esbjörn Svensson, Alice Babs, Jakob Karlzon, Rigmor Gustafsson, Steve Dobrogosz and Jeanette Lindström, to name a few. View catalogue
In an advertisement for Proprius some years ago, the label’s founder Jacob Boëthius wrote: “A small record company can’t afford to put out bad discs. And you, the music lover, must be confident that what you buy is good”. He was aware that, in the final analysis, quality is what counts with regard to clients, record buyers, artists and sound engineers.
Being considered an “audiophile label”, quality in every aspect has been the hallmark of Proprius for over 30 years, and so it will continue.
Romophone includes some rare gems in the field of historical recording, going back as far as 1900. Distinctive among its releases are those of particular national interest – Italian singers for Italian works, American singers for American works etc. – as well as collections of arias translated into unusual languages, capturing the early-20th-century custom of translating opera into the local vernacular. It includes such renowned names as Geraldine Farrar (the complete Victor recordings 1907–09), Amelita Galli-Curci (complete acoustic recordings 1916–1920 and complete Victor recordings 1925–8, 1930) and others, as well as La Scala recordings of Verdi’s Il trovatore and Aida, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly made between 1928 and 1930. There is also a remarkable disc of highlights from Wagner’s Ring cycle with a variety of soloists, all singing in French.
It was thanks to composer Hugo Alfvén that Sweden got its very first recording label devoted purely to classical music. The bond of friendship that existed between him and the recording enthusiast Hans Peter Kempe proved one of the most important in the history of Sweden’s recording industry. The Midsummer Vigil LP, which was the label’s very first release, raised Alfvén’s profile to an international level.
In 1958 Kempe was contacted by Claude Génetay, a member of the Stockholm Radio Orchestra. He had researched and written out the parts to a long dormant work by “the father of Swedish Music”, Johan Helmich Roman: The Drottningholm Music. Génetay suggested that Kempe record the work. Even in the 1950s Roman’s music was almost unknown, but this new recording, made appropriately in the Drottningholm Court Theatre, found immediate popularity among a large audience.
Today, Swedish Society Discofil is still an important player in the recording of Swedish music and artists. Being considered an audiophile label, it shares its recording philosophy with sister-labels Proprius and Prophone.
SWR Classic is the label of the Southwest German Broadcasting Company (SWR), on which recordings of the internationally renowned SWR orchestras and ensembles, including outstanding archive recordings, are released in cooperation with Naxos Germany. The label celebrated its fifteenth anniversary in October 2015 and is now a well-established competitor in the market; the numerous awards and prizes it has received attest to its success. The SWR is the only German public radio network that presents the activities of its orchestras and ensembles in permanent documentation on CD. The label, so far known as SWRmusic, was renamed as SWR Classic in 2017, according to the new classical music brand of the SWR.
SWR Jazzhaus is a German record label, founded in 2011 from the SWR Media Services and Arthaus Musik. On SWR Jazzhaus the South-Western Broadcasting (SWR) releases live concerts or studio recordings from their archives in Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz. The SWR started already in 1957 to send jazz broadcasts in radio and TV. Containing up to date more than 3,000 hours with jazz radio recordings (and 500 hours of TV material) with more than 400 different ensembles and soloists, the SWR archives represents one of the biggest unpublished collections of live jazz worldwide.
SWR Jazzhaus gradually publishes a part of this musical archive treasure. The original tapes are re-mastered in high-end quality and released on CD, DVD and vinyl. All SWR Jazzhaus releases are also available on the common digital music platforms.
Up to date, the SWR Jazzhaus catalogue contains more than 40 releases featuring the big stars of the German and international jazz scene – Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Zoot Sims, Chet Baker, Oscar Pettiford, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Tony Scott, Jutta Hipp, Albert Mangelsdorff, Hans Koller and many more.
Die Theateredition, the successful series developed by belvedere edition, was the first label for theatre and drama on DVD within the German-speaking market.
Founded in 1945 by George Mendelssohn Bartoldy (1912–1988), VOX played a major role in recognizing and launching the careers of young talents like: Alfred Brendel, Ingrid Haebler, Walter Klien, Michael Ponti, Aaron Rosand, Ivry Gitlis, Michael Gielen and Rolf Reinhardt. It also (re)-aquainted American listeners to senior artists such as: Otto Klemperer, Jasha Horenstein, Ionel Perlea, Hans Rosbaud, Clemens Krauss, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Lili Kraus, Vlado Perlmutter, György Sandor, Friedrich Wührer. Further artists who recorded for Mendelssohn were: Rugiero Ricci, Shura Cherhassky, Susanne Lauterbacher, Robert Firkusny, Abbey Simon.
The many imprints of VOX included: Vox Music Masters (founded in 1946 with educational purpose in mind), VOX BOX, TURNABOUT and CANDIDE – all of them LP labels. Their releases are still sought after by collectors due not only to the recordings themselves, but also to the quality of the liner notes and the highly artistic approach of the artworks. The CD era brought further imprints like MMG, Allegretto, Vox Cameo Classics and Vox Legends and were based increasingly on compilations and licensed material and less on new recordings.
Vox’s repertoire breadth is comprehensive, from medieval music to 20th century contemporary composition. Many of the VOX recordings – especially those of complete orchestral cycles with American orchestras – were realized by the Grammy awarded production team of Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz from the Elite Recordings Studio, with many others being realized by the Südwest Tonstudio from Germany founded by Heinz Jansen.
The brainchild of Jon Mark [of Mark Almond Band fame], this label offers ambient, soft jazz, Celtic and world music, combining both contemporary and traditional styles.
Musicians and composers from the Southern Hemisphere reflect the traditions of their ancestors and the beauty of the landscapes of their home countries.
This label focuses on Chinese classical and ethnic music. The catalogue comprises more than 60 titles, all recorded in China.
Award-winning audiobook label offering a wide range of abridged and unabridged digital recordings of the world’s greatest literature.
There are Junior Classics and numerous non-fiction titles focusing on the arts. The label also offers classic and contemporary plays, from Shakespeare to Beckett.
Website: naxosaudiobooks.com
Naxos Books is a diverse and forward-thinking imprint, which embraces both popular and specialist titles within the world of classical music. Its hallmark is the groundbreaking fusion of words and music, drawing on the extensive list of Naxos classical recordings to provide a ‘multimedia’ take on traditional book publishing. The majority of its mainstream books include CDs and websites where readers can listen to many hours of relevant music. Its broad scope mirrors the success that Naxos has achieved with its music CDs, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to the ‘Naxos’ Quartets of Peter Maxwell Davies.
Please visit www.naxos.com/classicalmusicbooks for a comprehensive list of our offering.
The German equivalent of Naxos AudioBooks, this label offers recordings of German classic literature, from Goethe to Kafka.
Founded in 2010 and based in Leipzig, a centre of classical music, Accentus Music produces high profile concert and opera recordings worldwide, as well as feature-length documentaries and portraits. Both artistically and technically, Accentus Music meets the highest expectations of music lovers around the world.
Website: accentus.com
From its very beginning in the year 1998, ArcoDiva Recording Company from Prague has become the most important independent producer of classical music in the Czech Republic and the Middle-European territory established after the 1989 political changes. The catalogue of the company includes more than a hundred titles, many of which received awards abroad. The ArcoDiva Company releases about 12 new projects per year, very often in co-production with influential institutions such as Czech Radio and International Prague Spring Festival. ArcoDiva exports its own CDs overseas including to Japan, China, South Korea etc., and regularly takes part at MIDEM in Cannes. ArcoDiva works with the progressive 24-bit 96-KHz recording technology producing also for other foreign companies such as PRAGA DIGITAL. The ArcoDiva catalogue includes big prestigious projects such as the oratorio Svata Ludmila by Dvořák (SACD in co-production with the Prague Spring Festival), Symphonies by Gustav Mahler and many others with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Quattro Orchestra and Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Website: www.arcodiva.cz
Recordings from one of Scandinavia’s leading chamber choirs in the field of polyphonic Renaissance music and experimental vocal music of our own time.
Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings, the new in-house label of the Bayerische Staatsoper, seeks to chronicle the excellence, diversity and tradition of one of the world’s most renowned opera houses.
The annals of the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester stretch back nearly 500 years, belonging to the illustrious handful of cultural institutions whose tradition spans European musical history almost entirely. In past decades, the opera house and orchestra have established themselves among the best in the world, in particular through their collaboration with conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta and Kirill Petrenko. Against this backdrop, the opportunity has been seized to take current and older highlights from the large repertoire, catalogue them on an exclusive in-house label and make them available to a wider audience.
With the launch of Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings (BSOrec), from 2021, selected current opera productions and concerts as well as notable archive recordings will be released in audio and/or audio-visual format. Productions from the children’s and youth programme, as well as chamber music, which will give a platform to outstanding ensembles from the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, will also be included within the label’s manifold offering. The detailed background information and essays in the lavishly designed, high-quality hardcover booklets complete the technically sophisticated audiovisual experience. The label’s logo pays tribute to the historic Munich Nationaltheater. The characteristic double gable is rotated ninety degrees and becomes a futuristic symbol.
Website: www.staatsoper.de
BR-Klassik is the label of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Symphonieorchester des Bayerische Rundfunk), Bavarian Radio Chorus, and the Munich Radio Orchestra (Münchner Rundfunkorchester), devoted to making performances of its symphony orchestra more widely available. The orchestra’s high standards are well represented on recordings of excellent quality.
Website: www.br-klassik.de
C Major DVD includes performances by Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and other legendary classical music stars as well as Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo and Cecilia Bartoli in more than 2,100 programs of music and art on film and TV formats. Since 2006, C Major Entertainment has distributed the unique UNITEL Catalogue.
Website: www.cmajor-entertainment.com
Campanella Musica is the chamber music sub-label of Solo Musica. The artists themselves are fully in control of their recordings which are then presented to the public in beautifully-packed albums.
Cantaloupe Music is a record label created in March 2001 by the three founders of New York’s legendary Bang on a Can Festival: composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and Bang on a Can managing director Kenny Savelson. Cantaloupe Music has made a massive impact in the new music community, and been recognised by critics and fans around the globe for its adventurous sounds.
Cantaloupe Music’s goal is to provide a home for “music that slips between the cracks.”
Website: cantaloupemusic.com
Cedille Records, the label of Cedille Chicago, NFP, is dedicated to producing classical recordings of the highest quality featuring outstanding musicians from Chicago. Its purpose is to enhance the world’s catalogue of recorded music by documenting these musicians’ explorations of new and underrepresented compositions and their important interpretations of standard repertoire in innovative programmes. The extensive dissemination of these recordings is designed to bring these artists to a worldwide audience, thus enhancing their reputations and careers, and to benefit as great a listening public as possible.
Available for downloading and streaming worldwide. CDs not available in Australia through Naxos.
Website: www.cedillerecords.org
This DVD label offers the films shown in the retrospective series on British television devoted to this legendary producer of classical music films.
This is the Danish national recording label with a rich collection of Danish music from the Middle Ages to the present. There is also contemporary jazz and experimental music from Denmark.
Website: www.dacapo-records.dk
The legendary classical label Delos, “long a leader in audiophile-quality recordings” (New York Times), has initiated significant trends in the classical music industry, has recorded some of the most honoured names in the classical music field, and was a pioneer in digital recording.
Website: delosmusic.com
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of music director Jaap van Zweden, presents the finest in classical music at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, regarded as one of the world’s première concert halls. In November 2011 van Zweden was named as the recipient of Musical America’s Conductor of the Year Award 2012 in recognition of his critically acclaimed work as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and as a guest conductor with the most prestigious US orchestras.
Gramola was founded in Vienna in 1924 as an Austrian offshoot of the Czech/British record producer of the same name, and has been active since then in all areas concerning classical music. In recent years, the focus has shifted to CD production, and with about 30 productions a year Gramola has been Austria’s classical music producer with the highest production rate for some time. Initially, Gramola placed an emphasis on great composers of Viennese Classicism, such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, but now production activities stress on promoting young Austrian musicians and not least the co-operation with ‘Exilarte’, devoted to the music of murdered or exiled composers.
Website: www.gramola.at
L’Auditori de Barcelona is one of the leading classical music institutions of Southern Europe, and also home to the OBC Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the BMB Barcelona Symphonic Band. L’Auditori label was created to spread new symphonic music, Catalan and Spanish heritage, as well as selected long term projects of Classical repertoire of the OBC Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. The fundamental pillars of L’Auditori are innovation, excellence, social responsibility, education and the dissemination of musical heritage.
Website: www.auditori.cat
MDR KLASSIK is the new classical label of MITTELDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK (MDR) and its Leipzig Radio symphony orchestra and Radio Choir, launched in August 2012. The Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra is Germany’s oldest radio orchestra and the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir is the country’s largest broadcasting station choir. Both can be heard regularly in the concert hall and in radio and television broadcasts, performing a wide-ranging repertoire. Outstanding concerts and performances by these dynamic and innovative ensembles, including rarely heard works, are now available to all fans and music lovers on the new MDR Klassik label.
Created in late 2006, OUR Recordings was established as a musical showcase featuring the talents of Michala Petri, the preeminent recorder virtuoso of her generation and the visionary musical explorations of long-time-duo-partner, guitarist and lute player Lars Hannibal. As the name indicates, the releases are recordings where either Michala Petri or Lars Hannibal or both are involved.
Website: www.ourrecordings.com
Seventh Art Productions is one of the UK’s leading independent producers of films for cinema, TV and digital platforms. Over the past 35 years it has worked with major British and international broadcasters and shown films in almost 100 countries, specialising in creating top-quality documentaries on art, history, social issues and classical music.
Based in Brighton, East Sussex, Seventh Art Productions was founded in 1984 by award-winning British filmmaker Phil Grabsky, who continues to write, direct and produce many of its films today.
Seventh Art Productions is behind cinema films such as Muhammad Ali – Through the Eyes of the World, In Search of Beethoven, In Search of Mozart and The Boy Mir – Ten Years in Afghanistan. These films have played in cinemas and festivals worldwide, winning dozens of awards. Many of these have enjoyed exceptional theatrical successes across the globe: in Australia both In Search of Mozart and In Search of Beethoven played in cinemas for months and entered the all-time top grossing documentaries. Click here to continue reading about the label.
Website: seventh-art.com
“ARTIST FIRST!”
The founder and managing director of Solo Musica, Hubert Haas, proves this statement at all times. He describes his label as the tailor among the classic labels. Solo Musica has been the musical home of solo artists, ensembles and orchestras for 15 years now. The focus of the label’s work is always the individual positioning of the artists and their products. Hubert Haas attaches particular importance to intensive cooperation and the involvement of the artists throughout the entire production process. It is therefore important to him to accompany the career of an ensemble or artist over the long term and to lead it to success. Hubert Haas is a “border crosser” between the musical genres, he keeps the boundaries fluid.
This is also shown by the excerpt from the label’s impressive list of artists: Marlis Petersen, Fazil Say, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Casal Quartet, Julius Berger, Margarita Höhenrieder, Francisco Araiza, Phillipe Entremont and Gerold Huber.
Website: solo-musica.de
The American label Sono Luminus boasts a wide variety of classical recordings spanning several centuries and many musical genres and styles. Titles include music by Bach, symphonies by Shostakovich, English Mad Songs and Ayres, Argentinian concert music, works for lute, masterpieces from the romantic repertoire, vocal recitals, and hundreds of other outstanding recordings. CDs not available in Australia through Naxos.
Website: www.sonoluminus.com
Founded in 1988, the Milanese label Stradivarius has gained the attention of the international recording market as a label specialising in Renaissance-Baroque music (Dulcimer series) and contemporary repertoire (Times Future series). Within those clearly delineated categories, recordings cover sacred music, instrumental music, solo music, chamber music and orchestral music.
Website: www.stradivarius.it
Established in 1986 by Serafino Rossi, Tactus is devoted to the discovery and preservation of the enormous and still unexplored Italian classical music repertoire, from Gregorian chants to Contemporary Classics. The Tactus catalogue now includes more than 550 titles.
Website: www.tactus.it
Watch: TACTUS RECORDS Italy – The Italian Classical Music record label
Renowned for its dynamic, engaging, and soulful performances, Tafelmusik is one of the world’s leading period-instrument ensembles, performing on instruments and in styles appropriate for the era of the music. They are Canada’s most toured orchestra, having performed in over 350 cities in 32 countries, and perform some 80 concerts a year for their loyal and enthusiastic audience in Toronto. Tafelmusik reaches millions of people through its extensive touring, critically acclaimed recordings, broadcasts, new media, and artistic-community partnerships. Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra recently announced their new music director, Elisa Citterio, who takes over from the inspired leadership of Jeanne Lamon.
Website: www.tafelmusik.org
Unitel Edition, the new classical music label, presents itself with a fine selection of musical programmes.
Website: www.unitel-edition.de
In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn, the Vienna Philharmonic has published under its own auspices a special edition of selected symphonies which includes outstanding interpretations conducted by Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Zubin Mehta and Franz Welser-Möst. Other recordings of this great orchestra will be issued on the Vienna Philharmonic label.
The label can rightly claim to be one of the most authentic ensembles for interpreting the music of the Strauss dynasty.
Website: wjso.or.at
GRAMMY Award-winning Yarlung Records brings fresh musicians to the classical music world using minimalist audiophile recording techniques to deliver sound as close to living performance as possible. Rather than using recording studios, engineer Bob Attiyeh produces these albums in concert halls famous for their acoustics, including Walt Disney Concert Hall and Ambassador Hall in Los Angeles. Yarlung uses both analog tape and high resolution digital media for CDs made with special alloys, high resolution digital downloads, and 180 Gram vinyl LPs, all mastered by Steve Hoffman. Yarlung repertoire ranges from the 11th century through the baroque, classical and romantic eras, with a special focus on new music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Artists include top soloists as well as superstar young musicians at the beginnings of their international concert careers. Yarlung brings artists into your living room; you can hear their music, their breathing, and almost their heartbeats.
Website: www.yarlungrecords.com