EarlyMusicNews.Org

“ .. . The expression musica ficta first appeared in theoretical treatises dating back to the 13thcentury and defined the performance rules related to accidental chromaticism in modal composition. However, these rules are nowhere to be found on the scores. It is up to the musician to apply them where necessary. In practice, specialists do not always agree, and so all that remains is choosing the performer, his personality. Who is right? Does the question really require an answer? It would seem that the question of what moves us or appeals to us is far more interesting and compelling.

Musica Ficta translates into three or four releases per year, with performers being chosen for their commitment and musical qualities for original artistic projects both in terms of the repertoire and its approach.

The collection presents an interpretation of early music within our contemporary context.

Bernard Mouton” .. . 

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Added on: Apr 22, 2009 | Hits: 530

“Outhere is an independent musical production and publishing company whose discs are published under the catalogues Æon, Alpha, Fuga Libera, Outnote, Ramée, Ricercar and Zig Zag Territoires. Each catalogue has its own well defined identity. Our discs and our digital products cover a repertoire ranging from ancient and classical music to the contemporary, jazz and world music. We work with great artists and established ensembles, but we are also keen to invest in the development of young talent. The group builds on three fundamental principles: relations, quality and efficiency: the personal relation between an artist and his trusted art director, the highest quality in the musical selection and in the editorial work, and efficiency, because wOuthere is an independent musical production and publishing company whose discs are published under the catalogues Æon, Alpha, Fuga Libera, Outnote, Ramée, Ricercar and Zig Zag Territoires. Each catalogue has its own well defined identity. Our discs and our digital products cover a repertoire ranging from ancient and classical music to the contemporary, jazz and world music. We work with great artists and established ensembles, but we are also keen to invest in the development of young talent. The group builds on three fundamental principles: relations, quality and efficiency: the personal relation between an artist and his trusted art director, the highest quality in the musical selection and in the editorial work, and efficiency, because we know that our activities can only thrive with innovative management methods. Outhere produces more than 100 CDs per year and we are distributed in over 40 countries. Outhere’s head office is located in Brussels and we have a subsidiary in Paris. e know that our activities can only thrive with innovative management methods. Outhere produces more than 100 CDs per year and we are distributed in over 40 countries. Outhere’s head office is located in Brussels and we have a subsidiary in Paris.”

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Added on: Dec 05, 2011 | Hits: 185

"Paradizo features the recordings of Skip Sempé, harpsichordist and founder / director of Capriccio Stravagante, the Capriccio Stravagante Orchestra and the Capriccio Stravagante Renaissance Orchestra.

Following fifteen years of distinctions and awards with three prestigious labels, Skip Sempé created Paradizo, featuring authoritative, bold music making, and celebrating a renewed vision of creative interpretation in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. ...

Paradizo places prime importance on all aspects of preparation, recording and post production, as there is a high level of musical science combined with artistic craft involved in the phenomenon of recording." Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2008 | Hits: 525

“For 25 years, Pavane is also an independent Belgian recording label, devoted exclusively to classical music.

Nearly 250 recordings have been published on compact disc. Many collaborations take place between the label and its artists. Prestigious laureats of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium such as Youri Egorov, Cyprien Katsaris, Rudolph Werthen, have found an ideal and trusted partner with Pavane for the realisation of the recording projects that they held dear. These were followed by other laureats such as Alexander Melnikov, Evgeny Moguilevsky, Mikhaïl Bezverkhny, Mikhaïl Petukhov, Janet Thompson, Liviu Prunaru, ...

The rediscovery of Belgian composers also figures in the editorial priorities of Pavane, which recently published the first world-wide complete recording of the piano music of Joseph Jongen, as well as his string quartets. ..“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 22, 2009 | Hits: 485

“ANALEKTA is a Greek word which can be translated as "a collection of the finest works". Since the inception of the company in 1988, founder and President François Mario Labbé and his team of dedicated people have worked diligently to represent its corporate name.

ANALEKTA has become the largest independent classical record company in Canada. Being the recipient of many distinguished prizes, notably for the quality of its recordings and the rigorous musicianship of its artists, ANALEKTA has earned a reputation of excellence on the international music scene. The company is now considered a benchmark within the Canadian music industry and a true gem of Canadian culture.

ANALEKTA, the Quebec recording company specializing in classical music, was founded with the goal of becoming one of Canada's leading record labels. The driving force behind the label has always been its musicians, exceptional artists who would become ANALEKTA's guarantee of excellence. Over the years, the label has therefore developed an association with the country's finest musicians and musical organizations. ANALEKTA's recordings equal fine interpretations, originality and excellence.

Each year, ANALEKTA releases no less than 30 classical recordings featuring the greatest Canadian musicians. Over the years, ANALEKTA has produced over 400 titles with more than 200 artists. The level of excellence of its artists, combined with the determination of its management and its entire team have created an enviable reputation and a first-rate image for the company, both at home and abroad.

Though its focus remains classical music, ANALEKTA continues to seek new talent and promote Canadian musicians. Embracing a new array of genres to widen its musical horizons, ANALEKTA's catalogue now includes World Music, Jazz and Movie Soundtracks, making music accessible to music aficionados with eclectic taste.

ANALEKTA's "selection of the finest works" featuring the finest Canadian musicians continues to flourish. More than ever, ANALEKTA's name is synonymous with excellence. ”

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Added on: Nov 09, 2011 | Hits: 190

“It's been almost 15 years since ATMA Classique was created. Based in Montreal, ATMA welcomes musicians from Canada and from the four corners of the world. Our CDs are distributed in more than 25 countries, and are available on-line worldwide.

There are now more than 300 titles in our catalogue, and they span a broad spectrum from medieval to contemporary music, with multiple detours along the way into traditional and world music, tango and popular song, and experimental music. At ATMA,we like to surprise, dazzle, and take artistic risks.

What inspires us is simply our passion for recording sound, and for sharing, both through the traditional medium of the disc and through cyberspace, our acoustic images of imagined worlds.”

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Added on: Sep 24, 2011 | Hits: 225

“Carpe Diem Records is a creative German record label specialized in Early Music. On this website you can find music samples, pictures and other interesting information about our CD releases. All CDs can be ordered fast and easily in our online shop.”

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Added on: Oct 13, 2011 | Hits: 230

CD Distributor
(a Classic Concert Music Group)
Geschäftsführer: Michael Preibisch

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Added on: Mar 18, 2010 | Hits: 633

"It was as a fairground attraction that gramophones first excited wide-eyed amazement at fairs and sideshows more than a century ago. Raucous slogans proclaimed the virtues of the new recording technology: "Most powerful sound, loudest sound, most natural sound." The new-fangled talking machines, with their primitive cylinders and discs, were initially sold only in toy shops and bicycle shops. The inventor of the gramophone and disc, Emile Berliner, was quick to recognize the potential of "automatic music" and set about using the new technology to bring art and artists directly into the homes of people who other wise had no access to music of this kind, His vision of the gramophone, both as a means of disseminating culture and as a form of entertainment, is uniquely reflected in the more than hundred-year history of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. ... "

Added on: Oct 16, 2005 | Hits: 334

“The RAMÉE label was founded in 2004 by Rainer Arndt.
In only four years, RAMÉE has established itself as a greatly respected label on the Early Music scene. Many releases from its limited catalogue have been highly acclaimed by public and press alike, several receiving numerous awards. Each year sees the production of only six to eight recordings, featuring »hand-picked«, quality repertoire seldom or never-before recorded, or more well-known works in new and exceptional interpretations.

The small company maintains extremely high standards — not only in the aural aspect of the recording itself, but also in the musicological, literary, graphic and tactile quality of the jacket and liner notes.

RAMÉE creates cds as complete objets d'art, because they believe the ear's pleasure is intimately tied together with that of the eye and the hand. A collection for connaisseurs!“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2009 | Hits: 471

Early Music Label . Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2009 | Hits: 440

Classical music label.

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Added on: May 09, 2009 | Hits: 455

“ALIA VOX The performer's voice Since its creation in 1998 ALIA VOX has developed its role as the exclusive producer and publisher of all new recordings by Hesprion XXI, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations, Montserrat Figueras & Jordi Savall. The ALIA VOX 2011 catalogue presents the various productions carried out over these first 12 years: 80 titles from an exceptionally wide repertoire, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day, including such legendary productions as the soundtrack of Alain CorneauÕs film Tous les matins du monde, all of which are carried out with the unfailing collaboration of the most outstanding performers currently specialising in these repertoires. The extraordinary success of ALIA VOX, with sales numbering more than 2.000.000 CDs to date (December, 2005) and a large distribution network covering more than 45 countries around the world, has been possible thanks to an intense programme of concerts, together with a warm reception from the record-buying public and music critics alike. …”

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Added on: Oct 03, 2011 | Hits: 293

“Without fear of the alleged crisis of the international music industry, the label Alqhai & Alqhai is born as a determined commitment to quality, from the philosophy of taking absolute care of every stage of our CDs production and making. From the very first step —the artistic conception of a program, through its development and rehearsals, sound recording, edition, design, quality standards choice until, finally, public launching, every Alqhai & Alqhai production is treated with the love that only an artist can feel for his own creation. We want to to fulfill a wish: that our public had in his hands and ears a true piece of art, not determined by the market rules”

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Added on: Nov 13, 2011 | Hits: 232

“Music and art in the world of recording music.

Since its beginnings it has pursued an audacious, original and very specific line of style and design philosophy.

The promotion of young performers, both national and international, coupled with the participation of already known ones, has succeeded in placing Arsis at the forefront, gaining the acclaim and positive feedback of critics, performers and music lovers alike.

Since November 2006 it publishes all its works in GPACK, an exclusive format made out of a foldable cupboard, which invokes warmness and is silky smooth to the touch; a tactile and thought provoking sensation.

This is Arsis. When the attention to detail and the desire for a job well done are the driving forces in developing new areas of advancement in musical editing.”

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Added on: Feb 16, 2012 | Hits: 211

“A recently created performers’ Label (2002), CDM was launched by the Valencian viola da gamba performer and musicologist Carles Magraner, who also founded the famous Capella de Ministrers ensemble in 1988, dedicated mainly to Spanish music from the Middle Ages to the pre-classical period. In addition to the reediting of the group’s previous recordings issued on other labels, CDM also presents the group’s latest recordings.“

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Added on: Oct 11, 2011 | Hits: 358

"Spain’s most international label, widely considered the world’s finest in early music, has its headquarters in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, in the mountains near Madrid. Founded in 1992 by Carlos Céster and the brothers José Miguel and Emilio Moreno, it is a landmark not only on account of its extreme artistic coherence – with great names in early music among its exclusive performers, such as Paolo Pandolfo, La Venexiana, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Le Concert Spirituel, Michael Noone, or the Moreno brothers themselves – but also because of its always innovative and exquisite formal proposals, such as the introduction of digipaks into classical music, the inclusion of multimedia tracks on some of its titles or, more recently, the presentation of the Glossa Platinum collection, with its avant-garde design. One of its most salient current projects is the integral recording of the madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi." ...

Added on: Aug 05, 2007 | Hits: 451

“Created in 2001 by José Miguel Martínez and Pilar de la Vega, VERSO is undoubtedly one of the independent recording industry’s major contributions to this country’s culture. With a top-flight catalogue of more than a hundred discs already, focused fundamentally on lesser-known Spanish baroque, classical, romantic and post-romantic music, Verso also clearly supports the most avant-garde musical creation of our time. Meticulous and careful edition and the diversity of sources of interpretation, backed by a long list of orchestral ensembles of the very highest level and youthful artists of acknowledged national and international prestige make the young, dynamic Madrid label a Spanish recording classic. …”

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Added on: Feb 16, 2012 | Hits: 250

“ Founded in 1990, the label K617 has had such an impact because it has met a wide audience’s appetite for new discoveries. K617 has enabled us to discover the scope of Latin America’s Baroque music heritage whose richness bursts forth in the sumptuous series ‘Pathways of Baroque’. It has also skilfully associated with its systematic exploration of this repertoire a whole generation of performers, who although unknown yesterday, are today on a par with the greatest.

The perfect example is Gabriel Garrido, whose Latin American experience has nourished an entirely new vision of European baroque, which has found its finest testimony in his interpretations of the masterpieces of Claudio Monteverdi: ‘historically informed’ recordings of very well-known works which we rediscover from a new perspective.

However, K617, as a label based in Lorraine, very quickly realised that the Angel of the bizarre did not only brush faraway continents with its wings. Hence it is also responsible for the revival of ‘regional’ composers like Jean-François Tapray and especially Théodore Gouvy whose Requiem, which has sold over 25,000 copies, is now viewed as one of the major religious music works of the end of the nineteenth century.

Perhaps K617's secret is that it has never separated its production activity from its involvement with live music, always listening out for performers, researchers and all those who dream of being present at the birth of new emotions. A new manifestation of this is the National Month of Latin American Baroque Music, which every autumn now allows the whole of France to discover the new soundscapes of K.617.

Since the very beginning of the year 2003, K617 has been the leader of the activities of Le Couvent (Sarrebourg - France), where the Centre International des Chemins du baroque is located. But K617 is still developing its partnership with harmonia mundi.“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 22, 2009 | Hits: 452

“So why this name “naïve”?

Many thought you had to be a little naïve to launch a record label just when digital music and hi-tech began their ascent.

Could there be a life beyond wi-fi, the web and MP3s?

As you can see, a few diehard music lovers still believe in beautiful packages, the smell of freshly-printed paper, booklets you spend hours admiring, the beauty a human voice and a few strums on a guitar.

In short, there are still traditional craftsmen, who take their time and let talent grow on its own terms. Between classical music, pop, world, jazz, children’s music, books or DVDs… nothing scares us…“

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Added on: Jul 19, 2011 | Hits: 303

“Bruno Procopio founded the Paraty label in 2006, with the support of Intégral Distribution, in order to explore, on period instruments, the rich repertory of baroque and classical music.

The first release for the label is vol. 2 of the Bach Partitas, continuing a project started by Bruno Procopio in 2004. The first volume of the Partitas was very well received by music critics, with five stars from Diapason magazine, and a critic from Fanfare magazine listing it as one of the five best Baroque CDs of the year in USA.”

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Added on: Nov 28, 2011 | Hits: 234

“Satirino was created in 1997 by Ian Malkin and Christine Menguy and specialises in both French and international representation for Classical music artists, ensembles and orchestras. In 2001 the company created the Satirino Records label to record some of the agency's artists.”

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Added on: Nov 19, 2011 | Hits: 233

“Dynamic is an independent recording company with its offices in Villa Quartana on the quiet Righi hill standing above Genoa.

Its production embraces the entire field of classical music, but focuses chiefly on the immense heritage of Italian and European music of the eighteenth- and nineteenth centuries especially opera and violin works. Dynamic favours compositions in world-première recordings or works that stand outside the bounds of traditional repertoire.

Known all over the world as the first recording company to have reappraised Nicolò Paganini, in the last few years Dynamic has extended its range of interest to opera through highly fruitful partnerships with Italian festivals and opera houses, and has produced recordings of lesser-known titles by Verdi, Donizetti, Pacini, Massenet, Meyerbeer and Tchaikovsky. Outstanding productions in this field include the recordings of operas staged at the famous La Fenice theatre in Venice, at the Valle d’Itria Festival in Martina Franca and at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari. Its catalogue boasts over 350 titles, with about 30 new titles being added every years.

Many artists of international standing have recorded on the Dynamic label: Massimo Quarta, Salvatore Accardo, Felix Ayo, Stefan Milenkovich, Ruggiero Ricci, Bruno Canino, Rocco Filippini, Ovidiu Badila, Mirella Freni, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Placido Domingo, Renato Bruson William Matteuzzi, Iano Tamar, Patrizia Ciofi, Annick Massis, Veronique Gens, Dimitra Theodossiou, Joseph Calleja, George Prêtre, Renato Palumbo, José Cura, Leo Nucci, Marcello Viotti, Franco Mezzena.

Dynamic is today the leading Italian recording company for classical music and has also become one of the foremost European producers of operatic DVDs. ..“

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Added on: May 17, 2009 | Hits: 456

“What is “La Sala del Cembalo del caro Sassone”?

The title is an italian expression whose literal translation is “The Harpsichord Room of the Dear Saxon”. Since, for historical reasons, the term “Dear Saxon” was used in Italy to refer to the composer Georg Friedrich Händel (much less for the other “saxon”, Johann Adolph Hasse), therefore we can reformulate as “The Handel's Harpsichord Room”. …

How this project was born?

The initial goal was to create a set of web-pages, freely available to everyone via streaming, to publish harpsichord music recorded on a regular basis. It can appears that the most difficult task here is to find a professional harpsichordist who accepts to share his recordings for non-profit, but just for “popularizing the Baroque Music for the Harpsichord”. However, that task was as easy as to create the web-site, because one of the original promoters is a harpsichordist with a relevant background as a performer, as well as teacher and composer. He is Fernando De Luca, which founded the project in late 2006 together with the co-founder “Zadok”, his friend, engineer and baroque music lover. …”

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Added on: Sep 14, 2011 | Hits: 392

“Welcome on www.tactus.it, home of the finest Italian classic music, from the Gregorian Chants to the 20th century!

On this web site you will be able to browse and order from the complete Tactus CD on-line catalogue.“

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Added on: Feb 28, 2012 | Hits: 190