A DIFFERENT KIND OF MUSIC

Independent labels are the soul and heart of the music industry, in many ways the pioneers, the original risk-takers. while big labels such as Warner Brothers and Atlantic are in the business of making hits (finding artists and musical styles that will appeal to the biggest audience), independent labels have quietly gone about the task of discovering and recording new talent and new musical genres. More often than not, the aim is quality-- the artistry and craftsmanship of marrying true musical talent with true recording and engineering talent. Never mind that most of these recordings are not big sellers. More than a few are, in fact, eventually recognized as leading-edge material, catapulting either the musicians or the genre of music into mainstream awareness. Major labels often clamor after these artists and sounds once they've proven themselves on the independents' cutting ground.

Sidney Stevens, High Performance Review Vol.8 No.

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Updated 04/20/2012

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Historical Classical: Conductors
Featuring the conducting of FurtwÄngler, Knappertsbusch, Mitropoulos and Toscanini and more.

Historical Classical: Instrumentalists, Vocalists and Opera Presenting recordings from the past of historical importance, lovingly restored. Featuring the pianism of Cortot, Schnabel, Michelangeli and Clara Haskil, the violins of Kreisler, Szigeti, Menhuin and Milstein, the voices of Flagstad and BjÖrling and more.

Digital Classical Recordings
Listed Alphabetically: Modern high-fidelity recordings of standard as well as modern repertoire by some of today's greatest artists. With an emphasis on contemporary American music, and featuring Ursula Oppens, the Mirecourt Trio, Igor Kipnis, and the Composers' Quartet.

Jazz/Pop/World Music —
With an emphasis on the adventurous and the modern. Presenting the cream of America's scene in such musicians as Braxton, Cyrille, Hemphill, Crispell and Pullen, along with major European improvisors like Brozmann, Graewe, Guy, and Tasarov. Included also are recordings of great historical significance by greats such as Ellington, Basie, Kenton, Art Tatum and Nat Cole, as well as Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery and Koto master Elizabeth Falconer.

Pristine Audio & Natural Sound

Tahra Classical Recordings —Historical recordings from France, mostly long-unavailable, edited by Dr. Myriam Scherchen, daughter of the great conductor Hermann Scherchen.

Collector Alert —Very low stock items, soon to be Out of Print.

Interview —Music & Arts Founder, Frederick J. Maroth

Spotlight —Engineer Maggi Payne

Hall of Shame —What you might want to know about Pirate Record Companies

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JUST RELEASED -- AVAILABLE NOW:

	CD-1260(3) Zino Francescatti – Violin: a treasury of studio recordings, 1931-1955. CD 1: (75:42) Chausson - Concerto in D. Casadesus, Guilet Quartet, 1954. Debussy - Sonata No. 3. Casadesus, 1946. Ravel – Sonata. Balsam, 1955. CD 2: (72:58) Faure - Sonatas, No. 1 in A & No. 2 in e. Casadesus, 1953; Vieuxtemps - Concerto No. 4 in in d. Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1954. CD 3: (77:12) Lalo - Symphonie Espagnole, Op. 21. Cluytens, Le Grand Orch. Symph. Col., 1954. Franck - Sonata in A; Casadesus, 1947. Ravel –Tzigane. M. Fauré, 1931. Ravel – Kaddisch, Pièce en forme de Habanera & Berceuse. Balsam, 1955. Audio restoration: Lani Spahr. Notes in French (by J-M Molkhou) & English (by Henry Roth). Includes complete Francescatti discography. ADD. Total time 3 hours, 46 minutes. Special offer: 3 CDs priced as 2! UPC# 017685-126024.

From Canada's foremost historical label WHRA, a new release:
	WHRA6040 The Julliard String Quartet - Celebrated Early Recordings (1949-52) The Julliard String Quartet with Robert Mann & Robert Koff; Violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola & Arthur Winograd, Cello 6 CDs priced as 3: $34.99 Order direct from http://whra.audiophile.ca/en/browse/?productNumber=WHRA6040 Béla Bartók: The Six String Quartets (rec. 1949, from Columbia LPs ML-4278/79/80)); Arnold Schoenberg The String Quartets, (rec. 1951/52, from Columbia LP set SL-188); Alban Berg - Lyric Suite (rec. 1950, from Columbia LP ML 2148] and String Quartet, opus 3 (rec. 1952, from Columbia LP set SL-188) & Anton Webern - Five Movements for String Quartet, opus 5 (rec.1952, from Columbia LP set SL-188) The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by the School's president, the composer William Schuman, and violinist Robert Mann. Their intention was for the group to perform repertory pieces as well as contemporary works expertly, teach other chamber music ensembles, and as the resident quartet at the school increase Juilliard's prestige. In the words of the JSQ's website, "The Quartet has consistently realized the credo stated by founders Robert Mann and William Schuman to 'play new works as if they were established masterpieces, and established masterpieces as if they were new.'" The JSQ's acclaimed debut concert given on 23 December 1947 at New York's Town Hall included Berg's Lyric Suite; convincing performances of ground-breaking programs followed, such as the Bartók cycle, the American premiere of which was given by the JSQ at Tanglewood in the summer of 1948 (the Bartók Quartets had been performed individually in the U.S. but not as a cycle), and Schoenberg's four quartets, which they played to the composer before performing them in public. Their early Columbia LPs of these works were highly prized by critics and collectors alike and are released here in new digital transfers.