Music & Arts is an American record label based in Kensington, California.

Music & Arts is owned and operated by Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to informal education in the arts, established in California in 1984. The label first issued original digital recordings of classical music along with historical recordings of live performances and broadcasts. Recording premieres of new music by Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, George Crumb, Henry Cowell, David Del Tredici, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Lou Harrison, Leon Kirchner, Charles Wuorrinen and other 20th century American composers earned Music & Arts international acclaim. Some of these projects...Read more »

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Updated 01/29/2013

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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:

Two all-time best sellers re-issued in new editions:

Music and Arts

CD-1269(2) TOSCANINI CONDUCTS VERDI: TWO SACRED WORKS. Verdi: Requiem Mass, with NBC Symphony, Zinka Milanov, Soprano; Bruna Castagna, Mezzo; Jussi Björling, Tenor; Nicola Moscona, Bass; and Te Deum, with Westminster Choir and NBC Symphony, both performed on 23 November 1940 in Carnegie Hall. CD1 56:58 CD2 42:52. Sound restoration (2012) by Kit Higginson; liner notes by Harvey Sachs. [AAD] UPC # 0-17685-12692-5. Special offer: 2 CDs priced as one.

BUZZ: Originally released in 1986, this set was one of our classical best sellers for well over a decade, and was reissued in improved sound in 2003 due to popular demand. Harvey Sachs writes in his liner notes "Performances of the Verdi Requiem often emphasize the work's dramatic aspects to the detriment of its lyricism, or vice-versa. Here, Toscanini balances these elements completely convincingly...we are unlikely to hear a more overwhelming performance of the work than this one―ever."

"...the strength of this wonderful account of the Requiem is not so much its power – great though that evidently was – but its tenderness, warmth and flexibility (a quality not always associated with the maestro), and the exceptional, and well-recorded, soloists: Zinka Milanov (outstanding, that one slip apart), the splendid Bruna Castagna, Jussi Björling in glorious voice, and Nicola Moscona."

––David Cairns, The Sunday Times (UK)

"Verdi's Requiem Mass, a stunning performance (much better – and broader – than Toscanini's official RCA recording) crowned, voice-wise, by the trumpeting tenor of Jussi Björling. Although old and "mono", it sounds better than ever on a brand new Music & Arts transfer. . . .Toscanini conducted the Requiem on both the first and the 50^th anniversaries of Verdi's death, and his command of the score – its outward drama and inward poetry – is still unrivalled."

––Rob Cowan, The Independent (UK)

Music and Arts

Available April 2, 2013!

CD-4049(4) FURTWÄNGLER CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN: THE BEST OF THE WORLD WAR II LEGACY—NEW EDITION WITH A 2012 STATE OF THE ART RESTORATION OF THE NINTH! . CD #1 - 76:04, Symphony #3 in Eb, Op. 55 (VPO, 19/20 Dec. 1944); Overture to "Coriolan," Op. 6 (BPO 27/30 June 1943); Overture #3 to "Leonore," Op. 72 (VPO, 2 June 1944). CD #2 - 76:49, Symphony #5 in c, Op. 67 (BPO, 27/30 June 1943); Symphony #6 in F, Op. 68 (BPO, 20/22 March 1944). CD #3 - 73:26, Symphony #4 in Bb, Op. 60 (BPO, 27/30 June 1943); Symphony #7 in A, Op. 92 (BPO, 31 Oct./3 Nov. 1943). CD #4 - 73:12, Symphony #9 in D-minor, Op. 125 with Erna Berger (soprano), Gertrude Pitzinger (contralto), Walter Ludwig (tenor), Rudolf Watzke (bass), and the Philharmonic Choir (BPO, 22/24 March 1942). Notes by John Ardoin. (AAD) UPC # 0-17685-40492-4. 4 CDs priced as 3.

BUZZ: These are the best World War II performances of Beethoven's symphonies under the baton of Furtwängler. Previously released versions on our label were acclaimed in Fanfare, American Record Guide, Pulse!, Absolute Sound, Diapason, Musica, and numerous other journals. Symphony No. 9 has been completely re-mastered in 2012 for this edition by Aaron Z. Snyder from a new source and sounds better than any prior issue.

"... a complete understanding of the genius of Beethoven is impossible without some acquaintace with Furtwängler's incandescent readings, before, during or after World War II. There is also something not a little unsettling about remembering what was going on in Berlin and Vienna when these concerts took place. The spectacle of Beethoven's humanism, of civilization trying to survive against the cruelest odds, is undeniably gripping. Music and Arts' digital remastering is impeccable."

—Octavio Roca, San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle

And from Canada's foremost historical label, West Hill Radio Archives, a long awaited new issue:

Music and Arts

WHRA-6049 (2) SERGE KOUSSEVITSKY CONDUCTS THE PHILHARMONIC-SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN WARTIME NEW YORK. CD 1: Feb. 22, 1942 ‐ Carnegie Hall‐ Corelli/Pinelli: Suite for String Orchestra ; Ravel: Daphnis & Chloe Suite No. 2; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor. CD 2: March 1,1942 ‐ Carnegie Hall‐ Debussy: La Mer; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor. Both concerts previously unissued. Audio restoration: Lani Spahr. Notes: Tom Godell. AAD. Total ime: 2 hours, 21 minutes. EAN # 5425008378916. $26.95

Orders and complete catalogue: www.westhillradioarchives.com