Lyrita

Last updated

Lyrita Recorded Edition
Lyrita.png
Founded1958 (1958)
FounderRichard Itter
Distributor(s) Nimbus Records
Genre Classical
Country of originU.K.
Official website www.lyrita.co.uk

Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers. [1]

Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard Itter (5 April 1928 - 1 March 2014) of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, was a businessman and record collector. Having heard many poor records, he determined to make only good ones. [2]

Lyrita concentrated on the work of United Kingdom composers. At first, this consisted of the piano music of Arnold Bax, Gordon Jacob, E.J. Moeran , and Michael Tippett amongst others. The earliest recordings were made in the music room of Itter's home. Itter was responsible for the engineering, production, and editing of the recordings. If he managed to sell 100 copies Itter was able to break even. RCS.2 was the first catalog number, and Gordon Jacob wrote a composition specifically for this album, "Elegy for Piano and Cello", to fill out the program on the disc. [1]

In time, the bulk of Lyrita's catalogue became orchestral and symphonic works, including otherwise-neglected composers at that time, including William Alwyn, Malcolm Arnold, Arnold Bax, Havergal Brian, Frank Bridge, Arnold Cooke, Gerald Finzi, John Foulds, George Lloyd, Edmund Rubbra, Humphrey Searle and Cyril Rootham. Many Lyrita LPs became regarded as demonstration discs, suitable for showcasing the sonic qualities of high-end hi-fi equipment. Nearly all of Lyrita's recordings were produced by Decca Records and pressed by either Decca or Nimbus Records. When Decca joined PolyGram in 1980, the relationship with Lyrita ended. [1]

The only non-British music to be recorded and issued on Lyrita was Brazilian piano music performed by Elizabeth Powell on RCS.22. Works by Paul Hindemith, Edward MacDowell , and Francis Poulenc were also recorded but not issued.

Lyrita issued monaural records in the RCS series, and stereophonic records in the SRCS series beginning at SRCS.31 (which corresponded with monaural RCS.31). The stereo series ran to SRCS.131. Lyrita issues compact discs (CDs) in the SRCD series beginning with SRCD.200 and running through SRCD.332. [3]

Lyrita's stereophonic LPs from the SRCS series were also issued in the U.S. by the Musical Heritage Society (1972–1977) and HNH (1978–1979). Lyrita began exporting their records to the U.S. in 1980. The first digital productions were made in June 1982, and LP production was discontinued in 1988.

In 1990 Lyrita began issuing CDs featuring a small selection of their back catalogue, a few newly recorded items, and recordings licensed from other sources. There was a 15-year hiatus during which attempts were made to persuade Itter to release the rest of the catalogue on CD.

In summer 2006 Wyastone Estate Ltd (proprietors of Nimbus Records) reached an agreement with Richard Itter to distribute the company's entire catalogue over an 18-month period. The first discs to appear would be those CD transfers which appeared in the 1990s; the remaining original analogue masters would subsequently be digitized and transferred to CD, making all of Lyrita's recordings available on CD for the first time. [1]

In 2014 agreement was reached with the BBC to commercially release the private archive Itter had made at home using professional recording equipment of music otherwise lost due to Musicians' Union (UK) regulations requiring the BBC not to keep copies. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decca Records</span> British record label

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its US label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president too. In 1937, anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, and the link between the UK and US Decca label was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Bax</span> English composer, poet, and author (1883–1953)

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music. In addition to a series of symphonic poems, he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Munch (conductor)</span>

Charles Munch was an Alsatian French symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monaural</span> Sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position

Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or stereo, which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce sound from two microphones on the right and left side, which is reproduced with two separate loudspeakers to give a sense of the direction of sound sources. In mono, only one loudspeaker is necessary, but, when played through multiple loudspeakers or headphones, identical signals are fed to each speaker, resulting in the perception of one-channel sound "imaging" in one sonic space between the speakers. Monaural recordings, like stereo ones, typically use multiple microphones fed into multiple channels on a recording console, but each channel is "panned" to the center. In the final stage, the various center-panned signal paths are usually mixed down to two identical tracks, which, because they are identical, are perceived upon playback as representing a single unified signal at a single place in the soundstage. In some cases, multitrack sources are mixed to a one-track tape, thus becoming one signal. In the mastering stage, particularly in the days of mono records, the one- or two-track mono master tape was then transferred to a one-track lathe used to produce a master disc intended to be used in the pressing of a monophonic record. Today, however, monaural recordings are usually mastered to be played on stereo and multi-track formats, yet retain their center-panned mono soundstage characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Jones (composer)</span> Welsh composer

Daniel Jenkyn Jones was a Welsh composer of classical music, who worked in Britain. He used both serial and tonal techniques. He is best known for his quartets and thirteen symphonies and for his song settings for Dylan Thomas's play Under Milk Wood.

Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips and the Dutch-American largest record label company Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nimbus Records</span> British record label

Nimbus Records is a British record company based at Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire. They specialise in classical music recordings and were the first company in the UK to produce compact discs.

Arnold Atkinson Cooke was a British composer, a pupil of Paul Hindemith. He wrote a considerable amount of chamber music, including five string quartets and many instrumental sonatas, much of which is only now becoming accessible through modern recordings. Cooke also composed two operas, six symphonies and several concertos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryden Thomson</span> Scottish conductor (1928–1991)

Bryden Thomson was a Scottish conductor remembered especially for his championship of British and Scandinavian composers. His recordings include influential surveys of the orchestral music of Hamilton Harty and Arnold Bax. He was principal conductor of several British orchestras, including the Ulster Orchestra, which flourished under his tenure.

Frank Merrick CBE was an English classical pianist and composer in the early 20th century.

Charles Allan Gerhardt was an American conductor, record producer, and arranger.

Everest Records was a record label based in Bayside, Long Island, started by Harry D. Belock and Bert Whyte in May 1958. It was devoted mainly to classical music.

Dutton Vocalion specialises in re-issuing on CD music recorded between the 1920s and 1970s, and in issuing albums of modern digital recordings. It was established by British recording and re-mastering engineer Michael J. Dutton.

Westminster Records was an American classical music record label, issuing original recordings until 1965. It was co–founded in 1949 by Mischa Naida, the owner of the Westminster Record Shop in New York City, businessman James Grayson (1897–1980), conductor Henry Swoboda, and Henry Gage. Its trademark was Big Ben and its slogan was "natural balance", referring to its single microphone technique.

Quintessence Records started in 1976. Quintessence was formed by Pickwick International Inc. as a budget label. Pickwick’s trademark for Quintessence was filed on December 10, 1976 with the initial Q made to look like a clef symbol. The label was devoted to the licensed reissue of historic classical recordings. The idea was printed on the record jackets: "Critically acclaimed recordings of the basic repertoire which belong in every library of great music" and also promised these were "Carefully remastered from the original master tapes, recut on the latest Neumann lathes and pressed on virgin vinyl." R. Peter Munves was the executive responsible for the label. Munves had earlier worked for Columbia Records and RCA Records classical music divisions. He said to Time magazine in 1971 “You can call me the P.T. Barnum of the classics”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Wilkinson</span>

Kenneth Ernest Wilkinson was an audio engineer for Decca Records, known for engineering classical recordings with superb sound quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Walker (conductor)</span>

James Walker was an Australian musician known both as a conductor of ballet and opera and as a recording producer supervising classical recording sessions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyastone Leys</span> Grade II-listed country house in England

Wyastone Leys is a country house estate and Grade II listed building situated near Ganarew, in the southwestern corner of The Doward, in Herefordshire, England. The house and estate has also been known as The Leys or Lays House. It is located 2 miles (3.2 km) from Monmouth and 8 miles (13 km) from Ross-on-Wye. The house is in close proximity to the River Wye and less than 50 metres (160 ft) from the county boundary between Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.

The English Symphony Orchestra and the English String Orchestra are two iterations of a British professional orchestra based in the city of Worcester, Worcestershire, in the West Midlands of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 5 (Villa-Lobos)</span>

The Piano Concerto No. 5, W 521, is a piano concerto by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written in 1954. One performance recorded under the composer's baton lasts 18 minutes, 48 seconds.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lewis Foreman. Recording British Music (2024), ch. 17, pp. 223-233
  2. ↑ 'Founder of Lyrita Richard Itter has died', Gramophone, 4 March 2014
  3. ↑ 'The Lyrita Story', BBC Radio 3 broadcast, September 2007
  4. ↑ "Itter Broadcast Collection - Lyrita - All Labels". Wyastone.co.uk. 2 May 1955. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.