Romophone | |
---|---|
Founded | 1993 |
Founder | Louise Barder and Virginia Barder |
Defunct | 2003 |
Status | Defunct |
Genre | Opera |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Romophone was a record label specializing in the restoration and reissue of historic 78 rpm recordings of singers from the "Golden Age" of opera on compact disc. Romophone was founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 by Louse Barder and Virginia Barder. [1]
Romophone CDs characteristically present the complete recording output of a singer on a particular label in chronological order. Romophone has been praised for the accuracy and faithfulness of the material it presents, both discographic and musical. The CD liner notes include biographical material about the singers and photographs (often rare and previously unpublished). [2] Libretti and lyrics are not included in the liner notes.
Among the singers whose recordings have been reissued on the Romophone label, include Frances Alda, Lucrezia Bori, Edmond Clement, Léon David, Emma Calvé, Emmy Destinn, Emma Eames, Kirsten Flagstad, Amelita Galli-Curci, Mary Garden, Beniamino Gigli, Lotte Lehmann, Giovanni Martinelli, Edith Mason, John McCormack, Nellie Melba, Claudia Muzio, Pol Plançon, Rosa Ponselle, Elisabeth Rethberg, Tito Schipa, Elisabeth Schumann, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Luisa Tetrazzini, Marcella Sembrich, Mattia Battistini, Mario Ancona and Leonard Warren among others. Two complete opera recordings from La Scala – Il Trovatore (1930) and Madama Butterfly (1929/30) – are in the catalogue, as well as collections including Wagner en Français, America the Beautiful, The Century's Greatest Singers in Puccini and Christmas From a Golden Age.
Romophone won a Gramophone Award for Best Historical Recording in 1996, for a volume of recordings by Lucrezia Bori, remastered by Ward Marston. [3]
The Romophone label was retired around 2003 after its catalog of recordings was acquired by Naxos. [4] [5]
Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, was a German-born Austro-British lyric soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the operas of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss. After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher internationally. She is considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, particularly "Winterreise" of which his recordings with accompanists Gerald Moore and Jörg Demus are still critically acclaimed half a century after their release.
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records, which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 17 labels including Naxos Records, Naxos Audiobooks, and Naxos Books (ebooks). There are about an additional 50 labels that are independent of the Naxos Musical Group with a wide range of offerings.
Liner notes are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards.
Elisabeth Grümmer was a German soprano. She has been described as "a singer blessed with elegant musicality, warm-hearted sincerity, and a voice of exceptional beauty".
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Graham Johnson OBE is a British classical pianist and Lieder accompanist.
Jörg Wolfgang Demus was an Austrian classical pianist who appeared internationally and made many recordings. He was also a composer and a lecturer at music academies. In composition and playing, he focused on chamber music and lieder. He played with singers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, as a piano duo with Paul Badura-Skoda, and with string players such as Josef Suk and Antonio Janigro. Demus was instrumental in bringing the historic fortepiano to concert podiums. He was a member of the Legion of Honour, among many awards. He is regarded as one of the leading Austrian pianists of the immediate post-World War II era.
Elisabeth Schumann was a German lyric soprano who sang in opera, operetta, oratorio, and lieder. She left a substantial legacy of recordings.
Lucrezia Bori was a Spanish operatic singer, a lyric soprano and a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Opera.
Richard Alexander Crooks was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Antonio Scotti was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 33 seasons, but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan's La Scala.
Great Pianists of the 20th Century was a 200-CD box set released by Philips Records in 1999 and sponsored by Steinway & Sons.
This is a partial discography of Parsifal, an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner.
Vladimir Horowitz – The Complete Original Jacket Collection is a 70 CD boxed set featuring many of the recordings of the pianist Vladimir Horowitz. The collection contains recordings from 1928 to his final recording session just four days before his death in 1989. Horowitz's recordings for RCA Red Seal and Columbia Masterworks/Sony Classical are included in the set. Recordings that Horowitz made for RCA's European affiliate, HMV, are not included. Nor are the recordings he made with Deutsche Grammophon from 1985 to 1989. It is one of the largest issues in the Original Jacket Collection series, and supersedes two smaller Original Jacket issues of Horowitz material.
Desmond Christopher Shawe-Taylor,, was a British writer, co-writer of The Record Guide, music critic of the New Statesman, The New Yorker and The Sunday Times and a regular and long-standing contributor to The Gramophone.
Dynamic is an Italian independent record label located in Genoa. Founded in 1978, it specialises in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works and has produced several world premiere recordings. The Dynamic catalogue contains over 400 titles, with about 25 new titles added each year and is distributed in 32 countries.
Klaus Heymann is a German entrepreneur and the founder and head of the Naxos record label.
Henry Ward Marston IV is an American audio transfer engineer and producer, known for the conservation and reissue of historical recordings.
French Opera Arias is a 51-minute studio album of music performed by Frederica von Stade and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of John Pritchard. It was released in 1976.