1750 Arch Records was an independent record label that focused on experimental and avant garde music, jazz, and classical music.

History

The label, named after the company's address in Berkeley, California, was founded in 1974 by vocalist

Thomas Buckner Thomas Buckner (born 1941) is an American baritone vocalist specializing in the performance of contemporary classical music and improvised music. In his work, he utilizes a wide range of extended (non-traditional) vocal techniques. Buckner als ...

, who was also responsible for starting 1750 Arch Concerts, which presented over a hundred concerts a year for eight years, and the Arch Ensemble, which performed and recorded music by 20th century composers. Over the course of roughly ten years, it released over fifty albums in a wide range of styles, including the complete player piano music of Conlon Nancarrow. In the early 1980s, 1750 Arch began to wind down its operations, closing in 1984, at which time the master recordings were returned to the composers and musicians. A number of albums were reissued on other labels, including Buckner's Mutable Music. A statement in the label's final catalogue read:

This catalog represents ten years of activity and growth on the part of 1750 Arch Records. Most of the records contain music you won't find anywhere else. I like to think of it as exciting, unusual and interesting music—music to really listen to—that demands attention and, one hopes, rewards that attention— music, as Charles Ives put it, to 'stretch your ears,' and also engage your mind and your heart.

Releases

;Contemporary music * S-1752 Various Artists: ''10+2: 12 American Text Sound Pieces'' * S-1760 Janet Millard: ''20th Century Flute'' * S-1765 Various Artists: ''New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media'' * S-1768 Conlon Nancarrow: ''Complete Studies for Player Piano, Vol. #1'' * S-1771 Joseph Bacon: ''Guitar Music of

Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...

'' * S-1772 Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra: '' Lou Harrison: Elegiac Symphony; Robert Hughes: Cadences'' * S-1774 David Rosenboom and Don Buchla: ''Collaboration in Performance'' * S-1775 Stuart Dempster: ''In the Great Abbey of Clement VI'' * S-1777 Conlon Nancarrow: ''Complete Studies for Player Piano, Vol. #2'' * S-1779 Charles Amirkhanian: ''Lexical Music'' * S-1780 Mel Graves: ''Three Worlds'' * S-1781 Gardner Jencks: ''Selected Works for Piano, 1942-1980'' * S-1782 Various Artists: ''The Music of Luigi Dallapiccola'' * S-1784 John Adams: '' Shaker Loops''; '' Phrygian Gates'' * S-1785

, Gerald Oshita,

Roscoe Mitchell Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figures ...

: ''New Music for Woodwinds and Voice'' * S-1786 Conlon Nancarrow: ''Complete Studies for Player Piano, Vol. #3'' * S-1787

Susan Allen Susan Allen (born March 27, 1963) is an American politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 62B, a southside district encompa ...

: ''New Music for Harp'' * S-1789 Katrina Krimsky: ''Villa-Lobos: The Baby's Family'' * S-1792 Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra: '' Daniel Kobialka: Echoes of Secret Silence;

Charles Shere Charles Shere (August 20, 1935 — December 15, 2020) was an American composer. He studied composition briefly with Robert Erickson and Luciano Berio but was largely self-taught. His music was primarily in unconventional notations and open for ...

: Nightmusic'' * S-1793 Neil B. Rolnick: ''Solos'' * S-1794 Peter Dickson Lopez: ''The Ship of Death'' * S-1795 Henry Brant: ''Solar Moth''; Daniel Kobialka: ''Autumn Beyond'' * S-1797 Jon English, Candace Natvig: ''Triptych'' * S-1798 Conlon Nancarrow: ''Complete Studies for Player Piano, Vol. #4'' * S-1800 Michael McNabb: ''Computer Music'' * S-1801 Anna Carol Dudley, Ronald Erickson, Earle Shenk: ''The Music of Charles Seeger (1886-1979)'' * S-1806 Roscoe Mitchell, Gerald Oshita, Tom Buckner: ''Space: An Interesting Breakfast Conversation'' ;Classical music * S-1754 Martial Singher: ''Opus 70'' * S-1761 Renee Grant-Williams, Dorothy Barnhouse, Alden Gilchrist: ''Brahms Duets'' * S-1762 Jeanne Stark: ''Claude Debussy: Preludes, Book I'' * S-1763 Jeanne Stark: ''Claude Debussy: Preludes, Book II'' * S-1766 Martial Singher, Dorothy Angwin: ''An Album of French Songs'' * S-1767 Bernhard Abramowitsch: ''Schubert: Sonata in B Flat Major; Klaviersuck II'' * S-1783 San Francisco String Quartet: ''A Night in the Garden Court'' * S-1796 Dennis Russell Davies, Charles Holland: ''My Lord What a Mornin ;Early music * S-1751 Musica Mundana: '' Dufay: Fifteen Songs'' * S-1753 Music for a While: ''Transformations: Dufay and His Contemporaries'' * S-1756 Paul Hersh, Laurette Goldberg: '' J.S. Bach: The Leipzig Sonatas'' * S-1757 Tom Buckner, Joseph Bacon: ''Wandering in This Place: Elizabethan Lute Songs'' * S-1764 Joseph Bacon: '' Dowland: Fantasies and Dances for the Lute'' * S-1773 Music for a While: ''La Fontaine Amoureuse: Poetry and Music of

Guillaume de Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...

(1300-1377)'' * S-1776 Anna Carol Dudley: ''

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

: Songs and Grounds'' ;Jazz * S-1755 Infinite Sound: ''Contemporary African-American Music'' * S-1758 Denny Zeitlin with George Marsh and Mel Graves: ''Expansion'' * S-1759 Denny Zeitlin, Ratzo B. Harris, George Marsh: ''Syzygy'' * S-1769

Art Lande Art Lande is an American musician who was born in New York City, United States, on 5 February 1947. Born in New York, Lande began piano at age 4. He attended Williams College and moved to San Francisco in 1969. In 1973 he recorded '' Red Lanta,' ...

: ''The Eccentricities of Earl Dant'' * S-1770 Denny Zeitlin: ''Soundings'' * S-1778 Art Lande: ''The Story of Ba-Ku'' * S-1790

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Nake ...

(Danny Rey): ''Ethnic Fusion'' * S-1791 George Marsh: ''Marshland'' * S-1802 Randy Weston: ''Blue'' * S-1804 George Marsh, John Abercrombie: ''Drum Strum'' Sources:

References

{{reflist Record labels established in 1974 Record labels disestablished in 1984 Jazz record labels Experimental music record labels Classical music record labels American independent record labels