BIS Records is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in

Åkersberga Åkersberga is a locality and the seat of Österåker Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 28,033 inhabitants in 2010. History In 1901 a railway station named ''Berga'' was opened on this rural spot some 30 km from Stockholm. Some ...

, Sweden. BIS focuses on

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, both

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings. The company has recorded the complete works of

Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

. Other composers of the Nordic countries and Estonia are also well represented in their catalogue, including

Kalevi Aho Kalevi Ensio Aho (born 9 March 1949) is a Finnish composer. Early years Aho began his interest in music at the age of ten, when he discovered a mandolin in his home and began to teach himself how to play it. He soon was taken under the tutelag ...

, Christian Lindberg,

Jón Leifs Jón Leifs (born Jón Þorleifsson on 1 May 1899 – 30 July 1968) was an Icelandic composer, pianist, and conductor. Life Jón Leifs was born ''Jón Þorleifsson,'' at the farm Sólheimar, then in the Húnavatnssýsla, northwestern Iceland. H ...

Geirr Tveitt Geirr Tveitt (born Nils Tveit; 19 October 1908 – 1 February 1981) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s. Life Early years Tveitt was born in Be ...

Eduard Tubin Eduard Tubin ( – 17 November 1982) was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choreographer. Life Tubin was born in Torila, Tartu County, Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire. Both his parents were music lovers, and his fat ...

, Allan Pettersson and

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

. Other notable BIS projects include the Bach Cantatas by the

Bach Collegium Japan Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ) is composed of an orchestra and a chorus specializing in Baroque music, playing on period instruments. It was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki with the purpose of introducing Japanese audiences to European Baroque music ...

under

Masaaki Suzuki is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and music director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for wh ...

, and the complete piano music of

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

by pianist

Eva Knardahl Eva Knardahl Freiwald (10 May 1927 – 3 September 2006) was a Norwegian pianist, with a noted career both as a child prodigy and adult performer. Her debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 12, in which she played three conce ...

. In 2009, BIS completed a five-year Beethoven symphony cycle with Finnish born conductor

Osmo Vänskä Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer. Biography Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal cla ...

and the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Em ...

. The cycle features 5.0

Surround Sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...

as well as being a

Super Audio CD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple aud ...

References

External links

*
An Interview with Robert von Bahr
Dave Billinge, MusicWeb international, retrieved 14 May 2006 Swedish record labels Record labels established in 1973 Classical music record labels IFPI members {{Sweden-record-label-stub