Disques Montaigne () was a French classical record company founded in 1987 by Pierre Lebaillif, an official in charge of cultural sponsorship at the state owned bank

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations The Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC; ) is a French public sector financial institution created in 1816, and part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament. Often described as the "investment arm" of the French ...

, and also vice-président of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Lebaillif's intention was to make available to a wider public some valuable archive and live recordings. Lebaillif, had the original radio tapes from the 1950s and 60s cleaned up and digitally remastered by a renowned French recording engineer

Pierre Verany Disques Pierre Verany is a French classical music record label named after its founder and producer. Verany, a producer and sound engineer, ran his own label "Disques Pierre Verany" for many years — concentrating on Italian and French baroque m ...

, but rather than release them on Verany's own label (which specialised in early music), he created a new label for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Although specialized the label's releases were well received. Among the rarities recovered by Labaillif was

Manuel Rosenthal Manuel Rosenthal (18 June 1904 – 5 June 2003) was a French composer and conductor who held leading positions with musical organizations in France and America. He was friends with many contemporary composers, and despite a considerable list of c ...

's performance of

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

's rare opera ''

Christophe Colomb (''Christopher Columbus'') is an opera in two parts by the French composer Darius Milhaud. The poet Paul Claudel wrote the libretto based on his own play about the life of Christopher Columbus, ''Le Livre de Christophe Colomb''. The opera was fi ...

'' and D. E. Inghelbrecht's performance of '' Pelleas et Melisande'' sung by

Jacques Jansen Jacques Jansen (né Toupin; born Paris, 22 November 1913 – 13 March 2002) was a French ''baryton-martin'' singer, particularly associated with the role of Pelléas in the opera by Debussy, but also active in operetta and on the concert platfor ...

and Micheline Grancher. Lebaillif died three years after founding the label, but the label continued to be active during the 1990s releasing mainly contemporary classical music such as the

Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. T ...

's recordings of

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian classical composer and pianist. He was an academic teacher of piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967, later also of chamber music, and taught until 1993. Biography György ...

, but also occasional older music such as Malgoire's recording of Lully's opera Alceste. The catalogue of Montaigne was later acquired by Louis Bricard's independent label

Auvidis Auvidis was a record label founded in 1976 by Louis Bricard. Along with its subsidiaries, it was acquired in 1998 by Naïve Records. During its existence, Auvidis acquired a number of subsidiary labels, such as Unidisc; the traditional and world ...

,International Record Review - Volume 1, Issues 7-12 - Page 137 2000 "Initially an independent entity, Disques Montaigne was soon incorporated into Auvidis, and hardly a month went by in the mid-1990s without releases to introduce new composers, or broaden representation of others. which then itself was acquired by

Naive Records Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...

References

{{Authority control French record labels