Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of
Munich was a German independent classical
record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980.
It has been owned by
Naxos since 2015.
History
The Orfeo music label was registered by F. Axel Mehrle on 12 December 1979 as the Orfeo Classic Records and Music Film GmbH. Orfeo introduced a new financial model for the music industry that made all investment to the label
tax-deductible.
All of Orfeo's masters were digital, pressed using Direct Metal Mastering, distributed as CD starting in 1983, and with a striking navy blue border on all covers.
In 1981, some of Orfeo's records were released and distributed by EMI and RCA through a 5-year partnership deal.
From 1981 to 1984, the label's yearly revenue went from $100,000 to $2 million.
In 1985, as the company was reaching dramatic financial failure, the name of the label was changed to Oro, and the company filed for bankruptcy.
In May 1985, Frank Mehrle licensed all of Orfeo's master rights to his associate Dieter Sinn (120 releases). Dieter Sinn created a new company, Orfeo International, to further the sale of the releases. Orfeo international hired many of Orfeo's employees, and took over all of the bankrupted label's international contracts.
Despite getting a great catalogue of artists from the start, the costs of operations were excessive and the label got caught up in additional fundraisings that sunk its finances and doomed its spectacular launch.
In December 1985, F. Axel Mehrle was charged with fraud and embezzlement relating to the bankruptcy of Orfeo, and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
In 2017 qobuz.com released some of the records on the net.
Releases
It has released many classical own productions with artists as
Carlos Kleiber,
Wolfgang Sawallisch,
Rafael Kubelik,
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom h ...
,
Bernard Haitink,
Kurt Eichhorn,
Christian Thielemann,
Andris Nelsons,
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (both as singer and conductor),
Jessye Norman,
Julia Varady,
Margaret Price,
Lucia Popp,
Diana Damrau,
Edita Gruberova,
Grace Bumbry,
Brigitte Fassbaender,
Agnes Baltsa
Agni Baltsa ( el, Aγνή Mπάλτσα; also known as Agnes Baltsa; born 19 November 1944) is a leading Greek mezzo-soprano singer.
Baltsa was born in Lefkada. She began playing piano at the age of six, before moving to Athens in 1958 to concen ...
,
Carlo Bergonzi Carlo Bergonzi may refer to:
* Carlo Bergonzi (luthier) (1683–1747), Italian luthier
* Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)
Carlo Bergonzi (13 July 1924 – 25 July 2014) was an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and ...
,
Peter Schreier
Peter Schreier (29 July 1935 – 25 December 2019) was a German tenor in opera, concert and lied, and a conductor. He was regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of the 20th century.
Schreier was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor conducte ...
,
Piotr Beczala,
Renato Bruson,
Bernd Weikl,
Kurt Moll,
Dmitry Sitkovetsky Dmitry Yulianovich Sitkovetsky (russian: Дмитрий Юлианович Ситковецкий; born September 27, 1954) is a Soviet-Russian born classical violinist, conductor and arranger, most notably of an arrangement for strings of J. S. ...
,
Josef Bulva
Josef Bulva (9 January 1943 – 12 August 2020) was a Czech pianist.
Life
Bulva was born in Brno, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, now the Czech Republic. began his training aged nine at a music school in Napajedla, and performed his firs ...
,
Oleg Maisenberg,
Mischa Maisky,
Julius Berger,
Karl Leister,
Aurèle Nicolet
Aurèle Nicolet (22 January 1926 – 29 January 2016) was a Swiss flautist. He was considered one of the world's best flute players of the late twentieth century.
He performed in various international concerts. A number of composers wrote music ...
etc.
Orfeo owns a well-known sub-label "ORFEO D'OR", publishing legendary live performances from the archives of the
Salzburg Festival, the
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...
, the
Bavarian State Opera, the
Vienna State Opera, the
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra etc. Further, it has produced two records with the late
Heinz Ruehmann
The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six continen ...
.
See also
*
List of record labels
References
External links
ORFEO. Company founded 2015 selling Orfeo recordsList of releases
{{Authority control
Classical music record labels
German record labels