Westminster Records was an American
classical music 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 ...
, issuing original recordings until 1965. It was co–founded in 1949 by Mischa Naida (who later founded
Musical Heritage Society), the owner of the Westminster Record Shop in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, businessman James Grayson (1897–1980), conductor
Henry Swoboda Henry Swoboda (October 29, 1897 – August 13, 1990) was a Czechoslovakian conductor and musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and ...
, and Henry Gage. Its trademark was
Big Ben and its slogan was "natural balance", referring to its single microphone technique.
Early on, Westminster recordings were technically superior to most others available, and the label became popular among the growing community of
audiophiles
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...
. In the late 1950s, the company began issuing
stereophonic
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
recordings, including a rare disc of the music of Swedish composer
Hugo Alfvén
Hugo Emil Alfvén (; 1 May 18728 May 1960) was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter.
Career
Violinist
Alfvén was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and studied at the Royal College of Music (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) from 1887 ...
(1872–1960), conducted by the composer. The "Westminster Laboratory" (W-Lab) series of classical recordings were technically superior to other brands and sold at higher price than the regular Westminster issues.
The company was sold in the early 1960s to
ABC-Paramount
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...
, which at first continued to issue new material (as well as reissuing old recordings on the "Westminster Gold" label). Westminster ceased issuing new (original) recordings in 1965. Beginning in 1970, ABC's "Westminster Gold" reissues, including a new "Best Of" composers series, sported new eye-catching sleeve designs that used whimsy and humor to garner lucrative sales from high school and college-age classical music aficionados.
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group.
Pre-history
MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...
acquired the Westminster catalog when it purchased ABC Records in 1979. While continuing to distribute ABC's catalogue of classical music LPs, MCA hired former ABC classical department head John Sievers to establish its own MCA classical music department.
The next year, MCA reissued much of the classical music back catalogues of
Command
Command may refer to:
Computing
* Command (computing), a statement in a computer language
* COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS
* Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards
* ...
,
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
, and ABC/Westminster Records on the "MCA Westminster" label.
The Westminster recordings, as well as the rest of the MCA classical music catalogue, are currently managed by
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
.
References
External links
Archived Westminster Gold Records discography
{{Authority control
American record labels
Classical music record labels
Record labels established in 1949