Concert Hall Society, Inc., was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based membership-subscription-oriented record production and distribution company founded in 1946 by Samuel Mulik Josefowitz (1921–2015) and David Josefowitz (1918–2015), brothers. The New York office was located at 250 West 57th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The Josefowitz's sold Concert Hall Society in 1956 to

Crowell-Collier Publishing Company Crowell-Collier Publishing Company was an American publisher that owned the popular magazines ''Collier's'', '' Woman's Home Companion'' and '' The American Magazine''. Crowell's subsidiary, P.F. Collier and Son, published ''Collier's Encyclopedi ...

. The name Concert Hall Society was also one of several labels owned by the company.

History

Principal founders
Samuel and David Josefowitz's father, Zachar Josefowitz (1884–1949), owned a large piece of land in Maine that the United States government used for its earliest research in

atomic energy Atomic energy or energy of atoms is energy carried by atoms. The term originated in 1903 when Ernest Rutherford began to speak of the possibility of atomic energy.Isaac Asimov, ''Atom: Journey Across the Sub-Atomic Cosmos'', New York:1992 Plume, ...

, which generated income that helped finance the founding of Concert Hall Society, Inc. Samuel earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1942 from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

. David Josefowitz was an expert in plastics and had a PhD in Chemistry from the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

, which now is part of the

New York University Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

. Samuel Josefowitz was born in

Anykščiai Anykščiai (; see other names) is a ski resort town in Lithuania, west of Utena. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Matthias in Anykščiai is the tallest church in Lithuania, with spires measuring in height. Anykščiai has a resort status i ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. David Josefowitz was born in

Kharkov, Ukraine Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

. Samuel was an accomplished amateur classical pianist and David was an accomplished violinist. David occasionally composed under the pseudonym Jose Davido. Impetus for founding the company
Sam and David Josefowitz, with their father as President – while running their family chemical business on Long Island – were offered a 20-ton consignment of vinyl resin, raw material for manufacturing record disks, at a bargain price. Given their love of music and their expertise in chemistry and manufacturing, they pondered the idea of producing classical music records and distributing them through a mail-order record club. Concert Hall Society, Inc.
Concert Hall Society, Inc., was incorporated in New York on September 1956. Sale by founding principals to Crowell-Collier
In July 1956, the Josefowitz's sold Concert Hall Society and four record clubs to

. The four record clubs were (i) Musical Masterpiece Society, (ii) Jazztone Society, (iii) Chamber Music Society, and (iv) Opera Society. At the time of the sale, the company had a combined mailing list of 600,000

LP record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

buyers. Over 1,000 recordings were included in the transaction. Concert Hall Society reported that its membership had reach 275,000 as of February 10, 1963. Current status
The entity is, as of 2018, still an active entity, but incorporated as a

Delaware corporation The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most im ...

and registered in New York as a

foreign corporation Foreign corporation is a term used in the United States to describe an existing corporation (or other type of corporate entity, such as a limited liability company or LLC) that conducts business in a state or jurisdiction other than where it was ...

. Its registered address is: : Concert Hall Society, Inc. : 640 Fifth Avenue : New York, New York 10019

Subsidiaries and sub-labels

Handel Society

The Handel Society was a record label established in 1951 by the Concert Hall Society.

Opera Society

The Opera Society, Inc., began producing records of opera in 1953.

Chamber Music Society

Chamber Music Society was established as a membership record label in 1952. The Chamber Music Society disks were pressed on red vinyl. The first offerings, CM-1 through CM-27 have a reputation for ultra quiet surfaces and excellent engineering. The inner sleeves were of a non-scratching "glassine" material and the jackets were a fine weave over cardboard....a class act for the 1950s. The musical selections were the lesser known chamber pieces from a wide range of eras from Bach to Bartok, Mozart to Stravinsky...18 hours in this 27 albums on 32 disks (CM-8 has 3 disks, CM-12,18 and 23 each have 2).

Musical Masterpiece Society

The Musical Masterpiece Society (MMS) (nl) was a European-based subsidiary of Concert Hall Society founded in 1952. Like Concert Hall Society, MMS was distributed to subscribers, but unlike Concert Hall, subscribers did not have to commit to a fixed number of records. MMS initially focused on the standard classical repertoire, which, from a marketing perspective, made the label an attractive alternative for subscribers who wanted to build a new collection. A Musical Masterpiece disc often sold for 50% less than one of a premium label disc. MMS issued savings stamps to subscribers as part of its "Grammoclub." The Musical Masterpiece Society was originally named the Musical Masterwork Society. But after

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

claimed use of the "Masterwork" tag, the Josefowitz brothers agreed in 1953 to switch to its present name. In the mid-1950s, MMS had offices in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

on Paulus Potterstraat (nl) and a branch office in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. The MMS brand disappeared from the market in the early-1960s. : Musical Masterpiece Society labels *

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: Muzikale Meesterwerken Serie *

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

: Gala International *

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

: Populaire Platen Kring (PPK) *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

: Pop Parade *

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

: Music Hall Internazionale

Vargal

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

: Gala des Variétés *

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

: Grammoclub ex Libris

Jazztone Society

The Jazztone Society (nl) was the jazz mail-order subscription subsidiary of Concert Hall Society, Inc. Jazztone began in around 1955 with mail-order rights to

Milt Gabler Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to sel ...

's old

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

catalog. Concert Hall Society also acquired Dial Records in 1954. Jazztone was distributed in French language markets as Guilde du Jazz. The Jazztone Society was the first independent mail-order jazz record club in the United States. Columbia's Record Club,

Columbia House Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...

, which included a jazz division, was the second.

Jazz at the Philharmonic Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP (1944–1983), was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz. Over the years, "Jazz at the Philharmonic" featured many of the era's preeminent musicians, including Loui ...

, established in 1955 and launched the following year by

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impresar ...

, was the third. Jazztone not only re-issued the Dial catalog, but also produced its own. George T. Simon — jazz journalist, drummer, brother of

Richard L. Simon Richard Leo Simon (March 6, 1899 – July 29, 1960) was an American book publisher. He was a Columbia University graduate, co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, and father of singer-songwriter Carly Simon. Early life Richard Leo ...

, co-founder of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, and uncle of singer-songwriter

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

— ran Jazztone from 1956, when it was sold to Crowell-Collier, through 1957. Jazztone re-issued recordings from the catalogs of

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

Pacific Jazz Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded ...

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

, Storyville,

Urania Urania ( ; grc, , Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy, and in later times, of Christian poetry. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, he ...

Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

Roost Roost may refer to: Animal resting * Roosting, resting behavior of birds * Communal roosting, a behavior of some birds and other animals * Monarch butterfly roosts, communal resting sites in monarch butterfly migration * Bat roost, a list of pla ...

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

(out of catalog recordings), Dial (acquired by Concert Hall Society), Black & White (defunct), Purist,

Paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...

, Jazz Information, Black Deuce, and Okidoke. : Selected artists, re-issued by Jazztone *

Henry "Red" Allen Henry James "Red" Allen, Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been claimed by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armst ...

Ivie Anderson Ivie Anderson (sometimes Ivy) (January 16, 1904 – December 28, 1949) was an American jazz singer. Anderson was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra for more than a decade. Personal life Anderson was born on January 16, 1904, in Gilroy, ...

( Black & White) *

Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temp ...

Clifford Brown Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", an ...

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

(

) *

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. Early years Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of J ...

(

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

) *

Pee Wee Erwin George "Pee Wee" Erwin (May 30, 1913 – June 20, 1981) was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography He was born in Falls City, Nebraska, United States. Erwin started on trumpet at age four. He played in several territory bands before joining the gr ...

(Urania) *

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...

( Dial,

) *

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

(

) *

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

( Dial, Black Deuce, Okidoke) *

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

(

) *

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

( Dial) *

Marty Grosz Martin Oliver Grosz (born February 28, 1930) is an American jazz guitarist, banjoist, vocalist, and composer born in Berlin, Germany, the son of artist George Grosz. He performed with Bob Wilber and wrote arrangements for him. He has also worked ...

(

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly ...

) * *

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

(

) *

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

( Black & White) * Cliff Jackson ( Black & White) * *

Jonah Jones Jonah Jones (born Robert Elliott Jones; December 31, 1909 – April 29, 2000) was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his w ...

( Black & White) *

Dodo Marmarosa Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa (December 12, 1925 – September 17, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Originating in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Marmarosa became a professional musician in his mid-teens, and toured with several ...

( Dial) *

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His reco ...

( Dial) *

Hot Lips Page Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist. Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Sh ...

(Melrose) *

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

( Dial,

, Okidoke) *

Pee Wee Russell Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969), was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and sp ...

( Storyville,

Disques Vogue Disques Vogue was a jazz record company founded in France by Léon Cabat and Charles Delaunay in 1947, the year after the American Vogue label ceased. They originally specialized in jazz, featuring American performers such as Sidney Bechet, D ...

) *

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...

(

) *

Sonny Stitt Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his ...

(

) *

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...

(

) *

Jack Teagarden Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 19 ...

Lee Wiley Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Biography Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. At fifteen, she left home to pursue a singing career, singing on New York ...

( Storyville) *

Cootie Williams Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Biography Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of 14 with the Yo ...

Teddy Wilson Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of ma ...

( Dial) : Selected artists produced by Jazztone and/or Concert Hall Society *

Paul Barbarin Adolphe Paul Barbarin (May 5, 1899 – February 17, 1969) was an American jazz drummer from New Orleans. Career Barbarin grew up in New Orleans in a family of musicians, including his father, three of his brothers, and his nephew (Danny Barker) ...

Ruby Braff Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Garry Moore television show and described Ruby as "the Ivy League Louis Armstrong". Braff ...

Billy Byers William Mitchell Byers (May 1, 1927 – May 1, 1996) was an American jazz trombonist and arranger. Early life Byers was born in Los Angeles on May 1, 1927. He suffered from arthritis from a young age and was unable to continue his plans of a care ...

Joki Freund Walter Jakob "Joki" Freund (September 5, 1926, Höchst, Frankfurt am MainFebruary 15, 2012, Schwalbach am Taunus) was a German jazz saxophonist. Freund began playing the accordion as a child, switching to tenor saxophone after World War II ...

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musi ...

* Wolfgang Lauth (de) (1931–2011) * Joe Newman *

Sammy Price Samuel Blythe Price (October 6, 1908 – April 14, 1992) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and jump blues pianist and bandleader. Price's playing is dark, mellow, and relaxed rather than percussive, and he was a specialist at creating the ...

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her Gospel music, gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spir ...

Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and ...

Varieton

The Varieton label carried classical music that was more oriented towards lighter classical and chamber music.

Guilde Internationale du Disque

Guilde Internationale du Disque, founded in France in 1952, got its first subscription in 1953. The company also distributed in retail stores. Disks were pressed by Turicaphon AG. Sublabel: La Division Des Connaisseurs. In 1986, Guilde Internationale du Disque merged with Éditions Atlas (fr).

Licensing affiliates

Nixa Records Nixa Record Company Ltd. was founded in 1950 by F. H. B. Nixon. Nixa was the second company, after Decca, to release LP records in Britain (at the time, EMI was attempting to promote 45 rpm records over 33 LP records). The record label, which trad ...

had a licensing arrangement with a number of American classical music record companies, including Concert Hall Records, to manufacture and market its catalogues in the

and the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

Membership data

Concert Hall Society reported that its membership had reach 275,000 as of February 10, 1963.

Selected discography

* Concert Hall Society's first release: : Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2 in F major : Gordon String Quartet: Jacques Gordon (1897–1948), 1st violin; Urico Michael Rossi (1916–2001), 2nd violin; David Paul Dawson (1913–1975), viola;

Fritz Magg Fritz Magg (April 18, 1914 – July 20, 1997) was a renowned Austrian-American cellist, known for his career spanning over six decades as a soloist, symphony and chamber ensemble performer, and educator. Biography Magg was born in Vienna to Pa ...

, cello : Liner notes: Kurt List (1913–1970) * William Horne, tenor, recorded an album of

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

's songs under the composer's supervision. The recording is the first known performance of the music. Chamber Music Society (CMS)initial offering,CM-1 Giuseppe Tartini, Sonata in G minor. Francesco Geminiani, Sonata in B flat major. Antonio Vivaldi, Sonatas in A major and F minor. Tomaso Vitali, Chaconne in G minor. Ricardo Odnoposoff, Violin Leo Rostal, Cello Benjamin Oren, Harpsichord Heinz Wehrle, Harpsichord and Organ. Chamber Music Society CM Series finale, CM-27. Arcangelo Correlli Number One in D Major - Number Three in C Minor Number Two in F Major - Number Four in D Major Number Eight in C Minor the Christmas Concerto. Boyd Neel Chamber Orch. Walter Goehr, Conductor Winterhur Chamber Orch. Clemens Dahinden, Cond.CM-27 Liner Notes

Other mail-order subscription record clubs

Columbia Record Club Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...

Musical Heritage Society Musical Heritage Society was an American mail-order record label founded in New York City in 1962 by Michael "Mischa" Naida (1900–1991), co-founder of Westminster Records, and T. C. Fry Jr. (1926–1996). Background After a small initial group ...

Britannia Music Club Britannia Music Club (19692007) was a British mail-order company owned by PolyGram which sponsored the Brit Awards. The company was acquired by Universal Music Group as part of PolyGram in 1998, and closed in 2007. The direct marketing format was to ...

World Record Club The World Record Club Ltd. was the name of a company in the United Kingdom which issued long-playing records and reel-to-reel tapes, mainly of classical music and jazz, through a membership mail-order system during the 1950s and 1960s. In add ...

External link

Website about history of Concert Hall Society records, Musical Masterpiece Society

Notes & references

Notes

References

{{Authority control Record labels established in 1946 Classical music record labels New York (state) record labels Mail-order retailers Defunct record labels of the United States