- Westminster Records
Westminster Records was an American
classical music record label.History
It was founded in 1949 by the owner of the Westminster Record shop in
New York City , James Grayson, and conductorHenry Swoboda . It's trademark was Big Ben and its slogan was "natural balance", referring to its single microphone technique in recording music, similar toMercury Records ' "Living Presence" series. In the late 1950s, the company began issuing somestereophonic recordings, including a rare performance of the music of Swedish composerHugo Alfven (1872-1960) conducted by the composer.The company was sold to
ABC-Paramount Records in the early 1960s, which continued to issue new material as well as reissue old material on the Westminster Gold label. While Westminster stopped issuing new recordings in 1965, ABC continued its active reissue of the back catalogue with sleeves incorporating whimsy and humor to garner sales.MCA Records acquired the Westminster catalog, when it bought ABC Records in 1979. In 1980, MCA reissued much of its classical music back catalogues ofDecca Records and ABC/Westminster Records on the MCA Westminster label.The Westminster catalogue, as well as the rest of the MCA classical music catalogue, is now managed by
Deutsche Grammophon .External links
* [http://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/series/prod_series?ID=WMNSTR Westminster Records history from Deutsche Grammophon]
* [http://www.westminstergold.com Westminster Gold Records discography]
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