Orion Records was a primarily classical record label active from the late 1960s until 1988. It grew out of an earlier, Canadian label, Baroque Records, founded by former Everest Records executive Giveon Cornfield.[1] After subsuming portions of Baroque's catalogue, Orion specialized in recording promising young artists; some, such as harpsichordist-organist Kenneth Gilbert and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, went on to significant recording careers for larger labels.[2]
Taking advantage of personal connections, Cornfield secured for Orion an association with the Menuhin Foundation, improving the label's access to retail channels, and arranged for distribution by Everest. Orion's catalogue would eventually list some 600 titles, and the label had its share of awards—several Grand Prix du Disques, two "Recordings of Special Merit" from Stereo Review, and the Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt 1977-but sales were small, generally less than 25 copies of any given title annually, and the company relied on financial infusions from Cornfield to remain in business. An exception was one of the label's rare non-classical issues, a collection of torch songs recorded by Anita Ellis; with a few thousand copies sold, it was the label's most successful release.[2] Due to conflict with other firms using the name Orion, the firm's name was changed to ORION MASTER RECORDINGS, LLC.
As the compact disc decimated the market for conventional records, in 1988 Cornfield opted to retire rather than retool the company's output for the digital era. He donated the Orion archives to the University of Hawaii with the proviso he could reissue recordings at will. The bulk of Orion's archives are being reactivated (streaming) on two Naxos web sites: ClassicsOnLine.com and NaxosMusicLibrary.com. Currently (November 2014) over 750 Orion albums are now available on the Naxos websites.
ReferencesEdit
^Siskind, Jacob, "Record World", The Montreal Gazette, 12 May 1973, p. 32, accessed 1 July 2010
^ abSerinus, Jason Victor, "The Return of Orion Classics," Stereophile, March 11, 2007, accessed November 22, 2009
October 21, 2023
orion, records, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, relies, excessively, references, primary, sources, please, improve, this, article, adding. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article relies excessively on references to primary sources Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources Find sources Orion Records news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Orion Records news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Orion Records was a primarily classical record label active from the late 1960s until 1988 It grew out of an earlier Canadian label Baroque Records founded by former Everest Records executive Giveon Cornfield 1 After subsuming portions of Baroque s catalogue Orion specialized in recording promising young artists some such as harpsichordist organist Kenneth Gilbert and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman went on to significant recording careers for larger labels 2 Taking advantage of personal connections Cornfield secured for Orion an association with the Menuhin Foundation improving the label s access to retail channels and arranged for distribution by Everest Orion s catalogue would eventually list some 600 titles and the label had its share of awards several Grand Prix du Disques two Recordings of Special Merit from Stereo Review and the Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt 1977 but sales were small generally less than 25 copies of any given title annually and the company relied on financial infusions from Cornfield to remain in business An exception was one of the label s rare non classical issues a collection of torch songs recorded by Anita Ellis with a few thousand copies sold it was the label s most successful release 2 Due to conflict with other firms using the name Orion the firm s name was changed to ORION MASTER RECORDINGS LLC As the compact disc decimated the market for conventional records in 1988 Cornfield opted to retire rather than retool the company s output for the digital era He donated the Orion archives to the University of Hawaii with the proviso he could reissue recordings at will The bulk of Orion s archives are being reactivated streaming on two Naxos web sites ClassicsOnLine com and NaxosMusicLibrary com Currently November 2014 over 750 Orion albums are now available on the Naxos websites References Edit Siskind Jacob Record World The Montreal Gazette 12 May 1973 p 32 accessed 1 July 2010 a b Serinus Jason Victor The Return of Orion Classics Stereophile March 11 2007 accessed November 22 2009 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Orion Records amp oldid 1142247189, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
