Arion (record label)

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Arion Music
Arion's logo depicting the lyre of its namesake, the ancient Greek poet Arion
Parent companyDucale
Founded1962 (1962)
FounderAriane Segal
GenreClassical music, world
Country of originFrance
LocationParis

Arion is a French

ethnic music to jazz. Its strengths were, and remain, rarely performed classical works and ethnic music.[1][2][3]

History

In 1962 Ariane Segal, who had been working as a producer for the French division of Ricordi, left the firm with her entire team, including her sound engineer Claude Morel. She established a new independent label, Arion, serving as its president and managing director, while Morel served as the label's artistic director. By 1967 when Arion signed a US distribution deal with CBS, its recordings had already received prizes from the Académie Charles Cros and the Académie du disque français.[4][5] While most single LPs produced in France during the 1960s and 70s were packaged in sleeves, Arion's records were presented in books with copious liner notes, most of which were written by Segal herself.[6]

With the arrival of the

vinyl records, lacked the financial resources to convert to the new medium. Rather than selling the company to one of her rivals, Segal sold it to the Italian firm Ducale, who had distributed the Arion label in Italy and had begun buying stock in Arion in 1984. Ducale's owner, David Matalon, took over as president of Arion in 1985. His daughter Manuela Matalon Ostrolenk became the managing director, while Segal stayed on as head of A&R for the label's classical division. Shortly after Matalon's takeover, Arion announced plans for its first four releases on compact disc. These included Les flutes de terres Incas performed by the Andean music ensemble Los Calchakis [es] and Guillaume Bouzignac's Motets et scènes sacrées.[7][6]

In the ensuing years Arion gradually re-released the recordings in its vinyl catalogue on CD as well as continuing to produce new CD recordings and in 1997 acquired the Pierre Verany label. As of 2015 Manuela Ostrolenk serves as both president and CEO of Arion. Ariane Segal, who was described by one of her colleagues at Ricordi as "a remarkable woman, way ahead of her time", died in 2011 at the age of 93.[3][8][9]

Repertoire

Although from its inception Arion produced recordings in a range of genres, including jazz, dance, and film soundtracks, its core repertoire has been classical and ethnic music from around the world, including the traditional

Well-Tempered Clavier recorded between 1972 and 1975 by organist Louis Thiry (ARN 468306) and the complete piano works of Emmanuel Chabrier recorded by Alexandre Tharaud
in 1998 (ARN 368722).

References

  1. ^ Way, Michael (3 July 1971). "A Review of French Disk Scene", p. 48. Billboard
  2. ^ a b Gramophone (1993). "French independents: A tour d'horizon", Vol. 71, p. 4
  3. ^ a b Roux, Marie-Aude (8 April 2011). "Ariane Ségal, éditrice de musique". Le Monde. Retrieved 28 June 2015 (subscription required for complete article) (in French).
  4. ^ Adamis, Eddie (10 March 1962). "Twist to last out the year", p. 22. Billboard
  5. ^ Billboard (18 November 1967), "CBS and Arion Distrib Pact", p. 56
  6. ^ a b Riesel, Yves (6 April 2011). "Ariane Segal est morte". Qobuz Magazine. Retrieved 28 June 2015 (in French).
  7. ^ Billboard (3 August 1985). "Ducale Takes Over Arion", p. 71
  8. ^ Bibliothèque nationale de France. Arion (Éditeur phonographique). Retrieved 29 June 2015 (in French).
  9. ISBN 2851572199
    (in French)
  10. ^ Gründ, Françoise and Chérif Khaznadar, Chérif (1996). Atlas de l'Imaginaire Archived 2015-04-04 at the Wayback Machine, p. 203. Maison des Cultures du Monde/Favre. Retrieved 29 June 2015 (in French).
  11. Commission of the European Communities
    . Retrieved 29 June 2015.

External links

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