Michel Bernstein
Encyclopedia
Michel Bernstein was a French musical producer and founder of several record labels.
Bernstein's first contact with classical music was hearing the school music teacher play Beethoven on an out-of-tune piano at the age of 15, but thereafter he took a lively interest in music and recordings.
The first release was the world premiere recording of Debussy's Proses Lyriques, by Flore Wend a Swiss soprano living in Paris, accompanied by the pianist Odette Gartenlaub, engineered by André Charlin, and recorded at the Salle Adyar, Paris. The LP also included the Chansons de Bilitis
and Ballades de François Villon
, and received glowing reviews in the French magazine Disques. The next release was of the organist Pierre Cochereau
playing Bach on the organ of the Église Saint-Roch
. Followed by another disc of Bach, the Orgelbüchlein
, with the Danish organist Finn Viderø.
and his Végh Quartet
, and discs of Clément Janequin
and Amours de Ronsard with the Ensemble Polyphonique de Paris of the composer Charles Ravier. Ravier returned to Bernstein in the 1970s to make two recordings of the Meslanges of Lassus, the second of them deeply problematic.
The Paris based American pianist Noël Lee
made many recordings for Valois; Aaron Copland
, Ravel, Chopin, and the Brahms quintet with the Quatuor Danois
. Then from 1965, chanson and lieder recordings of Ravel, Duparc, Robert Schumann
, Mussorgsky
, etc. with the Dutch baritone Bernard Kruysen, as well as participating in recordings of Jean Barraqué
.
At this period - before the European record market was integrated - many of the releases of Valois were licensed, as Valois licensed their own releases abroad. For example the Ockeghem Requiem of the Prague Madrigalists conducted by Miroslav Venhoda
, was licensed from Supraphon to both Valois in France and Telefunken in Germany.
for poetry, and printed on the first 39 discs released.
Astrée, along with Harmonia Mundi of Bernard Coutaz
was one of the leaders in early music recording in France, with artists including harpsichordist Blandine Verlet, fortepianist Paul Badura-Skoda
, lutenist Hopkinson Smith
, Michel Chapuis
for the complete organ works of Bach, the first recordings of Philippe Herreweghe
, Quatuor Mosaïques
, Rinaldo Alessandrini
and others, including two "difficult" recordings with Esther Lamandier around the Decameron and Cantigas de Santa Maria
.
One of the label's major artists was Jordi Savall
whom Bernstein recruited from EMI
, generating a series of recordings of renaissance to classical repertoire including the bestselling soundtrack for the 1991 movie Tous les matins du monde
. However Bernstein had already in 1985 sold control of Astrée to Auvidis, which was then purchased by Naïve, which shortly after also acquired Yolanta Skura's label Opus111. Most of Astrée's artists remained with Auvidis-Naïve, though Jordi Savall
departed to found his own label, Alia Vox, eventually purchasing rights to his own back-catalogue.
. A few artists such as Rinaldo Alessandrini
and Fabio Biondi
assisted Bernstein in making recordings without payment to help the new label get started.
Again Arcana concentrated on early music, with new artists Ars Antiqua Austria
, the Festetics Quartet, La Reverdie
and Dialogos
. Arcana also released the first recording of Debussy on period instruments with chamber works performed by the Kuijken family
.
Following Bernstein's marriage to philosopher and sound engineer Charlotte Gilart de Keranflec'h the label's publications began to bear the imprint Charlotte et Michel Bernstein Éditeurs.
Bernstein suffered a heart attack and died while setting up the microphones for a recording session for Dialogos, of repertoire connected with Abbo of Fleury
.
After a hiatus in activity, since January 2008 the Arcana label has been managed by 551 Media S.r.l., Omegna, Italy, with the reissue of recordings by Mala Punica, Crawford Young
and the Ferrara Ensemble, and new recording began again in 2009 with a disc by La Reverdie
, Sacri Sarcasmi.
Bernstein's first contact with classical music was hearing the school music teacher play Beethoven on an out-of-tune piano at the age of 15, but thereafter he took a lively interest in music and recordings.
Vendôme
Bernstein founded his first record label, Vendôme, in 1954, which released only 5 LPs.The first release was the world premiere recording of Debussy's Proses Lyriques, by Flore Wend a Swiss soprano living in Paris, accompanied by the pianist Odette Gartenlaub, engineered by André Charlin, and recorded at the Salle Adyar, Paris. The LP also included the Chansons de Bilitis
Songs of Bilitis
The Songs of Bilitis is a collection of erotic poetry by Pierre Louÿs and published in Paris in 1894 .The book's sensual poems are in the manner of Sappho; the introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis, a courtesan and...
and Ballades de François Villon
François Villon
François Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
, and received glowing reviews in the French magazine Disques. The next release was of the organist Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Eugène Charles Cochereau , was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.- Biography :Pierre Cochereau was born on July 9, 1924 in Saint-Mandé, near Paris. In 1929, after a few months of violin instruction, he began to take piano lessons with Marius-François Gaillard...
playing Bach on the organ of the Église Saint-Roch
Église Saint-Roch
The Church of Saint Roch is a late Baroque church in Paris. Located at 284 rue Saint-Honoré, in the 1st arrondissement, it was built between 1653 and 1722.- History :...
. Followed by another disc of Bach, the Orgelbüchlein
Orgelbüchlein
The Orgelbüchlein was written by Johann Sebastian Bach during the period of 1708–1714, while he was court organist at the ducal court in Weimar...
, with the Danish organist Finn Viderø.
Valois
His second label, Valois, recorded Sándor VéghSándor Végh
Sándor Végh was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century.- Education :...
and his Végh Quartet
Végh Quartet
The Végh Quartet was a Hungarian string quartet founded in 1940 and led by its first violinist Sándor Végh for 40 years. The quartet was based in Budapest until it departed Hungary in 1946. It is particularly known for its recordings of the Beethoven and Bartók cycles...
, and discs of Clément Janequin
Clément Janequin
Clément Janequin was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular chansons of the entire Renaissance, and along with Claudin de Sermisy, was hugely influential in the development of the Parisian chanson, especially the programmatic type...
and Amours de Ronsard with the Ensemble Polyphonique de Paris of the composer Charles Ravier. Ravier returned to Bernstein in the 1970s to make two recordings of the Meslanges of Lassus, the second of them deeply problematic.
The Paris based American pianist Noël Lee
Noël Lee
Noël Lee is an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris, France.He studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt and was also a student at the Longy School of Music in the early 1940s...
made many recordings for Valois; Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, Ravel, Chopin, and the Brahms quintet with the Quatuor Danois
Danish Quartet
- Den Danske Kvartet :1935 the Danish Quartet was a quartet for flute, violin, cello and piano which was active 1935-1957. Members included:* Holger Gilbert-Jespersen , flute.* Erling Bloch , violin....
. Then from 1965, chanson and lieder recordings of Ravel, Duparc, Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...
, etc. with the Dutch baritone Bernard Kruysen, as well as participating in recordings of Jean Barraqué
Jean Barraqué
Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué was a French composer and writer on music who developed an individual form of serialism which is displayed in a small output of highly complex but passionate works.-Life:...
.
At this period - before the European record market was integrated - many of the releases of Valois were licensed, as Valois licensed their own releases abroad. For example the Ockeghem Requiem of the Prague Madrigalists conducted by Miroslav Venhoda
Miroslav Venhoda
Miroslav Venhoda was a Czech choral conductor who specialized in the performance of Renaissance and Baroque music, via his ensemble The Prague Madrigalists , which he founded in 1956.Trained during the 1930s at Prague's Charles University, Venhoda spent the war years as choral director and...
, was licensed from Supraphon to both Valois in France and Telefunken in Germany.
Astrée
In 1975 Bernstein founded his third label, Astrée. The focus of the label was on 17th Century French music, for organ, harpsichord, viol and lute. The motto of the label was Deffense & Illvstration de la Mvsiqve Française, parodying the manifesto of Joachim du BellayJoachim du Bellay
Joachim du Bellay was a French poet, critic, and a member of the Pléiade.-Biography:He was born at the Château of La Turmelière, not far from Liré, near Angers, being the son of Jean du Bellay, Lord of Gonnor, first cousin of the cardinal Jean du Bellay and of Guillaume du Bellay.Both his parents...
for poetry, and printed on the first 39 discs released.
Astrée, along with Harmonia Mundi of Bernard Coutaz
Bernard Coutaz
Bernard Coutaz was a French musical publisher, founder of the Harmonia Mundi label....
was one of the leaders in early music recording in France, with artists including harpsichordist Blandine Verlet, fortepianist Paul Badura-Skoda
Paul Badura-Skoda
Paul Badura-Skoda is an Austrian pianist.He won first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he performed with distinguished conductors like Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan...
, lutenist Hopkinson Smith
Hopkinson Smith
Hopkinson Smith is an American lutenist.Born in New York, he graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music...
, Michel Chapuis
Michel Chapuis
Michel Chapuis is a French sprint canoer who competed in the early 1960s. He won the silver medal in the C-2 1000 m event at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.-References:*...
for the complete organ works of Bach, the first recordings of Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Herreweghe is a Flemish conductor.In his school years at the University of Ghent, Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory, where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin's accompanist, was his piano teacher...
, Quatuor Mosaïques
Quatuor Mosaïques
The Quatuor Mosaïques is an Austrian string quartet, founded in 1987 by four members of the Concentus Musicus Wien, playing on historical musical instruments...
, Rinaldo Alessandrini
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Rinaldo Alessandrini is a virtuoso on Baroque keyboards, including harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ. He is founder and conductor of the Italian early music ensemble Concerto Italiano, performing music of Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Couperin, J. S. Bach, and others...
and others, including two "difficult" recordings with Esther Lamandier around the Decameron and Cantigas de Santa Maria
Cantigas de Santa Maria
The Cantigas de Santa Maria are 420 poems with musical notation, written in Galician-Portuguese during the reign of Alfonso X El Sabio and often attributed to him....
.
One of the label's major artists was Jordi Savall
Jordi Savall
Jordi Savall i Bernadet is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol back to life on the stage...
whom Bernstein recruited from EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, generating a series of recordings of renaissance to classical repertoire including the bestselling soundtrack for the 1991 movie Tous les matins du monde
Tous les matins du monde
All the World's Mornings may refer to:*All the World's Mornings , 1991 historical novel by French author Pascal Quignard, focusing on future composer Marin Marais' apprenticeship with austere cellist Sainte-Colombe; original title Tous les matins du monde*Tous les Matins du Monde, 1991 French film...
. However Bernstein had already in 1985 sold control of Astrée to Auvidis, which was then purchased by Naïve, which shortly after also acquired Yolanta Skura's label Opus111. Most of Astrée's artists remained with Auvidis-Naïve, though Jordi Savall
Jordi Savall
Jordi Savall i Bernadet is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol back to life on the stage...
departed to found his own label, Alia Vox, eventually purchasing rights to his own back-catalogue.
Arcana
In 1992, Bernstein founded his fourth label, Arcana, in NantesNantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
. A few artists such as Rinaldo Alessandrini
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Rinaldo Alessandrini is a virtuoso on Baroque keyboards, including harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ. He is founder and conductor of the Italian early music ensemble Concerto Italiano, performing music of Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Couperin, J. S. Bach, and others...
and Fabio Biondi
Fabio Biondi
Fabio Biondi is an Italian violinist and conductor.Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi began his international career at the age of 12 playing a concerto with the RAI Symphony Orchestra. When he was 16, he performed Bach's violin concertos at the Musikverein in Vienna...
assisted Bernstein in making recordings without payment to help the new label get started.
Again Arcana concentrated on early music, with new artists Ars Antiqua Austria
Ars Antiqua Austria
Ars Antiqua Austria is an early music group founded in Linz in 1995 with the specific aim of performing Austrian baroque music on period instruments. The music at the imperial court in Vienna during the baroque era was influenced by Italian and French musical forms as well as by Spanish court music...
, the Festetics Quartet, La Reverdie
La Reverdie
La Reverdie is an Italian group performing polyphonic medieval and Renaissance music.-Group members:* Elisabetta de Mircovich - vocal, vielle* Claudia Caffagni - vocal, lute, psaltery* Livia Caffagni - vocal, flute, vielle...
and Dialogos
DialogOS
DialogOS is a graphical programming environment to design computer system which can converse through voice with the user. Dialogs are clicked together in a Flowchart...
. Arcana also released the first recording of Debussy on period instruments with chamber works performed by the Kuijken family
Sigiswald Kuijken
Sigiswald Kuijken is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on authentic instruments.-Biography:Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble of Brussels between 1964 and 1972 and formed La Petite Bande in 1972...
.
Following Bernstein's marriage to philosopher and sound engineer Charlotte Gilart de Keranflec'h the label's publications began to bear the imprint Charlotte et Michel Bernstein Éditeurs.
Bernstein suffered a heart attack and died while setting up the microphones for a recording session for Dialogos, of repertoire connected with Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orléans, France....
.
After a hiatus in activity, since January 2008 the Arcana label has been managed by 551 Media S.r.l., Omegna, Italy, with the reissue of recordings by Mala Punica, Crawford Young
Crawford Young
Crawford Young is an American lutenist, music teacher, and director of the Ferrara Ensemble and Shield of Harmony, both early music groups.Robert Crawford Young graduated in 1976 from New England Conservatory in Boston, where he played classical guitar, lute and tenor banjo...
and the Ferrara Ensemble, and new recording began again in 2009 with a disc by La Reverdie
La Reverdie
La Reverdie is an Italian group performing polyphonic medieval and Renaissance music.-Group members:* Elisabetta de Mircovich - vocal, vielle* Claudia Caffagni - vocal, lute, psaltery* Livia Caffagni - vocal, flute, vielle...
, Sacri Sarcasmi.