AN INTRODUCTION TO CHANDOS RECORDS

Chandos Records was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens and quickly established itself as one of the world's leading independent classical labels. The company produces, sells, markets and distributes its recordings from its offices and warehouse in Colchester, England. It has its own UK sales force and is distributed worldwide.

Prior to forming the label, Brian Couzens along with son Ralph worked for 8 years running a mobile recording unit, recording major British artists for some of the world's renowned classical labels such as RCA, Polydor, CFP, etc.

The company has championed rare and neglected repertoire, filling in many gaps in the record catalogues. Initially focussing on British composers (Alwyn, Bax, Bliss, Dyson, Moeran, Rubbra, Walton etc.), it subsequently embraced a much wider field. Now Chandos' richly diverse catalogue contains over 1500 titles, and includes recordings of music, ancient and modern, by composers from around the globe. The company's aim remains to present an exciting selection of beautifully recorded music to as many people as possible. Chandos issues at least five new recordings a month - together with re-issues of back catalogue material - which more than rivals the major classical companies.

The following artists are strongly associated with, or exclusive to, the label: Richard Hickox, Matthias Bamert, I Fagiolini, Neeme Järvi, Louis Lortie, Gianandrea Noseda, James Ehnes, Rumon Gamba, Sir Charles Mackerras, David Parry, Valeri Polyansky, the Purcell Quartet, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Howard Shelley, Simon Standage, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Leonard Slatkin, Vernon Handley, The BBC Philharmonic, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the City of London Sinfonia, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra and Collegium Musicum 90.

Chandos is universally acclaimed for the excellence of its sound quality and has always been at the forefront of technical innovation. In 1978 Chandos was one of the first to record in 16bit/44.1Khz PCM digital. One of the first to edit a digital recording (Holst: Planets - SNO/Gibson) completely in the digital domain and in 1983 one of the first to produce Classical CDs into the market place. Today Chandos has kept up with technology by recording mostly in 24bit/96Khz PCM but now also in DSD for producing 'surround sound' SACD's.

The company has received many awards, including several Gramophone awards (including the 2001 'Record of the Year' for Richard Hickox's recording of the original version of Vaughan Williams's A London Symphony, 'best choral recording of 2003' for its recording of an undiscovered Mass by Hummel, and 'best orchestral recording' of 2004 for its set of Bax Symphonies), and an American Grammy Award for Britten's Peter Grimes.