Decca
The name "Decca" has its origins in a portable gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone, patented in 1914 by the manufacturers of the instrument, Barnett Samuel and Sons. Invented by Wilfred S. Samuel, the name is the result of the fusion of the word ‘Mecca’ with the initial D of ‘Dulcephone’. The company then renamed itself the ‘Decca Gramophone Company’, and at the same time became known as ‘The Supreme Record Company’. It was bought in 1929 by the former stockbroker Edward Lewis.
In 1939 Decca was the only record label in the United Kingdom, aside from EMI. Within a few years it had become the second biggest label in the world. During the 1930s and 1940s, Decca counted within its catalogue a plethora of legendary signatures: including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Jane Froman, the Boswell Sisters, Billie Holiday, the Andrews Sisters, Ted Lewis, Judy Garland, the Mills Brothers, Billy Cotton, Guy Lombardo, Chick Webb, Louis Jordan, Bob Crosby, the Ink Spots, Dorsey Brothers, Connee Boswell and Jack Hylton, Victor Young, Earl Hines, Claude Hopkins and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
In 1966 Edward Lewis created Deram, the first British label devoted entirely to pop and rock music. Deram released the albums Songwriter and Night Flight by Justin Hayward, and in 1969 launched a progressive rock section of the label, entitled Nova, which lasted less than a year. Consequently, the 1970s were disastrous years for the Deram label as a whole. Meanwhile, Decca became increasingly famous for its classical repertoire. On the death of Edward Lewis in January 1980, the company Polygram took on what remained of Decca. Deram reappeared briefly during the early 1980s with albums by the groups Bananarama, the Mo-debts and Splodgenessabounds.
In 1997 Seagram bought MCA, Universal Studios and Polygram Deutsche Grammophon. Decca Records has now become a trademark of Universal Group; comprising Decca Classics (employing a blue and red logo), Deutsche Grammophon, Philips and Verve Music Group, Concord Records, Blue Thumb, and UCJ Round Records.
Today, Decca Records continues to support our chosen artists and unearth new talent, be it in pop, rock, folk or Americana (especially in its Broadway repertoire), releasing albums by Robert Plant, Imelda Peut, William Orbit, Kirsty Almeida, Melody Gardot, Eric Whitacre and Nikki Yanofsky. It also promotes the classical music of a new generation of great artists; including Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nelson Freire, Cecilia Bartoli, Renee Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez, Jonas Kaufmann, Janine Jansen and Albrecht Mayer. Decca continues to release music from older classical musicians such as Wilhelm Backhaus, Benjamin Britten, Clifford Curzon, Radu Lupu, Kathleen Ferrier, Joan Sutherland, Renata Tebaldi, Julius Katchen, Georg Solti, Alicia de Larrocha and Luciano Pavarotti.
-
Wolf : Italianisches Liederbuch
Irmgard Seefried, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Lieder (German) - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
C.P.E. Bach: Hamburger Sinfonien Wq182
Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn : Overtures - Schubert : Rosamunde
Carl Schuricht, Pierre Monteux, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Decca on Oct. 26, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms : Piano Concerto No. 1 - Overtures
Clifford Curzon, Eduard van Beinum, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Keyboard Concertos - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Das Land des Lächelns - Der Zarewitsch - Paganini
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : Messiah - Bach : Magnificat
Sacred Oratorios - Released by Decca on Sep. 13, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Smetana, Mein Vaterland
Antal Doráti, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
French Virtuoso Organ Music
Classical - Released by Decca on Nov. 1, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nielsen : Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5
Paul Kletzki, François Huybrechts, London Symphony Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Symphonies - Released by Decca on Apr. 30, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner Sinfonie Nr. 5
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Sir Georg Solti
Classical - Released by Decca on Dec. 1, 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach : Goldberg Variations
Chamber Music - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Lehár: Das Land des Lächelns
Ingeborg Hallstein, Heinz Hoppe, Renate Holm, Peter Alexander, Grosses Operetten Orchester, Franz Marszalek
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Tchaikovsky : Symphonies 4 & 6 - Violin Concerto
Symphonic Music - Released by Decca on Mar. 6, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Die Schöpfung (Highlights)
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1966
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt : Symphonic Poems - Wagner : Siegfried Idyll
Symphonic Poems - Released by Decca on Oct. 18, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten : Choral Works
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by Decca on Nov. 1, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schütz: Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi
Peter Pears, Schütz Choir of London, Roger Norrington
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Klaviersonaten Nr. 8, 15, 21 & 22
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem In D Minor K.626
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zeller: Der Vogelhändler (QS) - Fall: Die Dollarprinzessin (QS)
Symphonieorchester Graunke, Franz Bauer-Theussl, Bert Grund
Classical - Released by Decca on Jan. 1, 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo