Virgin Classics is now Erato

[Brian]

As part of the EMI/Warner merger where all EMI discs got rebranded as Warner Classics...



...Virgin has now become Erato.

So there are new Erato releases:

[mn dave]

Who's on first? 

[Todd]

The important question for me is will this result in more interesting titles?

[kishnevi]

1) Does this mean our New Erato can now be called Old Virgin for a change of pace?
2) What's on that Tharaud CD?

[Brian]

1) Does this mean our New Erato can now be called Old Virgin for a change of pace?
2) What's on that Tharaud CD?

1) Absolutely
2) It's a recital of his favorite encores.

1. Prelude in B minor (from the Notebook of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach)
2. Songs without words, Op.17: No. 3 Andante Moderato
3. Suite in G minor: Les Sauvages
4. Dance of the blessed spirits
5. Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2
6. Nocturne Op. 19 No. 4
7. Wedding day in Troldhaugen
8. Valse Triste, Op. 44 No. 1
9. Prelude for the Left Hand, Op. 9 No. 1
10. Songs without words: No. 2 Allegro leggiero in F sharp minor
11. Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1
12. The Dying Swan
13. Troisième livre, 18ème ordre: Le tic-toc-choc, ou Les maillotins
14. Feuillet d'album
15. Sonata K141 in D minor
16. L'Arlésienne, suite de concert No. 1: III Adagietto
17. Adios a Cuba
18. Tourbillon (d'aprés le Tourbillon de la vie de Georges Delerue)
19. Mélancolie, FP 105
20. Paisajes: El lago
21. Valse lente
22. 3 Gymnopédies: III Lent et grave
23. Concerto BWV 979: Andante

[kishnevi]

22. 3 Gymnopédies: III Lent et grave

Thanks.  His Satie recording is in fact  the next thing on the listening pile.

[springrite]

How about a switch of name? Should we call GMG's own erato "virgin"?

[Parsifal]

I don't get this decision.  A large segment of the classical buying public doesn't remember Erato, and those that remember Erato fondly (like me) will consider renaming Virgin to Erato a travesty.  The same probably applies to those who think of Virgin Classics fondly.  And is there some code in the logo.  Is green Erato different than orange Erato?

[North Star]

How about a switch of name? Should we call GMG's own erato "virgin"?

Jeffrey was way ahead of you, but yes!

[kishnevi]

I don't get this decision.  A large segment of the classical buying public doesn't remember Erato, and those that remember Erato fondly (like me) will consider renaming Virgin to Erato a travesty.  The same probably applies to those who think of Virgin Classics fondly.  And is there some code in the logo.  Is green Erato different than orange Erato?

I seem to recall many Erato issues being, if not budget priced,  at least not premium prices, similar to Virgin.  Perhaps that was the only parallel that mattered to the decision makers.  I wonder what label name they'll slap on all those recordings that appeared as Angel and Seraphim* budget issues.  Apex, as a first guess.


*Always thought Seraphim's motto was one of the classiest in the business:  Angels of the highest order

[The new erato]

How about a switch of name? Should we call GMG's own erato "virgin"?

It's too late for that I'm afraid.

I don't get this decision.  A large segment of the classical buying public doesn't remember Erato, and those that remember Erato fondly (like me) will consider renaming Virgin to Erato a travesty.  The same probably applies to those who think of Virgin Classics fondly.  And is there some code in the logo.  Is green Erato different than orange Erato?

I'm very white, but appreciate being remembered fondly.

[Todd]

Anyone know who owns the rights to the Virgin Classics name since the sale of EMI?  That could be driving the decision to change.

[Parsifal]

I seem to recall many Erato issues being, if not budget priced,  at least not premium prices, similar to Virgin.

Ok, you are in the category of classical customers who don't remember Erato Disques, which was founded in the early 50's to promote French musicians and composers and went bankrupt around 1992, after which Warner bough the rights to their back catalog.  After that there may have been some additional recordings made under the Erato label, but it tapered off pretty quick.

Anyone know who owns the rights to the Virgin Classics name since the sale of EMI?  That could be driving the decision to change.

You are correct.  Warner does not have the rights to the EMI or Virgin Classics trademarks.  They found themselves in possession of the rights to the defunct Erato label, and stuck it on Virgin classics (I suppose because the director of Virgin Classics is French).

http://www.classicalmusicmagazine.org/2013/07/wmg-ressurrects-erato-label-for-virgin-classics-catalogue/

[Brian]

And is there some code in the logo.  Is green Erato different than orange Erato?

No clue. Very weird, do any other companies change the color of their logo at random whenever they print it? I can't think of one.

[kishnevi]

Ok, you are in the category of classical customers who don't remember Erato Disques, which was founded in the early 50's to promote French musicians and composers and went bankrupt around 1992, after which Warner bough the rights to their back catalog.  After that there may have been some additional recordings made under the Erato label, but it tapered off pretty quick.

Thanks for the back story.

Actually, a couple of early CD purchases (late 1980s,  I am fairly certain) I made were on the Erato label, and definitely budget priced.  Marie Claire Alain's non cycle recording of the Schubler chorales,  a recording of Mozart's Coronation Mass and Litany of a Confessor, and possibly a couple of others.   They belonged to a series with bansai trees on the cover.

[Parsifal]

Thanks for the back story.

Actually, a couple of early CD purchases (late 1980s,  I am fairly certain) I made were on the Erato label, and definitely budget priced.  Marie Claire Alain's non cycle recording of the Schubler chorales,  a recording of Mozart's Coronation Mass and Litany of a Confessor, and possibly a couple of others.   They belonged to a series with bansai trees on the cover.

Yes, they had a budget reissue line, as was becoming ubiquitous at the time.  I also had a bonsai disc of Alain playing Bach, excerpted from the third cycle.  But they were a premium independent label until the acquisition by Warner (and for a while after, before Warner classics started merging heir divisions into one).

[Daverz]

Yes, they had a budget reissue line, as was becoming ubiquitous at the time.  I also had a bonsai disc of Alain playing Bach, excerpted from the third cycle.  But they were a premium independent label until the acquisition by Warner (and for a while after, before Warner classics started merging heir divisions into one).

Oh, I have that Bach CD.  Fantastic CD.  AAD, I believe.  It must be one of the first CDs I bought in the late 80s.  I think I even remember buying it at the Tower Records on Sports Arena Blvd.  Sigh, it's like some lost age from the mists of time...

http://www.mamamaryshow.com/2010/01/tower-records-oh-how-i-miss-you/

[Parsifal]

Oh, I have that Bach CD.  Fantastic CD.  AAD, I believe.  It must be one of the first CDs I bought in the late 80s.  I think I even remember buying it at the Tower Records on Sports Arena Blvd.  Sigh, it's like some lost age from the mists of time...

http://www.mamamaryshow.com/2010/01/tower-records-oh-how-i-miss-you/

I may have gotten mine at Tower Records, Lincoln Center, or J&R in Park Row.  (sigh)

[jut1972]

will be good news for any existing EMI discs as these will presumably be the "old" brand and flogged off cheap.