Artemis Records, an independent record label based in New York, has announced their purchase of rights to the Vanguard Classics and Bach Guild recordings. Artemis has also formed a new label, Artemis Classics, to market the reissues of these recordings. They have also announced plans to release some of these titles on SACD and DVD-A.
Artemis Records is an independent record label headed by record industry veteran Danny Goldberg. According to Artemis officials, obtaining the rights to the respected Vanguard Classics and Bach Guild catalog will be the basis upon which they will enter the Classical Music market. The releases will appear on the new Artemis Classics label.
Plans for SACD Releases
SACD Classical Music fans will be familiar with the current Stereo and Multichannel SACDs released on the Vanguard Classics label. Many of these titles are from analog master tapes and in some cases feature the original 3 channel mixes of material on Hybrid Layer Multichannel SACDs. Until now, there has been concern that once the current stock of Vanguard Classics SACDs were sold, these SACDs would no longer be available.
Artemis Classics told me that they plan to reissue the SACDs released to date from Vanguard Classics. In addition, they also plan new SACD releases of Classical Music later this year. No information is available yet about these additional, new SACD releases.
Artemis Classics released a statement noting that “The first releases from Artemis Classics will feature recordings from the Vanguard Classics catalog; historic performances captured in demonstration quality sound. Many of the great recordings from Vanguard Classics have been unavailable for many years. Artemis Classics will reissue a great number of the Vanguard and Bach Guild recordings, to restore these titles to their important place in the recordings of the past fifty years.
We are continuing the reputation of Vanguard to move forward with new sound technologies. We are re-issuing the SACDs released by the Omega Record Group in October 2003, and are pursuing new SACD releases this year.”
DVD-A Releases Also Being Planned
Artemis Classics is also looking at the release of some of their titles in the DVD-A format as well. At this time it is not clear whether these DVD-A releases would be on the Artemis Classics label or whether they would be distributed through another record label.
According to Artemis Classics, announcements about their DVD-A releases will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead. They anticipate that their first DVD-A discs will be on the market in the fall.