Art & Electronics

The Art & Electronics albums and compilations catalog with cataloged releases, editions, and label credits

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Parent organization: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
Sources:Discogs

Art and Electronics (A&E) was a joint venture between Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, the Union of Composers of the USSR, 'Soyuzconcert' (the concert-booking agency), and 'Electronica' (the Soviet manufacturer of consumer electronic goods). The result was a recording company focused on Soviet classical and jazz artists, which became the first independent alternative to state-owned label Melodiya in the Soviet Union. A&E was based in Moscow, with a state-of-the-art recording studio maintained by Mobile Fidelity in the Moscow Conservatory, and had a branch office in Vilnius, which split off after Lithuania's independence to form the label Art & Electronics (2) (under the same name). The label's releases were distributed in USA by MCA Classics. The initial agreements between Melodiya, the world's largest record company at the time, and Mobile Fidelity came in 1986, when Herbert A. Belkin, president and owner of MFSL, signed a contract to become an exclusive distributor of Melodiya recordings in USA. In return, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab would provide the Soviet side with audiophile quality digital remasters. After digging through Melodiya treasure trove of tens of thousands classical recordings, MFSL team soon discovered a remarkable collection of jazz. Mobile Fidelity immediately launched the USSR Jazz Showcase Series, becoming one of the first international presenters of this historically significant realm of Soviet music, practically unexposed to Western audience before. Other pioneers in the same field include a prolific Leo Records in UK, mostly focused on avant-garde and free jazz in their archival ex-USSR series. Apparently, not all artists were happy with Melodiya re-distributing their records in the United States. In 1991, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Philips Classics sued MCA Records for $4 million, claiming that MCA released an allegedly unauthorized recording of a 1989 concert performance of Tchaikovsky's 'Queen of Spades' in which Hvorostovsky sang the secondary role of Prince Yeletsky. According to the lawsuit, Melodiya never had any right to re-sell the concert recording, since Dmitri Hvorostovsky only gave permission for radio and television broadcast of this record in the Soviet Union, as per his contract with Philips. MCA paid less than $20,000 for the master tape, and Art & Electronics released Queen of Spades 3xCD right after Hvorostovsky's critically acclaimed American debut recital at New York's Lincoln Center in March 1990, while Philips Classics own album, released to coincide with this event, reached No. 3 on Billboard's classical music chart.

Discography

64 albums
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Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant-Jesus

Olivier Messiaen, Roger Muraro · 1990

Studio Album

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Nikolai Petrov, Hector Berlioz · 1991

Studio Album

The Complete Works For String Quartet

Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, The Vilnius String Quartet · 1991

Studio Album

Symphony No. 5 In D Minor, Op.47

Shostakovich : Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Mark Ermler · 1990

Studio Album

Chorus Concertos

The Moscow Chamber Choir , conductor Vladimir Minin, Georgy Sviridov · 1990

Studio Album

Canticles Of Leningrad: A Sacred Choral Concert

The Choir Of The Leningrad Metropolinate And Seminary · 1989

Studio Album

Selected Works

Moscow Conservatory Students Choir , Director Boris Tevlin, Rachmaninov • Rimsky-Korsakov • Taneyev • P. Tchaikovsky • Shebalin • Shostakovich · 1991

Studio Album

The Golden Cockerel

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, The Choir And Orchestra Of The Bolshoi, Evgeny Svetlanov · 1991

Studio Album

Piano Sonatas Nos. 2, 6 & 7

Vladimir Krainev, Prokofiev · 1990

Studio Album

Russian Winter

Academic Russian Folk Instruments Orchestra Of Soviet Radio And Television · 1989

Studio Album

Sonata For Cello And Piano / Fantasie-Tableaux / String Quartet

Rachmaninov, Alexander Rudin · 1991

Studio Album

Young Russian Voices: A Master Recital by Principal Students of Nina Dorliak

Various · 1990

Studio Album

25 Polyphonic Preludes

Rodion Shchedrin - Alexander Malkus · 1991

Studio Album

Chamber Pieces For Bayan, Cello, Organ & String Orchestra

Sofia Gubaidulina · 1989

Studio Album

Old Russian Romances

Natalia Gerasimova · 1990

Studio Album

Trios In E Flat Major / Fairy Tales

Igor Oistrakh Trio, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms · 1991

Studio Album

Piano Trios

The Moscow Trio · 1992

Studio Album

Fedotov / Arkadov Sonatas

Maxim Fedotov, Alexander Ardakov · 1992

Studio Album

The Seven Words

Haydn / Ravel / Rostov String Quartet · 1991

Studio Album

19th Century Romances

Tatiana Sterling · 1990

Studio Album

Violin Recital

Denis Goldfeld · 1992

Studio Album

Trio Sonata No. 1 / Sonata For Two Violins / Amitié / Suite For Two Violins And Piano

Igor Oistrakh Trio, Bach, Prokofiev, Ysayë, Moszkowski · 1990

Studio Album

In Moscow

Lydian String Quartet · 1990

Studio Album

Queen Of Spades

Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Irina Arkhipova, Alexander Vedernikov, The Yurlov State Academic Russian Choir, The Children's Choir "Vesna", The Gosteleradio Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, P. I. Tchaikovsky · 1990

Studio Album

The Young Tarasov

Sergei Tarasov · 1990

Studio Album

Modest Mussorgsky: 150th Anniversary Celebration

The USSR Symphony Orchestra, E. Svetlanov, Modest Mussorgsky · 1989

Studio Album

Concertino

Fomin • Bortnyansky • Aliabiev – The Chamber Ensemble Of The Moscow Philharmonic Society · 1991

Studio Album

Stravinsky For Solo Piano

Anatoly Sheludiakov - Igor Stravinsky · 1990

Studio Album

Violin Suites

Ilya Kaler · 1992

Studio Album

The Art Of The Balalaika

Igor Oblikin, Feenist Balaika · 1991

Studio Album

Piano Recital

Boris Berezovsky · 1991

Studio Album

Piano Works By Frederic Chopin

Anna Malikova, Frédéric Chopin · 1991

Studio Album

Works For The Piano By C.P.E. Bach - W.A. Mozart - Beethoven

Alexei Lyubimov · 1989

Studio Album

Armenian Choir

Gosteleradio Of Armenia Chamber Choir , Director Tigran Ekekian · 1992

Studio Album

String Quartet No. 1 & 3

P.I. Tchaikovsky, Moscow String Quartet · 1991

Studio Album

Piano Favorites

Violetta Egorova · 1991

Studio Album

Variations For Harpsichord And Piano

Felix Gottlieb · 1990

Studio Album

Compositions Of Alexander Tchaikovsky

Alexander Tchaikovsky · 1991

Studio Album

Lifesongs (Powerful Songs Of Simplicity)

Tbilisi Folk Ensemble · 1991

Studio Album