50 years ago today: A label is born
NewsToday, 50 years ago, a record labal booked its first taxi and headed down to Stockholm Synagogue to record BIS-LP-1. The label owner and album producer was Robert von Bahr, a singing teacher at the Royal Stockholm Academy of Music.
Robert, still making records, will turn 80 in a couple of weeks.
Over the next 2,750 releases, Bis has led the line in recording symphonic cycles by Shostakovich and Schnittke, the complete works of Sibelius and the cantatas of Bach, as well as quite a few Nordic composers from Allan Pettersson to Kalevi Aho… in all a unique achievement.
And every single release has been kept in stock.
Anyone care to guess the repertoire on BIS-LP-1?
Congratulations to BIS and Bahr, and thanks to them for untold hours of joy.
The first BIS release was of Jewish Liturgical Music by Leo Rosenbluth, Gershon Ephros and Moses Pergament. Performers included Gunilla von Bahr (flute), Chamber Choir of the Royal Conservatory Stockholm, Maria Thyresson & Andris Vitolins (organ), Eric Ericson (conductor) – and it’s still available on BIS, albeit now on CD.
For those who don’t know him, RvB is a great character, and deeply honourable to his artists: always a joy to see him at conferences full of artist and orchestral managers proudly wearing their best suits and frocks, and then there’s Robert wearing shorts and sandals. Everyone knows that BIS is a brilliant label.
I buy a lot of Bis recordings for one simple reason: the sound quality is first-rate. And they are one of the few that still regularly produces in SACD. Some of their projects have been absolutely fantastic: the Tubin and Gade symphonies, the Glazunov and RImsky-Korsakov boxes, of course that incredible Sibelius project. But sometimes their choice of artists missed the mark, such as the nearly complete Mahler cycle from Minnesota or the Neeme Jarvi Tchaikovsky symphonies. Sometimes, great sound isn’t quite enough.
Not sure what officially counts for a “major” label (DG, Decca, etc.), but within classical music BIS is certainly one of the majors.
happy birthday and many returns of the day,
hugs,
JJ
Without such pioneering record labels (and their musicians) we wouldn’t be able to access the full symphony cycles of Alfvén, Schnittke, Tubin, etc.
So thank you and congratulations to BIS for setting high standards and preserving quality and repertoire diversity over half a century!
A toast to the next 50 years!
P.S.
We, the listeners, still urgently need Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred Symphony” played by GSO with Neeme Järvi. Neeme missed a total of three opportunities to conduct this in concert (twice in Scotland, once in Tallinn where he was ironically replaced by Leif Segerstam). Old age is not an argument because Neeme is still aiming high with Mahler’s 8th scheduled for next month in Tallinn.
P.P.S.
Neeme is still aiming very high with both Mahler’s 8th and 2nd performed next month!
https://erso.ee/en/concerts/mahler-symphony-no-2/
We, the listeners, are also missing Mahler’s 2nd conducted by Neeme Järvi on CD. This is really a major gap in his discography!
[There is only a DVD of Mahler’s 2nd with Neeme on the market.]
“And every single release has been kept in stock.” That’s the key phrase here, surely? So many other labels allow relatively brief periods of availability of their products for public consumption, and so it is reassuring that with BIS we are blessed with a company that manifests such a firm commitment and belief in what they produce.
Wonderful recordings of thr Swiss Swedish pianist Dag Achatz for example. Achatz did by ear trancriptions of Rite of Spring And West side Story that are incredibly recorded on BISBösedorfer Nutkracker and one of the best C major Phantasies on record. Fina and enjoy. BIS made stellar work over the Years I am just grateful.