I’ve subscribed to Classical Recordings Quarterly since it began life as International Classical Record Collector in 1995. It’s always been a fascinating magazine, covering mainly historical recordings, and the performers, producers and record labels associated with them. It remains consistently fascinating, but as a small but well-produced magazine in a world of rising costs and growing competition, it needs more subscribers. So if you have a interest in historic classical recordings (and surely that applies to most visitors to this site) and do not already subscribe to CRQ, please consider doing so. You can find a free pdf of the June 2010 issue on their website, so that you can see if you are tempted by the magazine. I heartily recommend it.

I should make clear that I have a personal interest in supporting CRQ. In the Autumn and Winter 2013 issues, they published my two-part article on Percy Pitt and his recorded legacy, and I have undertaken several remastering projects for their associated CD reissue label CRQ Editions. So far the label has released more than 170 CDs in quarterly batches, some of which are now available as downloads. I’ve contributed the following to their catalogue:

CRQ CD076 (1 CD) Percy Pitt Conducts! Volume 1: French, German and Austrian repertoire – operatic selections by Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Thomas, Delibes, Wagner, Mendelssohn and Suppé.

CRQ CD095 (1 CD) Percy Pitt Conducts. Volume 2: Italian repertoire – operatic overtures and selections by Rossini, Drigo, Boccherini, Wolf-Ferrari, Verdi and Leoncavallo.

CRQ CD104 (1 CD) Percy Pitt conducts, Volume 3: Russian, Italian, Irish and English repertoire – works by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Puccini, Balfe, Coleridge-Taylor and Sullivan.

CRQ CD120 (1 CD) Lorenzo Molajoli conducts the Milan Symphony Orchestra in Respighi’s Fontane di Roma and orchestral works by Cimarosa, Bellini, Rossini, Mascagni, Gounod, Fucik and Tchaikovksy.

CRQ CD131-132 (2 CD) Percy Pitt conducts, Volume 4: the vocal recordings for HMV – this includes all except two of the singers with whom Pitt recorded, and also includes examples of Pitt as piano accompanist. The first CD is devoted  to international stars and Wagner, and the second to singers from the British Empire and the USA. Also included is the only example of Pitt as a concerto conductor, leading the Air from Goldmark’s Violin Concerto with Francis MacMillen plus several purely orchestral items. The singers featured are Luisa Tetrazzini, Maria Gay, Emmy Destinn, Louise Kirkby-Lunn, John McCormack, Mario Sammarco, Titta Ruffo, Graziella Pareto, Fernand Ansseau, Marie-Louise Edvina, Dmitri Smirnov, Feodor Chaliapin, Minnie Saltzmann-Stevens, Peter Cornelius, Clarence Whitehill, Robert Radford, Florence Austral, Tudor Davies, Walter Hyde, Miriam Licette, Nora d’Argel, William Samuell, Jeanne Brola, Eveline Matthews, John Harrison, Phyllis Lett, Flora Woodman, Olga Haley, Stella Power, Rosina Buckman and Edna Thornton.

CRQ CD144 (1 CD) Eugene Goossens conducts Gramophone Premières – Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; Delius: Brigg Fair; Stravinsky: Petrushka; Rimsky-Korsakov: Dubinushka; Scriabin: Rêverie Op.24; Grainger: Molly on the Shore – Irish Reel; Goossens: Tam O’Shanter – Scherzo.

CRQ CD153 (1 CD) Eugene Goossens conducts, Volume 2: the Columbia and Edison Bell recordings – Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre; Goossens: Four Conceits, Op. 20 (first recording); Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser: Overtures; Wolf-Ferrari: Il Segreto di Susanna: Overture; Sibelius: Scènes Historiques: Festivo; Delibes: Le Roi l’a dit: Overture ; Coppélia: 4 extracts; Planquette: Paul Jones (Surcouf): Selection; Offenbach: La Périchole: Selection; Auber: Les Diamants de la Couronne: Overture; Le Cheval de Bronze: Overture.

CRQ CD171-172 (2 CD) The Virtuoso String Quartet: pioneers of chamber music on record
Franck: Quartet in D*; Debussy: Quartet in G minor, Op. 10; Tchaikovsky; Quartet in D, Op. 11*; Beethoven: Quartet No. 12 in E flat, Op. 127, plus music for string quartet by Mendelssohn, Gossec, Grainger, Glazunov, Dittersdorf and Haydn (*=first recording) / Virtuoso String Quartet (Marjorie Hayward, Edwin Virgo, violins; Raymond Jeremy, viola; Cedric Sharpe, cello).

Further projects for this label are currently in production.