About
French label founded in 1958 by Bernard Coutaz (1922-2010) for ancient and baroque music. Sister label: (Do not confuse with , a different label with different ownership) HM first subsidiary was founded in the USA in 1982 and then in UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain. HM released more than 4000 records of pre-classical, classical and modern music. From HM's earliest years, its repertoire choices were centred on the instrumental heritage (notably historical organs) and early and Baroque music. Alfred Deller began recording for Harmonia Mundi in 1968, followed by William Christie, René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe and many others. All these artists contributed to the renewal of musical performance practice by their careful attention to the original text, its context, and the timbre of the instruments used. In parallel with its artistic expansion, Harmonia Mundi was also developing commercially, creating its own French distribution network in 1976. After its move to Arles in 1986, the company started to diversify its activities with the creation of a department for book distribution. The year 1995 saw the beginnings of a network of retail shops intended to compensate for the disappearance of independent record dealers. Ten years later, the company's forty-three sales outlets in France and three in Spain play a key role in guaranteeing the independence of its editorial decisions and the expansion of the recorded repertoire. HM editorial freedom is founded on the total financial independence (the company does not pay out dividends to its shareholders), constant growth (a turnover of 55 million Euros in 2005, 300 employees worldwide), and regular increases in production. In 2005 Harmonia Mundi's output reached the figure of fifty new titles in the classical repertoire alone. This successful track record has been saluted by the international press with accolades including Label of the Year 2003 in the Bristish magazine Grammophone, a Grammy Award for René Jacobs in 2005, and Label of the Year 2006 at the Midem Classical Awards.
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Top Harmonia Mundi Releases
Sub-labels
"Sur Les Instruments Des Maîtres"
Harmonia Mundi Christmas Edition 2011
Musica Sacra (8)
Les Arts Florissants William Christie
Reissues of Les Arts Florissants and William Christie recordings of Harmonia Mundi
hmnews
Series of promotional Classical samplers, beginning august/december of 2005.
Intégrale De L'Œuvre D'Orgue De Jean-Sébastien Bach
Series on Harmonia Mundi featuring the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach played by Lionel Rogg.
2020/2027 Beethoven Harmonia Mundi Edition
Johann Sebastian Bach The Complete Works for Keyboard
Benjamin Alard’s recording of the complete organ and harpsichord works by Johann Sebastian Bach, recorded on historic instruments (organs, harpsichords, clavichords, claviorganum etc.) Planned are...
Harmonia Mundi Edigsa
Musique Nouvelle
Series of Contemporary / Modern music releases from Harmonia Mundi.
Suite
France series from 1990s. "La légende Harmonia Mundi"
Studio Neuer Musik
JSL
Musique D'Abord
Musique D'Abord is a quality budget series by Harmonia Mundi. The series features high quality recordings at a lower price, because of the simple sleeve they use. LP's had a generic sleeve layou...
Musique Vivante
Historische Orgeln
German series of Harmonia Mundi
Jazz Village
French label and distributor dedicated to jazz music, founded by Harmonia Mundi in 2012 [also appears as JazzVillage]
[Curiosita
series.
harmonia mundi acustica
Freiburg-based pioneering audio mastering and digital editing studio founded by . For artist credits use . Full name: "harmonia mundi acustica GmbH" Registered 26 Februar...
Harmonia Mundi Distribution
Distribution company founded by the French label . The "HM" numbers that appear on releases distributed by this company are not specific numbers for a release but price code numbers and ...
Contact Label
Mas de Vert B.P. 20150 13631 Arles cedex France Tel. +33 (0)4 90 49 90 49 E-Mail: info.arles@harmoniamundi.com