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The World Record Club Ltd. was the name of a company in the United Kingdom which issued long-playing records and reel-to-reel tapes, mainly of classical music and jazz, through a membership mail-order system during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to titles imported from recording companies like Everest Records and Westminster Records, which it obtained on franchise, it made a series of recordings of international artists using its own engineers. Although often of great musical interest and very acceptable technical quality, these recordings do not appear in shop catalogues of the time as they were not available new through record shops. The label was taken over by EMI in 1965 but continued to be used as a sub-label for mail order, covering a wide range of musical genres, and distributing in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. == Early days, c. 1955-1965 == World Record issues were certainly in production by mid-1956. The ''World Record Treasures'' records were promoted〔I.e. Promotional blurb to this effect was printed upon the reverse side of the universal or interchangeable card record sleeves produced and published by ''World Record Treasures'', because that space, being universally interchangeable, was not used for sleevenotes relating to the recording content. This citation is therefore to the sleeve itself as a publication of this company.〕 as a series from which 'members' (membership was free) were required to select a given number of purchases per year. These were sold at lower prices than usual (21s 6d, equivalent to £1.07) and distributed in cheap wrappers (originally logo-printed ''Fablothene'', and then card covers with stickers naming the selection). A monthly Club magazine (''Record Review'') was launched in late 1956, featuring the existing artists and recordings and announcing future selections.〔''Record Review'', Monthly magazine of the World Records Club, 1956-?.〕 The company was first based at 125 Edgware Road, London, with a display centre at 49 Edgware Road.〔The address is published on the early sleeves, which may be dated with reference to the issue dates of the recordings they represent, as shown in ''Record review'' magazine.〕 The main UK rival in similar business was the ''Concert Hall'' label. Membership was encouraged by such methods as using sleeve designs contributed by members〔E.g. the sleeve of T23 identifies the artwork as being produced by a named contributor.〕 and as these improved they obtained photographic services of Erich Auerbach. By 1958 there was a membership of at least 150,000. In the Promenade Concerts season of July to September 1958, World Records had a full-page advertisement (offering monthly releases at between 22s 6d and 24s 9d per disc, only one needing to be chosen per year) on the inside front cover of all the individual concert programmes, facing the actual music listing for the evening - a competitive space, placing it on equal footing with Electric Audio Reproducers, EMI Records, Decca Records, Grundig Tape Recorders, Ferguson Radiograms.〔Royal Albert Hall Promenade Concerts Season Programme July-September 1958.〕 A full-priced record then cost around 40 shillings (£2). Key artists at the start were conductors Hans Swarowsky and Muir Mathieson, often with the Sinfonia of London, or Viennese orchestras. The development of new recordings was a special interest, under the celebrated recording engineer Anthony C. Griffith (1915–2005), who became recording manager for WRC in 1958.〔See Obituary, Anthony C. Griffith.〕 The Brahms violin concerto (Endre Wolf, violin, Sir Anthony Collins, conductor, WRC TP30) was a 1958 landmark for them, as technical details were published on the sleeve, recorded both in stereo and mono using Ampex equipment and Neumann microphones.〔Sleevenote, World Record Club recording TP30 (Brahms Violin Concerto: Endre Wolf (violin), Anthony Collins (conductor))〕 Griffith made recordings of Colin Davis, Leon Goossens, Arthur Bliss, Reginald Jacques, Imogen Holst, the Melos Ensemble and Aeolian Quartet.〔See Obituary: Anthony C. Griffith, ''The Gramophone'', at this link ().〕 The Mozart oboe concerto (Leon Goossens, oboe; Colin Davis, conductor, T59), issued c.1961, was a big technical and artistic success, the sleeve featuring photographs of studio sessions and playbacks.〔Sleevenote and graphics, World Record Club recording T59 (Mozart oboe concerto: Leon Goossens (oboe), Colin Davis (conductor)). 〕 The Label also produced a strong hand in English music, especially in Vaughan Williams' 9th Symphony and ''Greensleeves'' and ''Thomas Tallis'' Fantasias, and in music by Elgar, conducted by Adrian Boult and George Weldon, and in works of Sir Arthur Bliss. Important solo records of Sviatoslav Richter, Jorge Bolet and Shura Cherkassky were produced, and classical singers were not neglected. By 1958 the company's business address had changed to Parkbridge House, Little Green, Richmond, Surrey, where it remained thereafter. The 'Treasures' terminology was soon dropped, so that the title 'World Record Club' became the main label feature, written on ribbons wrapped about a globe. The WRC catalogue numbers were prefixed by the letter T (and sometimes ST to denote a stereo version, using the same number, and also TP), and ran from 1 to about 50 by 1962, to 500 by 1966 (and continued) to well over T1000. These were in red or green labels, with silver overprinting, and there was a later form in which the label edge was printed with many short radial lines so that the correct speed could be obtained by stroboscopic 'standstill' effect.〔See examples of World Record Club published labels with stroboscopic effect lines.〕 There was also an OH series, with purple labels, for the WRC Opera Highlights series, often taken from interesting recordings or specially-made abridgements, and again presented in a uniform sleeve.〔See World Record Club 'Opera Highlights' (OH) series publications.〕 From 1960 various recordings of musicals were made, and also three Gilbert and Sullivan operas, recorded for copyright reasons in Hamburg in 1961 ahead of the ending of copyright in the works. By this time the World Record Club was also releasing pre-recorded spool tapes of their LPs. These were mainly produced in mono half-track at 3¾ ips. The quality of the tapes was very high and the price reasonable. They appealed to enthusiasts who had tape recorders for making their own recordings, because at that time broadcast sound quality (for off-air recordings) was not very high. These tapes were released with the prefix TT. Although in mono, they are half-track, which gives a very high and gratifying signal to noise ratio. A number of 7½ ips half track stereo tapes were also released under the WRC label, in plain white boxes with a historical sculpture in orange on the front. At least 8 were produced, one of which is of Scheherezade with Eugene Goossens. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「World Record Club」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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