ERATO



A Classical Music label, French in origin, dedicated to Early music and French music.   Erato, which was founded in 1953, concentrated almost exclusively on albums, but there was one single on the label over here.  That single featured versions of Pachelbel's 'Canon In D' and Bach's 'Air On The G String', both of which were played by the Jean-Francois Paillard Chamber Orchestra.  Its catalogue number was CRD-1, which reflects the fact that the firm of CRD (Continental Record Distributors) was responsible for releasing it, presumably under a licensing deal - CRD, which was a prominent importer / distributor of foreign labels, was handling Erato at that time.  CRDs 2 and 3 can be found on the CRD page.  'Record & Tape Retailer' of the 7th of August 1971 says that the single was to be released that week, which gives us a date for it; it also says that the release was prompted by the public response to the Canon being used in an ITV play, 'The Silver Collection', the previous year.  Pressing was by Pye.  Later in the decade Erato records were distributed by RCA; it joined Warner group in 1992 and is still going.




Copyright 2010 Robert Lyons.