Welcome to Beulah 1993-2023


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Beulah quoted

"These are careful transfers which make the most of the material, whereas I suspect that some others just stick an LP or 78s on the turntable and give us what comes out the other end. Beulah’s results are comparable with the fine transfers which Naxos Historical offer. " Brian Wilson at Music Web International

"The Beulah record label has always been one of the most idiosyncratic, and therefore perhaps most interesting, of reissue marques. While the basic character of Beulah remains the same as in its Compact Disc days, the range of its present catalogue, driven now by the ease of downloading, has been extended in remarkable fashion. Browsing the Beulah catalogue is now rather like being in a 78rpm record shop: there are plenty of recordings of short pieces available to whet your appetite for either repertoire or artist, while at the same time there are numerous full length works available if you wish to consolidate your collection with, for instance, major symphonies. All of Beulah's transfers, as might be expected of a distinguished reissue label, are of very high quality." David Patmore writing in Classical Recordings Quarterly

"Beulah releases are available from other suppliers but qobuz offer them in lossless sound" Brian Wilson at Music Web International 


Reviewer's Recommendations



1pdr83 beethoven symphony number 9

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David McDade's review of Erich Kleiber conducting Betthoven Symphony No 9

" One of the great what ifs of conducting concerns what might have happened if Erich Kleiber had lived on to the ripe old age of a Klemperer or a Karajan. His post-war recordings give a tantalising glimpse of a career that would certainly have rivalled those two big names. This new restoration by Beulah affords us such a perspective on what might have been and the view it provides is of a very modern performance indeed.

"Right from the first bars, it is clear that Kleiber’s is a tough, uncompromising vision of the opening movement...Kleiber is brutal and unbending in the way he drives the music on. It is very exciting and the mellowness of the sonorities of the VPO save it from sounding too severe.

"Having cracked the whip in the first movement, Kleiber can afford to let things relax a little. Kleiber is very keen to stress that this is in triple time which he achieves with a fractionally slower tempo.

"In the slow movement movement, whilst on the quick side compared to Furtwängler, ... Kleiber, with a characteristic minimum of fuss chooses a sensible adagio molto speed and in doing so gives himself plenty of room for a nicely flowing alternating andante moderato. Once again, the VPO are on their best behaviour for Kleiber and play with great beauty in a way again surprisingly free of mannerisms.

"This makes the Achilles heel of this recording – the choral singing – all the more unfortunate. Decca have assembled a very starry roster of solo singers but have got rather lumbered with Karajan’s favourite choir. The politest thing that can be said about them is that they are as soft focused as they ever were for das Wunder Karajan. Presumably aware of the severe limitations of his chorus, Kleiber chooses some uncharacteristically conservative tempi. I don’t believe for a second based on the opening two movements alone, that Kleiber would have chosen such modest speeds if he had access to a better choir. As it is, it is a serious blot on an otherwise exceptionally fine Choral Symphony. "

"Beulah have done a sterling job of brightening the sound compared to the most recent Decca reissue which, particularly in the opening movement, gives the sound real punch. I’m unsure whether clearer sound does the Wiener Singverein any favours but the orchestra sound glorious.

" Kleiber’s conception is deeply compelling and few conductors have got as much out of the Vienna Philharmonic."

Read the full review.


New for October


Many music lovers miss the sound from vinyl pressings. Many others have yet to discover how great the sound can be. Most of our albums are mastered from vinyl LP pressings and earlier recordings (generally before 1953) from 78 rpm discs. It is our ability to recreate, in the digital age, the sound from the disc era that many of our customers find most enjoyable.

Unlike modern digital recordings tracks in our albums do contain some distortion, and the occasional surface noises, but for many listeners these "defects" are soon forgotten.

Our albums are available from many download and streaming sites.



2PDR60 Mozart Mass in c minor k 427


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Thirty Years Of Beulah

To mark our thirtieth anniversary, each month we will feature here an album from our back catalogue.

October

although classical music accounts for just 6% of our sales, one album, Beecham Conducts Mozart, has proved consistently; popular over the years as it includes Jack Brymer's classic performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.
"Brymer and Beecham linger unconscionably long in the slow movement, perhaps inspired by the mistaken notion that Mozart knew his days were numbered. There’s no evidence for that in his letters to Constanze at the time but, however mistaken the idea may be, there’s no denying the beauty of this performance." Brian Wilson at Music Web International

1PDR4

1ps95

Beecham Conducts Mozart
Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622,

Symphony No. 34 in C Major K.338,

Die Zauberflöte K. 620: Act 1, Scene 3 Finale 11:36

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September

This month we publish our third Charles Avnavour album ( see above). His albums have proved popular along with Édith Piaf, Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, Joséphine Baker and Charles Trenet.

Clealry French artists are popular with our listeners so  we will release further album by French artists.


Keep watch on our French Arists page.

August

Beulah has a unique album of Antony Hopkins Talking About Music. For almost 40 years Antony Hopkins talks introduced music to many people.
Stephen Johnson explains the attraction of Antony Hopkins talks

Our album includes six talks:-

  • Talking About Franck's Symphonic Variations
  • Talking About Beethoven's Symphony No. 5
  • Talking About Elgar's Enigma Variations
  • Talking About Mozart's Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter"
  • Talking About Beethoven's Violin Concerto
  • Talking About Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2

12PD50

12pd50 antony hopkins talking about music

Antony Hopkins

Talking About Music

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July

Beulah does have a representative collection of cinema and theatre organs among its releases.

Listen to Cinema Organ Favourites 

June

Ever popular is Glenn Miller. We have, across 13 albums, produced over 250 tracks of this famous band recorded between 1938 and 1944. The albums are all listed on our Jazz page

Listen to Glenn Miller playing "Be Happy" 

May

Although the first Beulah releases did not appear until July 1993, Beualh was created at meeting held in May 1993 at audio post production house, Chop Em Out in London W10. Attending the meeting were Bernie Spratt and Simon Heyworth representing Chop em Out, Malcolm Walker former editor of The Gramophone, David Michell an avid collector of 78 rpm records and Barry Coward, proprietor of Film Archive Management and Entertainment (FAME).

The outcome of this meeting  was that Beulah operated from FAME's base located in Henderson's Film Laboratory in South Norwood. On 4 July 1993 a devastating fire at the laboratory resulted in the loss of original negatives of feature films, notably from Ealing Studios. However Beulah was located on the top floor where the damage was from water emitted from fire hoses, so we carried on with the planned lauch of Beulah.

In May 1937 the Coronation of King George VI was  held and the Coronation Aldershot Tattoo that year featured an epligue that paid homage to the new King. In 2020 we published an album of recordings made on the Rushmore Arena of the Tattoos from 1932 to 1938. These events featured over 1,000 bandsmen.

2PD9

1pd2

Live recordings made at the annual Aldershot Military  Tattoos 1932-8

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April

We feature British Jazz and Blues in our series entiteld Jazz Britannica.

Here extracts from the first volume featuring Alexis Corner, George Mely, Cleo Laine

Go to our Jazz page for all our jazz albums

March

In time for Alfred Brendel's 90th birthday we issued three albums of his early recordings. David McDade reveiwed all three albums. Here is an extract from his review of Volume 2

"A first glance at the listing on this second volume of Beulah’s series of the early recordings by Alfred Brendel would suggest we are in very unfamiliar territory in terms of the great Austrian pianist’s usual repertoire.

"It turns out that Mussorgsky’s collection of curios and grand visions, based on similarly offbeat paintings by Hartmann, suits Brendel to a tee. "

"Beulah’s sound throughout elegantly walks a tightrope between, on the one hand, bright but brittle and, on the other, resonant but cavernous and booming. In the Mussorgsky in particular, astonishingly, they find a natural sounding ambience in which the piano sound sits, which gives proceedings a real presence. Brendel’s distinctive almost staccato sound is a hard one for remastering to get right and I think Beulah get it just about spot on."

Read the full review.

Hear "The Great Gate of Kiev"

2PS86

2ps86 Alfred brendel early years volume 2

Alfred Brendel Early Years  2

Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Stravinsky Three Movements from Petroucka

Balakirev Islamey

Liszt Harmonies poetiques et religieuses No 1 and No.4


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February

Decca, in the LP era, was famed for its sound. Our album of George Szell conducting Brahms has good examples of the Decca sound with the Piano Concerto recordred in stereo in London's Kingsway Hall and the Symphony recorded in mono in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Szell was a perfectionist and Curzon was a mercurial pianist. Ken Wilkinson's balance in both recordings is a revelation. In both venues Wilkinsion had the orchestra located in the body of the hall rather than on the platform.

Hear extracts from both perfomances

1PS95

1ps95

Szell Conducts Brahms
Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor Op. 15 with Clifford  Curzon

Symphony No.3 in F Major, Op.90

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January

The first Beulah releases centred on recordings made in London's Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace, located at the top of Sydenham Hill, had an auditorium that could seat 60,000 people and accomodtate a choir and orchestra of 3,000.

From 1900 until the building was destroyed by fire in November 1936 it was the venue for the National Brass Band Championships sponsored by railway compaines. The final event took place just a month before the fatal fire.

Hear a truncated version of the William Tell Oveture from our Brass at The Crystal Palace album.

2PD2

1pd2

Brass at the Crystal Palace Champions
All the brass band tracks recorded in the Crystal Palace originally relased on 1PD1 and 1PD2.

Adesta Fideles Meditation, Abide With Me, Death or Glory, Mandora March, Gleneagles March, Champion Medley Nos 1,2 and 3, May Day Revels, William Tell Overture, Sing a Song, Le  prophete Grand March, Messiah Amen, Severn Suite, Downland Suite, Kenilworth

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