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The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.<ref>[http://www.russian-records.com/categories.php?cat_id=377 Label scans of some of the first Red Seal records], issued in St. Petersburg circa early 1902, showing explicit use of the words "Red Seal". Accessed 9 November 2016.</ref> Later in 1902 the practice was adopted by the home office in the [[United Kingdom]], which preferred to refer to the records as "Red Labels", and by its [[United States]] affiliate, the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]], in 1903. Led by the great Italian tenor [[Enrico Caruso]], then just at the beginning of his worldwide fame, Victor Red Seal records changed the public's valuation of recorded music. Caruso's first records, made by the Gramophone Company in Milan, Italy in 1902, earned prestige as well as profits for the company and its affiliates. Five of Caruso's Milan records were issued by Victor on the Red Seal label in the United States in March, 1903 and soon other famous [[opera]] stars and classical instrumentalists were attracted to the studios of both Victor and the Gramophone Company, consolidating the positions of these firms as the market leaders in the field of serious music by famous artists. The first Red Seal discs recorded by Victor in the United States were of the Australian [[contralto]] Ada Crossley on April 30, 1903.<ref name=Drowne/>
The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.<ref>[http://www.russian-records.com/categories.php?cat_id=377 Label scans of some of the first Red Seal records], issued in St. Petersburg circa early 1902, showing explicit use of the words "Red Seal". Accessed 9 November 2016.</ref> Later in 1902 the practice was adopted by the home office in the [[United Kingdom]], which preferred to refer to the records as "Red Labels", and by its [[United States]] affiliate, the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]], in 1903. Led by the great Italian tenor [[Enrico Caruso]], then just at the beginning of his worldwide fame, Victor Red Seal records changed the public's valuation of recorded music. Caruso's first records, made by the Gramophone Company in Milan, Italy in 1902, earned prestige as well as profits for the company and its affiliates. Five of Caruso's Milan records were issued by Victor on the Red Seal label in the United States in March, 1903 and soon other famous [[opera]] stars and classical instrumentalists were attracted to the studios of both Victor and the Gramophone Company, consolidating the positions of these firms as the market leaders in the field of serious music by famous artists. The first Red Seal discs recorded by Victor in the United States were of the Australian [[contralto]] Ada Crossley on April 30, 1903.<ref name=Drowne/>


Early acoustical (non-electrical) recordings could be a surprisingly good medium for capturing the sound of singing voices, male voices especially, but while acceptable solo piano and violin recordings could be made, the acoustical process typically yielded only a flat, muffled, tinny echo of a symphony orchestra. The introduction of [[Sound recording and reproduction#Electrical|electrical recording]] (or "orthophonic recording", as Victor termed its version of the process) in 1925 allowed reproduction of instrumental and orchestral music with greatly improved fidelity. In 1929, the [[Radio Corporation of America]] purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, thereafter becoming RCA Victor and, in 1968, [[RCA Records]].{{fact|date=June 2022}}
In 1950, RCA Victor began issuing vinyl [[LP record|LP]]s (originally introduced by [[Columbia Records]] in 1948), because they were losing artists and sales due to the company's resistance to adopting the new format.<ref name=Morton/>

RCA Victor's Red Seal series continued as the pre-eminent classical music record label in America from 1903 through the 1960s due in large part to the recordings of three of the leading conductors of the time, [[Serge Koussevitzky]], [[Leopold Stokowski]], and [[Arturo Toscanini]]. Toscanini began his recording career in 1920 and nearly all of his recordings were issued on the Red Seal label, most of them with the [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]] ([[NBC]] was an RCA subsidiary until 1986). Conductor [[Arthur Fiedler]] and the [[Boston Pops Orchestra]] spent nearly 35 years with RCA Victor and made many best-selling Red Seal recordings. Stokowski and the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] made Red Seal records exclusively from 1917 until 1940. Stokowski would continue to make many other Red Seal recordings with various orchestras, sporadically until 1975. [[Eugene Ormandy]] made his first recordings with the [[Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra]] in 1934 and with the Philadelphia Orchestra beginning in 1936. Ormandy and the Philadelphians returned to RCA Victor in 1968, after spending 23 years (1944–67) with [[Columbia Records]]. Though best-known for his many recordings for Columbia and [[Deutsche Grammophon]], [[Leonard Bernstein]] made his first recordings for RCA Victor.{{fact|date=June 2022}}

In 1950, RCA Victor began issuing vinyl [[LP record|LP]]s (originally introduced by [[Columbia Records]] in 1948), because they were losing artists and sales due to the company's resistance to adopting the new format.<ref name=Morton/> In 1954, RCA Victor began experimenting with [[stereophonic]] recording. The first RCA Victor "Stereo Orthophonic" reel to reel tapes were issued in 1955. When stereo LP records first appeared in 1958, RCA Victor introduced their highly regarded "Living Stereo" recordings. During this period RCA was consistently seen as producing some of the finest-sounding recordings then available.{{fact|date=June 2022}}

In 1968, RCA introduced a modern logo, de-emphasized the Victor name and "[[His Master's Voice]]" trademarks, and the label was now known as "RCA Red Seal". In 1976, RCA restored the "His Master's Voice" trademark to most of its record labels, including the Red Seal label. After [[General Electric]] absorbed the RCA Corporation in 1986 and sold its interest in RCA Records to the [[Bertelsmann Music Group]], the Victor name was revived so the label once again became "RCA Victor Red Seal" for several years before eventually de-emphasizing the Victor and "His Master's Voice" trademarks again, and reverting to "RCA Red Seal" in the early 2000s due to the worldwide fragmented ownership of the "His Master's Voice" trademark.{{fact|date=June 2022}}

== Selected Red Seal recording artists ==<!-- This section is linked from [[RCA Records]] -->
The following instrumentalists, vocalists, conductors and orchestras have all made recordings issued on the Red Seal label. Several recordings were made for other overseas record companies but were distributed in the United States and Canada on the Red Seal label. Many of these artists have also recorded or may be currently recording for other record labels.{{fact|date=June 2022}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
*[[Claudio Abbado]], conductor
*[[Joaquin Achucarro]], pianist
*[[Raymond Agoult]], conductor
*[[Licia Albanese]], soprano
*[[Christian Altenburger]], violinist
*[[Marian Anderson]], contralto
*[[Maurice André]], trumpeter
*[[Martha Argerich]], pianist
*[[Claudio Arrau]], pianist
*[[Martina Arroyo]], soprano
*[[Brian Asawa]], countertenor
*[[Vladimir Ashkenazy]], pianist
*[[Emanuel Ax]], pianist
*[[Andrea Bacchetti (musician)|Andrea Bacchetti]], pianist
*[[Gina Bachauer]], pianist
*[[Rose Bampton]], soprano
*[[Fedora Barbieri]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Daniel Barenboim]], conductor
*[[Yuri Bashmet]], violist
*[[Thomas Beecham]], conductor
*[[Robert Russell Bennett]], conductor
*[[Cathy Berberian]], singer
*[[Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)|Carlo Bergonzi]], tenor
*[[Luciano Berio]], composer and conductor
*[[Leonard Bernstein]], conductor
*[[E. Power Biggs]], organist
*[[Jussi Björling]], tenor
*[[Leo Blech]], conductor
*[[Judith Blegen]], soprano
*[[Sebastian Bohren]], violinist
*[[Jorge Bolet]], pianist
*[[Robert Bonfiglio]], harmonica
*[[Boston Pops Orchestra]]
*[[Boston Symphony Orchestra]]
*[[Pierre Boulez]], conductor
*[[Adrian Boult]], conductor
*[[Rosario Bourdon]], conductor
*[[David Bowie]], vocalist
*[[Benjamin Bowman]], violinist
*[[Alexander Brailowsky]], pianist
*[[Julian Bream]], guitarist and lutenist
*[[John Browning (pianist)|John Browning]], pianist
*[[Rudolf Buchbinder]], pianist
*[[Igor Buketoff]], conductor
*[[Josef Bulva]], pianist
*[[Fritz Busch]], conductor
*[[Busch Quartet]]
*[[Montserrat Caballé]], soprano
*[[Canadian Brass]], brass quintet
*[[Maria Caniglia]], soprano
*[[Guido Cantelli]], conductor
*[[Pablo Casals]], cellist
*[[José Carreras]], tenor
*[[Rosanna Carteri]], soprano
*[[Jean Casadesus]], pianist
*[[Enrico Caruso]], tenor
*[[Renato Cellini]], conductor
*[[Feodor Chaliapin]], bass
*[[Carlos Chavez]], conductor
*[[Fausto Cleva]], conductor
*[[Cleveland Quartet]]
*[[Fernando Corena]], bass
*[[Alfred Cortot]], pianist
*[[Fiorenza Cossotto]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Richard Crooks]], tenor
*[[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]]
*[[Van Cliburn]], pianist
*[[Phyllis Curtin]], soprano
*[[Michel Dalberto]], pianist
*[[Colin Davis]], conductor
*[[Antonio de Almeida (conductor)|Antonio de Almeida]], conductor
*[[Alicia de Larrocha]], pianist
*[[Giuseppe De Luca]], baritone
*[[Victoria de los Ángeles]], soprano
*[[Lisa Della Casa]], soprano
*[[Vladimir de Pachmann]], pianist
*[[Désiré Defauw]], conductor
*[[Alfred Deller]], countertenor
*[[Misha Dichter]], pianist
*[[Giuseppe Di Stefano]], tenor
*[[Helen Donath]], soprano
*[[Plácido Domingo]], tenor
*[[Ania Dorfmann]], pianist
*[[Barry Douglas (musician)|Barry Douglas]], pianist
*[[Nelson Eddy]], baritone
*[[Rosalind Elias]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Mischa Elman]], violinist
*[[Christoph Eschenbach]], conductor
*[[Geraldine Farrar]], soprano
*[[Eileen Farrell]], soprano
*[[Franco Ferrara]], conductor
*[[Emanuel Feuermann]], cellist
*[[Janina Fialkowska]], pianist
*[[Arthur Fiedler]], conductor
*[[Edwin Fischer]], pianist
*[[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]], baritone
*[[Anatole Fistoulari]], conductor
*[[Ezio Flagello]], bass
*[[Kirsten Flagstad]], soprano
*[[Renée Fleming]], soprano
*[[Flonzaley Quartet]]
*[[Claus Peter Flor]], conductor
*[[Eugene Fodor (violinist)|Eugene Fodor]], violinist
*[[Maureen Forrester]], contralto
*[[Pierre Fournier]], cellist
*[[Virgil Fox]], organist
*[[Sergio Franchi]], tenor
*[[Claude Frank]], pianist
*[[Erick Friedman]], violinist
*[[Wilhelm Furtwängler]], conductor
*[[Sol Gabetta]], cellist
*[[Ossip Gabrilowitsch]], conductor
*[[Amelita Galli-Curci]], soprano
*[[James Galway]], flautist
*[[Daniele Gatti]], conductor
*[[Charles Gerhardt (conductor)|Charles Gerhardt]], conductor
*[[Bonaldo Giaiotti]], bass
*[[Dusolina Giannini]], soprano
*[[Alexander Gibson (conductor)|Alexander Gibson]], conductor
*[[Beniamino Gigli]], tenor
*[[Emil Gilels]], pianist
*[[Evelyn Glennie]], percussionist
*[[Alma Gluck]], soprano
*[[Vladimir Golschmann]], conductor
*[[Eugene Aynsley Goossens|Eugene Goossens]], conductor
*[[Igor Gorin]], baritone
*[[Morton Gould]], pianist and conductor
*[[Gary Graffman]], pianist
*[[Denyce Graves]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Kathryn Grayson]], soprano
*[[Reri Grist]], soprano
*[[Guarneri Quartet]]
*[[Natalia Gutman]], cellist
*[[Jerry Hadley]], tenor
*[[Nikolaus Harnoncourt]], conductor
*[[Ofra Harnoy]], cellist
*[[Lynn Harrell]], cellist
*[[Mack Harrell]], baritone
*[[Jascha Heifetz]], violinist
*[[David Helfgott]], pianist
*[[Walter Hendl]], conductor
*[[Ben Heppner]], tenor
*[[Victor Herbert]], cellist
*[[Alfred Hertz]], conductor
*[[Myra Hess]], pianist
*[[Jerome Hines]], bass
*[[Joseph Hollman]], cellist
*[[Louise Homer]], contralto
*[[Marilyn Horne]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Vladimir Horowitz]], pianist
*[[Andrej Hoteev]],<ref name=hoteev/> pianist
*[[Steven Isserlis]], cellist
*[[José Iturbi]], pianist and conductor
*[[Antonio Janigro]], cellist
*[[Byron Janis]], pianist
*[[Paavo Järvi]], conductor
*[[Dylana Jenson]], violinist
*[[Helen Jepson]], soprano
*[[Edward Johnson (tenor)|Edward Johnson]], tenor
*[[Allan Jones (actor)|Allan Jones]], tenor
*[[Juilliard String Quartet]]
*[[Joseph Kalichstein]], pianist
*[[Mayuko Kamio]], violinist
*[[William Kapell]], pianist
*[[Herbert Von Karajan]], conductor
*[[Vesselina Kasarova]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Rudolf Kempe]], conductor
*[[James King (tenor)|James King]], tenor
*[[Alexander Kipnis]], bass
*[[Evgeny Kissin]], pianist
*[[Leonid Kogan]], violinist
*[[René Kollo]], tenor
*[[Kirill Kondrashin]], conductor
*[[Florence Kopleff]], contralto
*[[Miliza Korjus]], soprano
*[[Serge Koussevitzky]], double-bassist and conductor
*[[Lili Kraus]], pianist
*[[Fritz Kreisler]], violinist
*[[Josef Krips]], conductor
*[[Jan Kubelik]], violinist
*[[Yoon Kwon]], violinist
*[[Wanda Landowska]], harpsichordist
*[[Mario Lanza]], tenor
*[[Jaime Laredo]], violinist
*[[Marjorie Lawrence]], soprano
*[[Lotte Lehmann]], soprano
*[[René Leibowitz]], conductor
*[[Erich Leinsdorf]], conductor
*[[James Levine]], conductor
*[[Josef Lhévinne]], pianist
*[[Julian Lloyd Webber]], cellist
*[[Christa Ludwig]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Jean-Marc Luisada]], pianist
*[[Peter Maag]], conductor
*[[Lorin Maazel]], violinist and conductor
*[[Jeanette MacDonald]], soprano
*[[Ernest MacMillan]], conductor
*[[Lucy Isabelle Marsh]], soprano
*[[Kurt Masur]], conductor
*[[Denis Matsuev]], pianist
*[[Giovanni Martinelli]], tenor
*[[Jean Martinon]], conductor
*[[Eduardo Mata]], conductor
*[[Jeanette MacDonald]], soprano
*[[Charles Mackerras]], conductor
*[[William Masselos]], pianist
*[[Dorothy Maynor]], soprano
*[[John McCormack (tenor)|John McCormack]], tenor
*[[Zubin Mehta]], conductor
*[[Waltraud Meier]], mezzo-soprano
*[[James Melton]], tenor
*[[Willem Mengelberg]], conductor
*[[Nellie Melba]], soprano
*[[Lauritz Melchior]], tenor
*[[James Melton]], tenor
*[[Robert Merrill]], baritone
*[[Anne Akiko Meyers]], violinist
*[[Julia Migenes]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Zinka Milanov]], soprano
*[[Sherrill Milnes]], baritone
*[[Nathan Milstein]], violinist
*[[Howard Mitchell]], conductor
*[[Dimitri Mitropoulos]], conductor
*[[Anna Moffo]], soprano
*[[Grace Moore]], soprano
*[[Lydia Mordkovitch]], violinist
*[[Barry Morell]], tenor
*[[Erika Morini]], violinist
*[[Pierre Monteux]], conductor
*[[Charles Münch]], conductor
*[[Lambert Murphy]], tenor
*[[Olli Mustonen]], pianist
*[[NBC Symphony Orchestra]]
*[[Alice Nielsen]], soprano
*[[John Jacob Niles]], tenor
*[[Birgit Nilsson]], soprano
*[[John Ogdon]], pianist
*[[Gerhard Oppitz]], pianist
*[[Eugene Ormandy]], violinist and conductor
*[[Seiji Ozawa]], conductor
*[[Ignacy Jan Paderewski]], pianist
*[[Kun Woo Paik]], pianist
*[[Josef Pasternack]], conductor
*[[Luciano Pavarotti]], tenor
*[[Jan Peerce]], tenor
*[[Wilfrid Pelletier]], conductor
*[[Leonard Pennario]], pianist
*[[Jonel Perlea]], conductor
*[[Itzhak Perlman]], violinist
*[[Roberta Peters]], soprano
*[[Philadelphia Orchestra]]
*[[Gregor Piatigorsky]], cellist
*[[Michala Petri]], recorder
*[[Ezio Pinza]], bass
*[[Lily Pons]], soprano
*[[Rosa Ponselle]], soprano
*[[Maud Powell]], violinist
*[[André Previn]], pianist and conductor
*[[Leontyne Price]], soprano
*[[Margaret Price]], soprano
*[[William Primrose]], violist
*[[Thomas Quasthoff]], bass-baritone
*[[Florence Quivar]], mezzo- soprano
*[[Sergei Rachmaninoff]], pianist and conductor
*[[Ruggero Raimondi]], bass-baritone
*[[Samuel Ramey]], bass
*[[Jean-Pierre Rampal]], flautist
*[[Judith Raskin]], soprano
*[[Fritz Reiner]], conductor
* [[Elisabeth Rethberg]], soprano
*[[Katia Ricciarelli]], soprano
*[[Sviatoslav Richter]], pianist
*[[Karl Anton Rickenbacher]], conductor
*[[Marisa Robles]], harpist
*[[Artur Rodziński]], conductor
*[[Angel Romero (guitarist)|Angel Romero]], guitarist
*[[Landon Ronald]], conductor
*[[Arthur Rubinstein]], pianist
*[[Titta Ruffo]], baritone
*[[Leonie Rysanek]], soprano
*[[Carlo Sabajno]], conductor
*[[Éric Le Sage]], pianist
*[[Olga Samaroff]], pianist
*[[Nello Santi]], conductor
*[[Jesús Maria Sanromá]], pianist
*[[Jukka-Pekka Saraste]], conductor
*[[Malcolm Sargent]], conductor
*[[Wolfgang Sawallisch]], conductor
*[[Olga Scheps]], pianist
*[[Tito Schipa]], tenor
*[[Thomas Schippers]], conductor
*[[Alexander Schneider]], conductor
*[[Oliver Schnyder]], pianist
*[[Friedrich Schorr]], bass-baritone
*[[Ernestine Schumann-Heink]], Contralto
*[[Renata Scotto]], soprano
*[[Andrés Segovia]], guitarist
*[[José Serebrier]], conductor
*[[Peter Serkin]], pianist
*[[Giulio Setti]], conductor
*[[Robert Shaw (conductor)|Robert Shaw]], conductor
*[[Robert Shaw Chorale]]
*[[Nathaniel Shilkret]], conductor
*[[Tullio Serafin]], conductor
*[[Fabien Sevitzky]], conductor
*[[Anja Silja]], soprano
*[[Leonard Slatkin]], conductor
*[[Georg Solti]], conductor
*[[Frederica Von Stade]], soprano
*[[Vesselin Stanev]], pianist
*[[János Starker]], cellist
*[[Eleanor Steber]], soprano
*[[William Steinberg]], conductor
*[[Risë Stevens]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Frederick Stock]], conductor
*[[Leopold Stokowski]], conductor
*[[Richard Stoltzman]], clarinetist
*[[Nathalie Stutzmann]], contralto
*[[Gladys Swarthout]], contralto
*[[Ruth Ann Swenson]], soprano
*[[Henryk Szeryng]], violinist
*[[Armand Tokatyan]], tenor
*[[Ferruccio Tagliavini]], tenor
*[[Kyoko Takezawa]], violinist
*[[André Tchaikowsky]], pianist
*[[Yuri Temirkanov]], conductor
*[[Maggie Teyte]], soprano
*[[John Charles Thomas]], baritone
*[[Michael Tilson Thomas]], conductor
*[[Thomas L. Thomas]], baritone
*[[Isao Tomita]], electronic composer
*[[Toronto Symphony Orchestra]]
*[[Tokyo String Quartet|Tokyo Quartet]]
*[[Arturo Toscanini]], conductor
*[[Giorgio Tozzi]], bass
*[[Lawrence Tibbett]], baritone
*[[Walter Trampler]], violist
*[[Helen Traubel]], soprano
*[[Margaret Truman]], soprano
*[[Richard Tucker (tenor)|Richard Tucker]], tenor
*[[Ronald Turini]], pianist
*[[Uto Ughi]], violinist
*[[Cesare Valletti]], tenor
*[[Carol Vaness]], soprano
*[[Ramón Vargas]], tenor
*[[Denis Vaughan]], conductor, harpsichordist, clavichordist
*[[Richard Verreau]], tenor
*[[Shirley Verrett]], mezzo-soprano
*[[Jon Vickers]], tenor
*[[Vienna Boys' Choir|Vienna Choir Boys]]
*[[Lev Vinocour]], pianist
*[[Galina Vishnevskaya]], soprano
*[[Vronsky and Babin]], piano duo
*[[Alfred Wallenstein]]. conductor
*[[Bruno Walter]], conductor
*[[Günter Wand]], conductor
*[[Leonard Warren]], baritone
*[[William Warfield]], bass-baritone
*[[Carl Weinrich]], organist
*[[Alexis Weissenberg]], pianist
*[[Evan Williams (tenor)|Evan Williams]], tenor
*[[Albert Wolff (conductor)|Albert Wolff]], conductor
*[[Roger Woodward]], pianist
*[[Kazuhito Yamashita]], guitarist
*[[Frances Yeend]], soprano
*[[Efrem Zimbalist]], violinist
*[[David Zinman]], conductor
*[[Nikolaj Znaider]], violinist
*[[Pinchas Zukerman]], violinist, violist, and conductor{{fact|date=June 2022}}
}}
{{clear}}

==Gold Seal==
The RCA Gold Seal mid-priced label was launched in 1975 and initially consisted mainly of reissues of RCA Victor's celebrated "Living Stereo" recordings from the late 1950s and 1960s previously issued on the Red Seal label. Beginning in the early 1980s, several older monophonic Red Seal recordings from the 78 RPM and early LP era were reissued on the Gold Seal label. Included were recordings by Arturo Toscanini, Leopold Stokowski, [[Serge Koussevitzky]], Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, [[William Kapell]] and [[Wanda Landowska]]. In the [[compact disc]] era, the RCA Victor Gold Seal mid-priced label superseded the [[RCA Victrola]] label for reissuing historic Red Seal recordings. Many collections by "Golden Age" opera stars such as [[Enrico Caruso]], [[Amelita Galli-Curci]], [[Rosa Ponselle]], [[Nellie Melba]], [[Beniamino Gigli]], [[Ezio Pinza]] and [[Jussi Björling]] were issued on the Gold Seal label. The RCA Victrola label issued a new low-priced series of stereo recordings on CD and cassette of mostly standard classical works drawn from former Red Seal issues. RCA Victor Gold Seal also released several complete or comprehensive boxed sets of recordings by Arturo Toscanini, Enrico Caruso, Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Pierre Monteux, and others.{{fact|date=June 2022}}

==Silver Seal==
In 1990, another budget reissue label, RCA Victor Silver Seal was launched. Similar to CD reissues on the RCA Victrola label, several of these former Red Seal recordings were by lesser known performers, but the series also included some long-time popular Red Seal artists, including conductors Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Erich Leinsdorf and Georges Prêtre; pianists [[Peter Serkin]], [[Alexis Weissenberg]] and [[Emmanuel Ax]]; the [[Guarneri Quartet]] and guitarist [[Julian Bream]]. Recordings in this series were available only on CD and cassette and did not contain [[liner notes]].{{fact|date=June 2022}}


==See also==
==See also==
Line 26: Line 413:
* [[RCA Victrola]]
* [[RCA Victrola]]
* [[List of record labels]]
* [[List of record labels]]
* [[Andrej Hoteev]]


==References==
==References==
Line 32: Line 418:
<ref name=Drowne>{{cite book |last1=Drowne |first1=Kathleen Morgan |last2=Huber |first2=Patrick |title=The 1920s |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CecCHiI95dYC&pg=PA217 |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-32013-2 |page=217 |quote=... appeared on Victor's prestigious Red Seal label, whose records cost as much as $7 apiece (or almost 10 times as much as the company's pop records). During the 1920s, Victor spent millions of dollars advertising its premium-priced classical ...}}</ref>
<ref name=Drowne>{{cite book |last1=Drowne |first1=Kathleen Morgan |last2=Huber |first2=Patrick |title=The 1920s |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CecCHiI95dYC&pg=PA217 |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-32013-2 |page=217 |quote=... appeared on Victor's prestigious Red Seal label, whose records cost as much as $7 apiece (or almost 10 times as much as the company's pop records). During the 1920s, Victor spent millions of dollars advertising its premium-priced classical ...}}</ref>
<ref name=Morton>{{cite book |last=Morton |first=John Fass |title=Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MaHTQu65gzcC&pg=PA49 |year=2008 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4282-9 |page=49}}</ref>
<ref name=Morton>{{cite book |last=Morton |first=John Fass |title=Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MaHTQu65gzcC&pg=PA49 |year=2008 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4282-9 |page=49}}</ref>
<ref name=hoteev>[http://andrej-hoteev.com/discography.html Discographie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106181251/http://andrej-hoteev.com/discography.html |date=2014-11-06 }}</ref>
}}
}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://victor.library.ucsb.edu Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (University of California, Santa Barbara)]
* [http://victor.library.ucsb.edu Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (University of California, Santa Barbara)]
* [http://andrej-hoteev.com/discography.html Discographie] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106181251/http://andrej-hoteev.com/discography.html |date=2014-11-06 }}


{{Sony Music}}
{{Sony Music}}

Revision as of 22:47, 24 October 2023

RCA Red Seal
Parent companySony Music Entertainment (2008–present)
Bertelsmann Music Group (1987–2008)
Radio Corporation of America (1929-1986)
Victor Talking Machine Company (1902-1929)
Founded1902 (1902)
FounderEldridge R. Johnson
Distributor(s)Sony Masterworks
GenreClassical
Official websitewww.sonymasterworks.com

RCA Red Seal is a classical music label whose origin dates to 1902 and is currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment.

History

Victor Red Seal record circa 1940

The first "Gramophone Record Red Seal" discs were issued in 1901.[1] Later in 1902 the practice was adopted by the home office in the United Kingdom, which preferred to refer to the records as "Red Labels", and by its United States affiliate, the Victor Talking Machine Company, in 1903. Led by the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, then just at the beginning of his worldwide fame, Victor Red Seal records changed the public's valuation of recorded music. Caruso's first records, made by the Gramophone Company in Milan, Italy in 1902, earned prestige as well as profits for the company and its affiliates. Five of Caruso's Milan records were issued by Victor on the Red Seal label in the United States in March, 1903 and soon other famous opera stars and classical instrumentalists were attracted to the studios of both Victor and the Gramophone Company, consolidating the positions of these firms as the market leaders in the field of serious music by famous artists. The first Red Seal discs recorded by Victor in the United States were of the Australian contralto Ada Crossley on April 30, 1903.[2]

Early acoustical (non-electrical) recordings could be a surprisingly good medium for capturing the sound of singing voices, male voices especially, but while acceptable solo piano and violin recordings could be made, the acoustical process typically yielded only a flat, muffled, tinny echo of a symphony orchestra. The introduction of electrical recording (or "orthophonic recording", as Victor termed its version of the process) in 1925 allowed reproduction of instrumental and orchestral music with greatly improved fidelity. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, thereafter becoming RCA Victor and, in 1968, RCA Records.[citation needed]

RCA Victor's Red Seal series continued as the pre-eminent classical music record label in America from 1903 through the 1960s due in large part to the recordings of three of the leading conductors of the time, Serge Koussevitzky, Leopold Stokowski, and Arturo Toscanini. Toscanini began his recording career in 1920 and nearly all of his recordings were issued on the Red Seal label, most of them with the NBC Symphony Orchestra (NBC was an RCA subsidiary until 1986). Conductor Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra spent nearly 35 years with RCA Victor and made many best-selling Red Seal recordings. Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra made Red Seal records exclusively from 1917 until 1940. Stokowski would continue to make many other Red Seal recordings with various orchestras, sporadically until 1975. Eugene Ormandy made his first recordings with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1934 and with the Philadelphia Orchestra beginning in 1936. Ormandy and the Philadelphians returned to RCA Victor in 1968, after spending 23 years (1944–67) with Columbia Records. Though best-known for his many recordings for Columbia and Deutsche Grammophon, Leonard Bernstein made his first recordings for RCA Victor.[citation needed]

In 1950, RCA Victor began issuing vinyl LPs (originally introduced by Columbia Records in 1948), because they were losing artists and sales due to the company's resistance to adopting the new format.[3] In 1954, RCA Victor began experimenting with stereophonic recording. The first RCA Victor "Stereo Orthophonic" reel to reel tapes were issued in 1955. When stereo LP records first appeared in 1958, RCA Victor introduced their highly regarded "Living Stereo" recordings. During this period RCA was consistently seen as producing some of the finest-sounding recordings then available.[citation needed]

In 1968, RCA introduced a modern logo, de-emphasized the Victor name and "His Master's Voice" trademarks, and the label was now known as "RCA Red Seal". In 1976, RCA restored the "His Master's Voice" trademark to most of its record labels, including the Red Seal label. After General Electric absorbed the RCA Corporation in 1986 and sold its interest in RCA Records to the Bertelsmann Music Group, the Victor name was revived so the label once again became "RCA Victor Red Seal" for several years before eventually de-emphasizing the Victor and "His Master's Voice" trademarks again, and reverting to "RCA Red Seal" in the early 2000s due to the worldwide fragmented ownership of the "His Master's Voice" trademark.[citation needed]

Selected Red Seal recording artists

The following instrumentalists, vocalists, conductors and orchestras have all made recordings issued on the Red Seal label. Several recordings were made for other overseas record companies but were distributed in the United States and Canada on the Red Seal label. Many of these artists have also recorded or may be currently recording for other record labels.[citation needed]

Gold Seal

The RCA Gold Seal mid-priced label was launched in 1975 and initially consisted mainly of reissues of RCA Victor's celebrated "Living Stereo" recordings from the late 1950s and 1960s previously issued on the Red Seal label. Beginning in the early 1980s, several older monophonic Red Seal recordings from the 78 RPM and early LP era were reissued on the Gold Seal label. Included were recordings by Arturo Toscanini, Leopold Stokowski, Serge Koussevitzky, Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, William Kapell and Wanda Landowska. In the compact disc era, the RCA Victor Gold Seal mid-priced label superseded the RCA Victrola label for reissuing historic Red Seal recordings. Many collections by "Golden Age" opera stars such as Enrico Caruso, Amelita Galli-Curci, Rosa Ponselle, Nellie Melba, Beniamino Gigli, Ezio Pinza and Jussi Björling were issued on the Gold Seal label. The RCA Victrola label issued a new low-priced series of stereo recordings on CD and cassette of mostly standard classical works drawn from former Red Seal issues. RCA Victor Gold Seal also released several complete or comprehensive boxed sets of recordings by Arturo Toscanini, Enrico Caruso, Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Pierre Monteux, and others.[citation needed]

Silver Seal

In 1990, another budget reissue label, RCA Victor Silver Seal was launched. Similar to CD reissues on the RCA Victrola label, several of these former Red Seal recordings were by lesser known performers, but the series also included some long-time popular Red Seal artists, including conductors Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, Erich Leinsdorf and Georges Prêtre; pianists Peter Serkin, Alexis Weissenberg and Emmanuel Ax; the Guarneri Quartet and guitarist Julian Bream. Recordings in this series were available only on CD and cassette and did not contain liner notes.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Label scans of some of the first Red Seal records, issued in St. Petersburg circa early 1902, showing explicit use of the words "Red Seal". Accessed 9 November 2016.
  2. ^ Drowne, Kathleen Morgan; Huber, Patrick (2004). The 1920s. Greenwood. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-313-32013-2. ... appeared on Victor's prestigious Red Seal label, whose records cost as much as $7 apiece (or almost 10 times as much as the company's pop records). During the 1920s, Victor spent millions of dollars advertising its premium-priced classical ...
  3. ^ Morton, John Fass (2008). Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56. Rutgers University Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8135-4282-9.
  4. ^ Discographie Archived 2014-11-06 at the Wayback Machine
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