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Nonesuch Records

Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Nonesuch has developed into a label that records critically acclaimed music from a wide range of genres. Robert Hurwitz was president of the company from 1984 to 2017.

Nonesuch Records

1964 (1964)

Warner Records
(In the US)
Warner Music Group
(Outside of the US)

Various

U.S.

New York City

History[edit]

Founding[edit]

Nonesuch was founded in early 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback",[1] which would be half the price of a normal LP. To achieve this, he licensed European recordings of classical music as it would be too expensive to record new material. Originally the label concentrated heavily on chamber and baroque music, often with (then) unique repertory, and typically sold at less-than-premium prices. Upon its formation, Nonesuch operated as a subsidiary label of Elektra Records, which Holzman had launched in 1950. In 1970, Holzman sold Elektra and Nonesuch to Kinney National Company, which became Warner Communications and later part of Time Warner's Warner Music Group. In 2004, Warner Music Group became an independently owned, publicly traded company.


The 1968 catalogue already listed over 200 albums.[2] During the first years, the focus was clearly set on early music, i.e. music that was composed before 1800. Some artists were frequently appearing:

Nonesuch Explorer Series[edit]

In the late 1960s, the Explorer Series made the label a pioneer in the field of world music before the term had even been coined. The series, which Nonesuch released from 1967[33] to 1984, consisted of field recordings made primarily in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe.


For American non-travelers, it was the first exposure to musical idioms such as music produced by a gamelan. In 1977, a few of the recordings were chosen for the Voyager Golden Record, and sent into outer space aboard the Voyager spacecraft. In 2008, one of the first Explorer Series albums, Music from the Morning of the World (1967), comprising early field recordings that the British musicologist David Lewiston had made in Bali in 1966, was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.[34]


Many of the original analog recordings of the Nonesuch Explorer Series albums were remastered during the 2000s and re-released, with new packaging, in CD format.

Official Site

Nonesuch Journal

Interview with David Lewiston of the Nonesuch Explorer Series