Hyperion: "Albums Now Available For Streaming"

[Hitch]

200 albums at first with more to come.

Announcement.

Streaming Website.

[Joseph K]

I heard this on R3 this morning. My first thought was that hopefully the Machaut chanson 'Pas de Tor en Thies Pais' will now appear on youtube so I can share it - it's one of my favourite medieval pieces.

[Pulcinella]

Presumably this is because they're now part of Universal (I think)?
But hurrah from me if it's the case, and there'll be more to come.

[Bryn]

Presumably this is because they're now part of Universal (I think)?
But hurrah from me if it's the case, and there'll be more to come.

Quite. Having just now 'imported' RVW's "Antartica" and 9th (Brabbins) in lossless CD quality via my QOBUZ sub, I am now listening to it offline.

[Pulcinella]

Lots of press releases.
I didn't search to try to find a list of the 200 but this article (from Music Week) seemed worth posting:

Hyperion Records begins streaming for the first time

by Miranda Bardsley
July 28th 2023 at 11:30AM

Four months after its acquisition by Universal Music Group, multi-award-winning label Hyperion Records is making its 43-year-old catalogue of recordings available on all streaming platforms for the first time.

Hyperion has set a goal to release the entire catalogue of over 2000 recordings for streamingby spring 2024. The first 200 albums were released today, with subsequent collections to follow every fortnight from September 15.

The first 200 catalogue albums showcase a wide-ranging repertoire collection, spanning 900 years of Western art music from the 12th century to today, across sacred and secular, choral and solo vocal to orchestral, chamber and instrumental.

There are key recordings from many of Hyperion’s roster of artists, including Arcangelo, Mahan Esfahani, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Sir Stephen Hough, Alina Ibragimova, Steven Isserlis, Steven Osborne, Polyphony, Howard Shelley, Takács Quartet among many others.

The second phase of catalogue releases, scheduled for September 15, will exhibit some of Hyperion’s piano and keyboard stars, including Danny Driver, Stephen Hough, Pavel Kolesnikov, Steven Osborne and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, among others across more than 70 albums.

This move to streaming follows UMG’s acquisition of Hyperion in March this year, which saw the label join UMG’s portfolio of world-renowned classical labels, including Decca and Deutsche Grammophon.

“We searched for and found a long-term home that is committed to our values, artists, recordings and editorial style and we are delighted that our entire back catalogue as well as new and future releases will be available on streaming platforms in the coming months,” said Simon Perry, managing director of Hyperion and son of label founder Ted Perry. “These first 200 albums tell our story, and we look forward to presenting all our work from the past four decades to a new global streaming audience artist-by-artist, series-by-series. Each had their challenges and now they come together to tell a narrative, hopefully a powerful one, of what can happen when you make space for musicians to thrive: it’s why Hyperion has worked.”

Dickon Stainer, UMG’s president of global classics & jazz said: “The arrival of Hyperion on the world’s streaming platforms offers a special moment of discovery for this precious and pioneering label.”

“I am enormously excited to be part of this moment in Hyperion's history,” added pianist and long-standing Hyperion recording artist Sir Stephen Hough. “I've made over 40 albums for the company, pouring my heart, soul and fingers into each one, and now, thirty years after my first, they are to be made available through streaming to a much wider, indeed Universal, audience. It delights and touches me to be able to reach a vast new family of music lovers in this way.”

Angela Hewitt OBE, Hyperion pianist, commented: “I have always been thrilled to be part of the Hyperion family. The recordings I have made for the label over the past thirty years have been highlights of my life and career and I am happy that my albums will be enjoyed by even more music lovers around the world.”

[LudwigVanMozart]

Yay! Now listening to 'French Duets' with Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne in Hi-Res Lossless on my iPhone with the Foster Child's AirPods Max. Isn't technology wonderful.

[Bryn]

What a treasure trove has opened up, some of it being in up to 192/24 resolution.

[Sir Velo]

Thanks for the heads up, Hitch. Even more reason to renew my Qobuz subscription as a result of this announcement!

[richardfinegold]

Trying to survive as a label , even as a small niche classical label, without streaming was probably not a long term growth strategy.

[Hitch]

Thanks for the heads up, Hitch. Even more reason to renew my Qobuz subscription as a result of this announcement!

My pleasure. Sorry if my post was barebones; I didn't want to clog up the forum if the news was already widely known.

Spotify's monthly fee is going up by a pound in September, so maybe it's time to look at Qobuz.

[Goon525]

It’s always been time to look at Qobuz, if you have any interest at all in sound quality. Spotify, incidentally, is about the worst around in that respect.

[Bryn]

It’s always been time to look at Qobuz, if you have any interest at all in sound quality. Spotify, incidentally, is about the worst around in that respect.

I have my occasional niggles about QOBUZ but overwhelming number of streams I have accesses have been both reliable and high quality audio, starting at CD rate and rising in much of the catalogue to up to 192/24, and the downloads I have purchased from time to time. I just wish they also did surround and Dolby Atmos.

[Pianoman]

Spotify's interface to me is so much better than all the rest, and there are rumours about it streaming lossless soon (heard it before....) but a price rise may tempt me to Qobuz, though I still prefer to buy the download and have it permanently in my library, as with the many Hyperions (including the wonderful French Duets mentioned above, which is currently playing through my system...)