Henry Holst (25 July 1899 – 19 October 1991) was a Danish violinist. In his early career he was leader of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler . From the 1930s to the mid-1950s he was based in England, as a soloist and teacher. From 1940 until 1944 he was the leader of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He held professorships at the Royal Manchester College of Music and the Royal College of Music in London. After 1954 he was based in his native Denmark, where he was professor of violin at the Royal Danish Academy of Music .
29-652: The Henry Holst String Quartet was founded by the Danish violinist Henry Holst in 1931. Holst had studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory under Axel Gade and Carl Nielsen . In 1923, he was appointed leader of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , but in 1931 he moved to Manchester as a Professor at the Royal Manchester College of Music . The move to Manchester led to the formation of
58-510: A cutting head with linear characteristics which circumvented Western Electric's patents. Columbia continued to use acoustic recording methods for the cheaper labels, and to release discs made with old acoustic masters on the Harmony and Velvet Tone labels until around 1929. The repercussions of the stock market Crash of 1929 led to huge losses in the recording industry and, in March 1931, J.P Morgan,
87-578: A grave mistake. Columbia had been making test electrical recordings since at least August 1924 with the Western Electrical system. Although the Columbia Phonograph Company of New York could not afford the royalty payments, Sterling was in a position to buy out the US operation and, as an American company, to purchase the licence for the new Western Electric patents. Satisfied with the progress of
116-609: A new electrical recording process. The British firm also controlled the US operations from 1925 until 1931. That year Columbia Graphophone in the UK merged with the Gramophone Company (which sold records under the His Master's Voice label) to form EMI . At the same time, Columbia divested itself of its American branch, which was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) in 1938. The company's record label Columbia became
145-796: A petition for involuntary bankruptcy: Columbia went into receivership. Seeking to raise cash, Columbia sold the British branch in December 1922 to a group of investors led by Columbia's General Manager in Britain, the American-born Louis Sterling (1879–1958). Columbia in the US emerged from receivership in February 1924 as the Columbia Phonograph Company Inc., but was immediately faced with another crisis, as booming radio sales reduced
174-764: A successful British brand in the 1950s and 1960s, and was eventually replaced by the newly created EMI Records , as part of a label consolidation. This in turn was absorbed by the Parlophone Records unit of Warner Music Group in 2013. The Columbia Phonograph Company was originally founded in the US by Edward D. Easton in 1887, initially as a distributor with a local monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Delaware. It also made its own compatible cylinder recordings. In 1901, Columbia began selling disc records (invented and patented by Emile Berliner of
203-658: The Hallé Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham , he gave one of the finest performances of the Sibelius Concerto we have ever been privileged to hear. Then there was the first European performance of the Walton Concerto in 1941, which he gave with the Royal Philharmonic Society . This concerto, by the way, he has now played over twenty-five times. In addition to his work as a soloist and teacher, Holst led
232-612: The Philharmonia Quartet in 1941 at the instigation of Walter Legge to record for Columbia Records . Henry Holst Holst was born in Sæby , Denmark, the son of Jens Christian Holst (1856–1907) and Elvira Kath Inga Alexandra, née Jakobsen (1864–1943). Holst senior was a schoolmaster and organist, and the household was a highly musical one. In 1913 Holst was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Music where he studied
261-802: The Philharmonia Quartet , which was formed in 1941 to make recordings for Columbia . In 1945 he moved from Manchester to London to take up a professorship at the Royal College of Music . In 1954 Holst moved back to Denmark, taking over the violin class at his alma mater , the Royal Danish Academy of Music. From 1961 to 1963 he gave masterclasses at the National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo. Holst married Else Werner of Copenhagen in 1926. They had two daughters. Holst died in Copenhagen at
290-820: The Victor Talking Machine Company ) and phonographs. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor discs. Edison discs and Columbia's acoustic records both had a nominal playback speed of 80 rpm. From about 1898 until 1922 the US parent company managed a UK subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company. Its headquarters and studios were established in Victorian warehouses at 102-108 Clerkenwell Road shortly before
319-539: The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Two years later, when the post of leader of the orchestra became vacant, Holst won the open competition to fill it. He remained with the orchestra for eight years, playing under Wilhelm Furtwängler and guest conductors including Bruno Walter and Willem Mengelberg . Holst moved to England in 1931. He founded the Henry Holst String Quartet and took up
SECTION 10
#1732884016071348-597: The Columbia Records trade mark in the UK and elsewhere, Sony Music now prefers the "walking eye" logo previously used by the old CBS Records, which is based on the Columbia Records logo introduced in the US and Canada in 1955. However, the "magic notes" logo is occasionally used, usually to give a 'retro' feel (such as on the 2016 vinyl reissues of Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets , and on Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind ). The Columbia name
377-527: The Columbia label with the eponymous EMI Records in January 1973. The last Columbia single was issued in 1989. EMI sold its remaining interest in the Columbia name in 1990 to Sony Music Entertainment (formerly CBS Records Group), which already owned Columbia Records in the U.S. and Canada. The formal reassignment of British registered trade marks from EMI, including the "magic notes" logo, took place in 1993. For
406-604: The First World War, and the buildings were a key location in the development of the British recording industry until the 1930s. In 1917, the Columbia Graphophone Company was registered as a British company, with the shares being held by the American firm. A general market downturn in 1921 affected the whole entertainment industry. Profits turned to losses, and in late 1922 the creditors of the US parent company filed
435-602: The Henry Holst String Quartet with Charles Taylor (second violin), Herbert Downes (viola) and Anthony Pini (cello). The ensemble was recognised as fine quartet, touring extensively in the UK and broadcasting on BBC Radio. They played a number of times in Liverpool for the Rodewald Concert Society in the 1934 and 1937 seasons. Ernest Element (2nd violin) and Frank Venton (viola) also sometimes played for
464-627: The Pacemakers , the Seekers , the Yardbirds , Jeff Beck , and Pink Floyd . Led by A&R man Norrie Paramor , the label was arguably the most successful in Britain in the rock era prior to the beat boom . In the mid 1960s, UK Columbia added an audiophile imprint called Studio 2 Stereo . During that time, the Columbia Graphophone Company was absorbed into the Gramophone Company with
493-449: The US operation. On February 25, 1925, Columbia began recording with the licensed Western Electric recording process and was using it on a regular basis by April. The royalty payments were considerable, and in 1928 Columbia hired the English electronics engineer Alan Blumlein to work on an alternative. By late 1930, he had developed a recording system including a moving-coil microphone and
522-600: The age of 92. Columbia Graphophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom . Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company , it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a management buy-out after the parent company went into receivership. In 1925, it acquired a controlling interest in its American parent company to take advantage of
551-415: The firm's profitability. The same year, Bell Labs - Western Electric had developed a new electrical recording system to replace the old acoustic recording methods, and was offering exclusive rights to Victor although its Chairman's illness had led to delays. Louis Sterling as Managing Director had turned around the fortunes of UK Columbia, and persuaded Western Electric that granting a monopoly would be
580-709: The label maintaining its identity. EMI engaged in litigation with CBS regarding the importing of American records bearing the Columbia imprint into areas where EMI owned the Columbia name. Releases from the British Columbia Graphophone Company appeared in Japan under Nippon Columbia until 1962, when licensing was switched to Toshiba Musical Industries . EMI decided to reserve the HMV label for classical repertoire and had transferred HMV's remaining pop acts to Columbia and Parlophone by 1967. EMI began to replace
609-467: The major shareholder, steered the Columbia Graphophone Company (along with Odeon Records and Parlophone , which it had owned since 1926) into a merger with the Gramophone Company (HMV) to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd ( EMI ). By the time of the merger, the Gramophone Company had not fully developed an alternative to Western Electric's process and was still paying royalty fees, so it
SECTION 20
#1732884016071638-646: The new CBS Records created from the purchase of Oriole Records (UK) in late 1964. The loss of American Columbia product had forced UK Columbia to groom its own talent such as Russ Conway , John Barry , Cliff Richard , the Shadows , Helen Shapiro , Frank Ifield , Freddie and the Dreamers , the Dave Clark Five , Shirley Bassey , Frankie Vaughan , Des O'Connor , Ken Dodd , the Animals , Herman's Hermits , Gerry and
667-494: The post of professor of violin at the Royal Manchester College of Music , a position once held by his former teacher, Hess. Holst was professor of violin at the RMCM from 1931 to 1946, and again from 1950 to 1954. Holst accepted invitations to play as a soloist with the Hallé and other orchestras. In a profile written in 1948 the author referred to: that memorable occasion in 1933 when with
696-553: The quartet. Herbert Downes left to lead his own quartet in 1935. Charles Taylor also left to found his own quartet and was replaced by Reginald Stead as second violin. Reginald Stead later became the leader of the BBC Northern Orchestra . Anthony Pini joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932 and was replaced by John C Hock as cellist. The Henry Holst Quartet finally disbanded when Henry Holst formed
725-411: The test recordings, in March 1925, Louis Sterling (backed by J.P. Morgan & Co.), acquired a controlling interest in the parent company, Columbia US, for $ 2.5 million (about £500,000) in order to take advantage of Western Electric's patents. The firm continued in business as the Columbia Graphophone Company in many countries as a British company. Sterling, originally from New York, became chairman of
754-415: The violin with Axel Gade and the piano and harmony under Carl Nielsen . He made his concert debut at the age of 18 playing Vieuxtemps ' first violin concerto and Brahms's first violin sonata . At Gade's instigation he then studied for a year with Emil Telmányi . He moved to Berlin to study with Willy Hess . In 1921 Holst attracted favourable notice when he played three concertos at one concert with
783-449: Was a technically advantageous move. Since the Gramophone Company (HMV) was a wholly owned subsidiary of Victor, and Columbia in America was a subsidiary of UK Columbia, Victor now technically owned its largest rival in the US. To avoid antitrust legislation, EMI had to sell off its US Columbia operation, which continued to release pressings of matrices made in the UK. The American company
812-724: Was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) (another of its former offshoots) in 1938. EMI continued to operate the Columbia record label in the UK until the early 1970s, and in all other territories except for the US, Canada, Spain and Japan, until it sold its remaining interest in the Columbia trademark to Sony Music Entertainment in 1990. Under EMI, UK Columbia's releases were mainly licensed recordings from American Columbia until 1951 when American Columbia switched British distribution to Philips Records . UK Columbia continued to distribute American Columbia sister labels Okeh and Epic until 1968 when American Columbia's then parent CBS moved distribution of all its labels to
841-589: Was still on some EMI releases between 1973 and 1990 (such as Baltimora 's " Tarzan Boy " in 1985, Jeanne Mas and the 1987 Kiki Dee album Angel Eyes ), but it had ceased acting as a fully functioning label. In Australia and Germany, EMI continued using the Columbia label throughout the 1970s and to at least 1980, but added the EMI label in 1973. Through its ownership of the former Columbia/EMI catalogue, Parlophone Records' new owner Warner Music Group assumed Columbia's artist roster and catalogue. New reissues bear
#70929