Factory Records: FACTORY CLASSICAL

JOHN METCALFE: "I'd always had an idea to do a classical label run by and for artists to have a say in their repertoire, design, the way they wanted to record etc and to do the more pop thing of getting the audience to identify more closely with the performer. I spoke to Bruce about it, he mentioned it to Tony who said that Alan Erasmus had had a similar idea a while ago but no one to implement it. Wilson gave me carte blanche to do the whole thing. I was a kid in a sweet shop. I chose the artists and with them organised the recordings, editing etc. It was important for the music to be 20th century with at least one British piece on each cd - the point being that you didn't have to have a world cup or a shit disco beat over the top or another bollocks version of Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' to make excuses for classical music to an already patronized and assumed dumbed-down audience. Beyond that the musicians could do what they liked."

"Tony gave the overall design to Peter Saville who then farmed out individual releases. The whole thing did look mighty cool. Some of the releases were true homegrown affairs (Kreisler + Duke) and the others were more usual set-ups with outside producers and engineers. I was proud of it - it was one of the first attempts at getting more control into the hands of the musicians and saying any one who wants to do it can.

Up to this point Stephen Firth had nothing to do with it. When he did appear one of the original concepts of developing just a handful of musicians disappeared as he bought in a raft of his own artists rather than building on existing momentum. Factory was beginning to go bust by this stage so I guess it made little difference in the end.

- extract from Factory Classical Q&A / Cerysmatic Factory.

Factory Classical - FACT 226 Kreisler String Orchestra

Factory Classical - FACT 236 Robin Williams

Factory Classical - FACT 246 Duke String Quartet

Factory Classical - FACT 256 Rolf Hind

Factory Classical - FACT 266 Steve Martland

Factory Classical - FACT 226 Kreisler String Orchestra

Factory Classical - FACT 236 Robin Williams

Factory Classical - FACT 246 Duke String Quartet

Factory Classical - FACT 256 Rolf Hind

Factory Classical - FACT 266 Steve Martland