In 1982 Werner Unger initiated the Verein für musikalische Archiv-Forschung , a non-profit society for musicologists and serious collectors.
Five years later, in 1987, the Verein launched its own label, archiphon, with a series of LPs featuring live recordings by Otto Klemperer.
In 1989 we issued our first CD: Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Brahms’ Symphony No.1 under the direction of Carl Schuricht, soon followed by other unissued Schuricht recordings. Since 1992 our catalog has been significantly enlarged with unpublished historical recordings by other artists.
The Verein’s archive now is owned by Werner Unger. Together with his private collection it consists of
From the very beginning, Werner Unger's collecting activities were driven by his interest in and enthusiasm for live and radio recordings by Otto Klemperer. Today, this collection consists of more than 300 titles making it one of the most comprehensive Klemperer archives worldwide.
Thanks to the cooperation among the members of the Verein between 1981 and 2000 we were able to significantly enlarge the scope of our archive with many historical recordings of other musical performers. Special focus was given to artists like Carl Schuricht (archiphon was the first to publish his radio recordings), Rudolf Kolisch and Dinu Lipatti , but also to performers whose names may be less familiar today, e.g. Gerhard Taschner, Leo Blech, Otto Ackermann and Eugen Szenkár.
archiphon always searches to find a lively, dynamic and transparent sound rather than eliminating surface noise in order to imitate the taste of modern recordings. Therefore no reverb, denoise or artificial stereo is added. We use high quality technical equipment, both analog and digital:
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