JISC

Musicians of Britain and Ireland 1900-1950 (MBI) recovers and publishes for free download some 2000 recordings of leading musicians who in their time formed the backbone of the record company catalogues.

Owing to changes in company policy in the 1930s, their work was gradually excluded and much of it forgotten.

MBI will be accessible through an attractive online search interface that also gives access to the complete recorded output of the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM).

By reissuing such a large body of top-quality recorded performances, MBI aims to enhance public dissemination of the recorded heritage, to enable a revaluation of pre-War British and Irish musicianship among both the research community and the general listening public, and to raise awareness of the extent to which record company policies shape public perceptions of musical excellence and the reputation of artistic communities.

 

Lead site: Kings College, London

 

Music Samples

Duration 5:58

An unnamed symphony orchestra conducted by Constant Lambert in London on 24 February 1941 playing the last part of Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Overture. This example nicely illustrates the role of MBI in recovering stellar performances from forgotten artists. Lambert is now known only as a composer, but he was a finer conductor than many of the international stars who survived in the catalogues, as this track shows.

Duration 4:29

Harold Samuel (piano) playing Brahms's Intermezzo in E-flat, Op. 117 no. 1 recorded in London on 13 December 1928. Samuel is a good example of a fine player who's been largely overlooked in modern times. MBI has 30 tracks of him.

 

Documents

Download the Final Report (PDF)

Download Project Plan (PDF)