Claves records SA

General information

Claves is a Swiss record label, founded in 1968 in Thun.

Dedicated to every kind of classical music, Claves likes to give priority to young artists, renowned musicians playing rare repertoires, Swiss interpreters and composers, works previously unreleased on CD, and historical re-releases.

The independent label’s fame was first acquired thanks to two Swiss interpreters who are still active today: pianist, harpsichordist and conductor Jörg Ewald Dähler and flautist Peter-Lukas Graf, who made many recordings that are still in great demand today, especially in the Eastern countries.

Later on, the label had the privilege to develop a close association with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Teresa Berganza and Ernst Haefliger. On the orchestral side, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne) and the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra all regularly record with Claves.

In the 1980’s, Claves enjoyed a very special partnership with Swiss conductor Marcello Viotti – shooting star of the conducting world, guest of the greatest lyrical scenes such as the MET, Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Fenice, etc. – resulting in a series of first releases of single act Rossini operas. The Duo Crommelynck also marked this period with an important series of recordings embracing almost all the piano duet (four hands) repertoire; they had completed their final Schubert recording just months before their tragic death in 1994.

Claves, besides its numerous baroque music recordings, are also interpretation pioneers, with artists ranging from the historical to the most recent ones, such as Swiss conductor and organist Diego Fasolis.

The publication of archives, together with the Radio Télévision Suisse (Swiss broadcasting corporation), is one of the label’s strong points, with a fabulous catalogue: Haskil, Milstein, Michelangeli, Gilels, Kogan, Magaloff, Francescati, Stern, Grumiaux and Van Cliburn. As for young artists, the label pursues intense collaborations with the likes of Nicolas Altstaedt, Mélodie Zhao, Cédric Pescia, Xavier de Maistre and Corey Cerovsek.

The catalogue today includes almost 500 recordings, all available on CD in about twenty countries, and, since 2007, on the world wide online market (iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Qobuz, etc.). Thanks to this, Claves’ public has grown impressively with regular sales in over 50 countries, and streaming in over 200 countries and territories.

Do you want to send us your work and perhaps be recorded by Claves? Follow this link: http://www.claves.ch/contact