Crystal Records is an American producer and distributor of classical chamber and solo music recordings. The company was founded in 1966 by Peter George Christ (born 1938) and is incorporated in the state of Washington. Christ, who has served as president of Crystal Records since its inception, is also an oboist and founding member of the Westwood Wind Quintet (founded 1959). Crystal Records produced vinyl records featuring woodwind and brass musicians, but, eventually expanded to percussion, strings, orchestra, accordion, organ, and vocal.

Peter Christ

Christ has played the oboe in orchestras and in chamber ensembles large and small, and has taught the instrument at a variety of colleges and universities. But, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(1960) and a Master of Arts in Mathematics from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) syste ...

(1962). He studied music, but has no formal degree in it. His main oboe teacher for six years was Bert Gassman – former principal of the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

and former student himself of

Marcel Tabuteau Marcel Tabuteau (2 July 18874 January 1966) was a French-American oboist who is considered the founder of the American school of oboe playing. Life Tabuteau was born in Compiègne, Oise, France, and given a post in the city's municipal wind band ...

Wind and brass

Crystal's 2011 catalog offers recordings of more than 800 composers, many of the American contemporary genre. According to ''

Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

'' magazine:

The majors may be giving up on recital recordings, which surely are among the least marketable commodities in the business today, but smaller firms, like Crystal, seem to be carrying on admirably.

Crystal Records is one of those unique and specialized labels that, for several decades, has been issuing a compendious catalog of works, both chamber and orchestral, featuring outstanding soloists, primarily but not exclusively players of wind and brass instruments. In this distinctive role, Crystal, under its founder and chief executive Peter Christ, has been filling important gaps in the recorded repertoire that no other label comes close to matching.Peter A. Snook, Beck and Call – Carolyn Beck, ''
Fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...
'', Issue 30:4, Mar/Apr 2007

Roster

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

* Peter Christ *

John Mack John Mack may refer to: * John Martin Mack (1715–1784), Moravian bishop * John Mack (Medal of Honor recipient) (1843–1881), American Civil War sailor and Medal of Honor recipient * John J. Mack (coach) (1870–1923), Yale University track coach ...

Clarinet * Jonathan Cohler *

Larry Combs Larry Combs (born December 31, 1939) is an American clarinetist and educator. Early life and education Combs was born in South Charleston, West Virginia. He received a bachelor of music degree with distinction as well as the Performer's Certif ...

Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr (born April 14, 1936) is an American clarinetist and music educator whose contributions to the Verdehr Trio have resulted in an extensive modern body of work for the clarinet-violin-piano trio medium. Biography Born in Charl ...

Mitchell Lurie Mitchell Lurie (born July 20, 1993) is an American soccer player. Career Youth and college Lurie played four years of college soccer, beginning at the University of Portland, before transferring to Louisville University and later Rutgers Uni ...

Bassoon *

Arthur Weisberg Arthur Weisberg (April 4, 1931 – January 17, 2009) was an American clarinetist, bassoonist, conductor, composer and author. Biography Weisberg was born in New York City. He attended The High School of Music & Art, majoring in bassoon and ...

Contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is cons ...

* Susan Nigro

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Harvey Pittel * Kenneth Tse Horn *

John Cerminaro John Paul Cerminaro, Jr. (born April 7, 1947) is an American horn player who is best known for his principal tenures with two notable American orchestras, the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was later principal horn of ...

* Frøydis Ree Wekre

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

Armando Ghitalla Armando Ghitalla (June 1, 1925 – 14 December 2001) was an American orchestral trumpeter. He studied at the Juilliard School, and performed in the New York City Opera, the New York City Ballet, and the Houston Symphony. He was a member of the Bost ...

* Thomas Stevens

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

* Ralph Sauer

Tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...

* Roger Bobo

Viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

* Carol Rodland Ensembles *

Verdehr Trio The Verdehr Trio was a chamber ensemble that worked to promote the clarinet-violin-piano trio repertoire through international commissions, recordings, and performances. The trio featured Walter Verdehr on violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr on clarine ...

Westwood Wind Quintet Westwood may refer to: Companies and brands *Westwood, Baillie, 19th-century engineering and shipbuilding company, London *Westwood One (1976–2011), a former American radio network based in New York City *Westwood One, an American radio and medi ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Classical music record labels American independent record labels Record labels established in 1966