Unicorn-Kanchana is a British

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

founded by John Goldsmith (died 2020), a former London police officer. Originally known as Unicorn Records, the name Kanchana was added later to distinguish the company from

Unicorn Digital Unicorn Digital is an independent Canadian record label founded in 1996 by Michel St-Père. The label was originally created to promote his band Mystery, however since its founding the label has expanded to include many more artists. In 2005, th ...

of Montréal, Canada which many

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

bands like

Mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

are signed to. In Hindu and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

mythology, the female name ''Kanchana'' means an

Apsara An apsaras or apsara ( sa, अप्सरा ' lso ' pi, अक्चरा, translit=accharā) is a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture. They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, litera ...

, a spirit of the clouds and waters. The label specialised mainly in classical music and

film soundtracks A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

. Artists signed to the label included

Andrzej Panufnik Sir Andrzej Panufnik (24 September 1914 – 27 October 1991) was a Polish composer and conductor. He became established as one of the leading Polish composers, and as a conductor he was instrumental in the re-establishment of the Warsaw Philh ...

Jascha Horenstein Jascha Horenstein (russian: Яша Горенштейн; – 2 April 1973) was an American conductor. Biography Horenstein was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-to-do Jewish family; his mother (Marie Ettinger) came fro ...

Jennifer Bate Jennifer Lucy Bate (11 November 1944 – 25 March 2020) was a British concert organist. She is known for recording the complete organ works by Olivier Messiaen, guided by the composer, but also recorded, among others, English organ music, and t ...

Henry Herford Henry Herford (born 24 February 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish baritone singer. He read Classics and English at Cambridge University, and studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where he was awarded the ...

and

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Mus ...

. The label also released several recordings of lesser-known British composers, including

Havergal Brian Havergal Brian (born William Brian; 29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies (an unusually high total for a 20th-century composer), most of them late in his life. His best-know ...

, George Dyson and

Cipriani Potter Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (3 October 1792 – 26 September 1871) was an English musician. He was a composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. After an early career as a performer and composer, he was a teacher in the Royal Academy of Musi ...

. Additionally, under licence it released four discs of recordings made in London by the American composer

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an United States, American-Armenians, Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscr ...

, thereby introducing the composer to a European audience. The

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra The Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO) is a youth orchestra based in Leicester, England. The players, aged between 15 and 18, are all drawn from secondary schools in the county of Leicestershire and the City of Leicester. History ...

made the very first commercial recording of Havergal Brian's music. Symphonies Nos. 10 and 21, conducted by

James Loughran James Loughran CBE, DMus., FRNCM, FRSAMD (born 30 June 1931, Glasgow, Scotland) is a conductor. Early life Educated at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow, Loughran conducted at school and afterwards, while studying economics and law. When he so ...

and Eric Pinkett respectively, were recorded at the De Monfort Hall, Leicester in 1972. The producer was Robert Simpson and the LP was released by Unicorn Records to great critical acclaim in 1973. A special edition of the television programme ''Aquarius'' gave considerable coverage to the recording session (see video links below).

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

was also a Unicorn artist and released several albums of his own film soundtracks as well as a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

and his

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent r ...

'', based on the novel of the same name. Horenstein's Mahler recordings (Symphonies 1, 3 and 6) were released by the label, as well as his readings of the music of

Carl Nielsen Carl August Nielsen (; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he ...

, the recording of the last-named's 5th Symphony being the first recording of the new label. In 1970, Unicorn recorded Andrzej Panufnik's ''Universal Prayer'' in Westminster Cathedral. Composed for four vocal soloists, a choir, three harps and organ, it was conducted by Leopold Stokowski in the presence of the composer. The television composer

Laurie Johnson Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, (born 7 February 1927) is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing ...

recorded film scores on Unicorn-Kanchana, as well as an album of his own music from '' The Avengers'', '' The New Avengers'' and '' The Professionals''. Like Herrmann, he also released a symphony (for jazz orchestra, subtitled ''Synthesis'') for the label. Unicorn-Kanchana was one of the labels which released recordings using

Ambisonic Ambisonics is a ''full-sphere'' surround sound format: in addition to the horizontal plane, it covers sound sources above and below the listener. Unlike some other multichannel surround formats, its transmission channels do not carry speaker si ...

recording technology during the 1970s and 1980s. One of the most celebrated was Laurie Johnson's re-recording of Herrmann's ''

North by Northwest ''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture t ...

'' score. The label ceased producing its own CDs in the 1990s. Since then, much of its classical output has been re-released on the budget

Regis Regis or Régis may refer to: People * Regis (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Regis (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Regis (musician), full name Karl O'Connor, an English ...

label, the film music being licensed to several other small labels. In 2008 several long-unavailable Unicorn recordings started to re-emerge via

music download A music download (commonly referred to as a digital download) is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. Thi ...

sites. In 2017 an agreement with intellectual rights company, Treasure Island Music, enabled Heritage Records to begin manufacture and distribution of Unicorn-Kanchana's catalogue once more.

References

Videos

''The Unknown Warrior'' A documentary featuring the LSSO recording session of symphonies Nos. 10 and 21 and an informal interview with the composer
part 1part 2part 3

References

Videos

See also