The History of Deutsche Grammophon
The series of programmes celebrating the centenary of the Deutsche Grammophon record label. Archiv. "It was from Bach's work that the German people drew strength to start again." - the words of Dr Andreas Holschneider , president of Deutsche Grammophon, describing the recordings of Bach's organ works by Helmut Walcha for DG in 1947. Stephen Johnson investigates Archiv, the sister label DG set up in 1947 to pioneer the specialised recording of early music. This was a revolutionary concept at the time and has since become central to DG's continuing success. But to what extent was the founding of Archiv based on a need for the company - and Germany - to purge itself of Nazism? And how authentic were early recordings?