ARTA Records was founded in 1991 with the aim of charting out the so-called 'minor' genres of music in what was then Czechoslovakia. The catalogue of the new firm soon contained recordings of a wide range of styles: apart from jazz there was, for example, 'minimalist' music by Irena and Vojtech Havel, the rock chansons of Dezo Ursiny, ballet music by the guitarist Michal Pavlicek, and dance songs of the 1920s performed by the Prague JazzPhonic Quintet. As they gained experience in the record business, ARTA's producers began to concentrate on jazz and classical music. Since 1994, ARTA is the trade mark of 2HP Production, a company involved not only in recording (ARTA Records) and music publishing (ARTA Music), but also in running the AghaRTA jazz club in Prague; it also organizes concerts under the name AghaRTA Prague Jazz Festival. An important part of the company's activity consists in the import and distribution of recordings of classical music, jazz, and music for film (2HP Production Distribution).
Through its own distribution in the Czech Republic, 2HP Production currently offers about a hundred titles on the ARTA Records label. Approximately two thirds of them are early, classical, and contemporary music. Among the artists regularly collaborating with ARTA are the singer Jana Lewitova, the harpsichordist Giedre Luksaite-Mrazkova, the organist, harpsichordist, and piano forte player Jaroslav Tuma, the cellist and viola da gamba player Petr Hejny, the flautist and saxophonist Jiri Stivin, the clarinettist, Jiri Krejci, the violinist Ivan Zenaty, the violist Karel Dolezal, the lute player Rudolf Merinsky, the singer Michael Pospisil, the flautist Andreas Kroper, the period-instrument ensembles Pro Arte Antiqua Praha, Capella "Sancta Caecilia", Antiquarius Consort, Ritornello, a group orientated towards medieval music Kvinterna, as well as Musica Bohemica with Jaroslav Krcek, the Dolezal Quartet, the New Vlach Quartet, and the contemporary-music ensembles Agon and Mondschein. Among guests from abroad whom ARTA is particularly proud to have hosted are the violinist Simon Standage, the flautists Yoshimi Oshima and Meinhart Niedermayr, the clarinettist Luigi Magistrelli, and the Japanese wind ensemble Orphee.
Modern jazz is represented in the ARTA catalogue by the leading Czech interpreters of the genre. The saxophonist and flautist Jiri Stivin, the guitarist Lubos Andrst, the pianists Emil Viklicky and Karel Ruzicka, the trumpeter Laco Deczi, the bassist George Mraz, and the singer Vlasta Pruchova, who have all recorded with ARTA, are renowned jazz musicians and their concerts are attended by many. Among the young talent on ARTA Records are keyboard player Zdenek Zdenek, guitarists Rudy Linka, Roman Pokorny, and Andrej Seban, saxophonists Stepan Markovic and Karel Ruzicka Jr, and trumpeter Juraj Bartos. A number of internationally renowned musicians have taken part in ARTA Records' jazz projects. They include guitarist John Abercrombie, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, pianist Richie Beirach, and bassist Jay Anderson. Among the leading lights of the Czech jazz scene are the two fusion groups Hot Line and Tutu. Big band music on ARTA Records is represented by Veleband.
ARTA's Reflexions edition includes recordings which mirror the musical excursions of leading Czech musicians of the late twentieth century.
ARTA has received a number of awards, locally and internationally. Among the most valuable is from the French journal for professional musicians and critics, Diapason, awarded for the collection of seven symphonies by Jan Zach, Sinfonie, performed by Capella "Sancta Caecilia". A reviewer from the prestigious American journal Fanfare chose String Quartets by Janacek, performed by the Dolezal Quartet, as the Record of the Year 1996. Agon Ensemble's Czech New Music of the 1960s won the Zlata Harmonie prize in 1995. Another title frequently named by professional critics in the Czech Republic is Jaroslav Tuma's Organ Improvisation. For her vocal performance on Sephardic Songs, Jana Lewitova received the Prize of the Czech Music Fund.
2HP Production s.r.o.
© 2hp 04-28-2003