A SHORT HISTORY OF HUNGAROTON

• Modern Hungarian record publishing started in 1951 when the state established the Hungarian Record Company (MHV). The private record companies had first been owned by Hungarians and later by international companies and were then replaced by the monopoly state company. From then on, for nearly forty years, the only competition for the Hungarian company was from labels of the Socialist countries, above all Melodia, Supraphon and Eterna. Due to this situation, the outstanding artists of Hungarian classical and light music as well as the best actors recorded for Hungaroton and a valuable archive of more than ten thousand titles came into being.
• From the mid sixties, export increased and the company changed its brand name from Qualiton to Hungaroton. Qualiton remained as the label for gipsy and operetta music products and from the seventies, for certain reasons of marketing policy, independent light music labels were started within the company: Pepita, Bravó, Krém.
• Hungaroton's heyday was the seventies and eighties: the most popular pop singers and groups soon won the golden disc earned by those who sold over a hundred thousand(!) records at the time. Due to high technical and artistic standards and relatively low prices, classical records were distributed in large numbers all over the world. Light music brought more money, but the foreign currency earned by the export of classical music covered the cost of importing raw materials.
• The liberalization of the market in 1988 broke this momentum: recordings of Western light music and the world famous masters of classical music, which had been all but inaccessible, suddenly became available. Hungaroton's business slowed down and in addition, this was the point at which repayments of bank loans for the building of the record factory and warehouse at Dorog became due. Hungaroton Record Company (MHV) almost collapsed under the pressure from these two directions.
• The company trading under this name was wound up, but the publishing activities continued in new companies: from 1992 light music appeared under the brand name Hungaroton Gong, and from 1993 classical and folk music, literature, nursery tales and other genres as Hungaroton Classic, issued by independent limited companies. After lengthy preparations, Hungaroton was privatized in 1995. In order to protect the archive, the state wanted a golden share in the privatized company and thus established Hungaroton Music Co. which owned part of the limited companies. The privatization of the latter took place at a time when the star of the two publishing companies was rising. The fact that Hungaroton stayed in Hungarian hands (as part of the Fotex group), spared the company the particular problems associated with multinational companies. However, it could not, of course, protect it from the general crisis of the record market, arising above all from pirate copies and from the spread of the Internet.
• Classic and Gong Ltd.-s had merged in 1998, and since then the company has been operating as Hungaroton Records Record Publishing Ltd. Last year Hungaroton released 64 albums, of which 45 were classical music, 7 entertaining music, 1 literature, 9 pop music CD albums, and 1 cabaret DVD. The great majority of the classical albums were new releases and only small part is archive material, while in case of the popular genre, the ratios are the opposite. The company`s current catalog contains more than a thousand classical recordings and popular recordings make up approximately half of this figure. Hungaroton has become a well-established name on the DVD world market as well and now it markets its recordings online as well.
• The Hungaroton team of classical artists includes big names of former generations, talents of our age and the great promises of the future. Hungaroton was and is proud to work with such talents as pianists: Annie Fischer, Tamás Vásáry, Péter Frankl, Ilona Prunyi, Zoltán Kocsis, Dezső Ránki, András Schiff, Gergely Bogányi, Alex Szilasi and Tihamér Hlavacsek; conductors: János Ferencsik, Tamás Vásáry, Iván Fischer, János Kovács, Zoltán Kocsis and György Vashegyi; violinists: Dénes Kovács, György Pauk, Vilmos Szabadi, Barnabás Kelemen and Antal Szalai; the Tátrai, the Bartók, the Takács and the Auer String quartettes; as well as the Ferenc Liszt, the Erkel or the Erdődy chamber orchestras. Some world-famous artists, who have been under exclusive foreign contracts for years or even decades (for example Kocsis, Schiff and Vásáry), upon returning to Hungary now record new albums with Hungaroton.
• Hungaroton excels in the field of world-premier releases and has a strong early music  profile represented by artists such as: Malcolm Bilson, Miklós Spányi, Anikó Horváth, Anneke Boeke, Benedek Csalog, Ildikó Kertész, Balázs Máté, Pál Németh, Róbert Mandel and numerous other Hungarian and foreign musicians. The world-renowned Amadinda Percussion Band, the Cantemus, the Pro Musica Girl Choir, and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir also prepares their albums in Hungaroton`s studios.
• The classical music profile of the record company is characterized by a repertoire that has never been recorded before, as well as outstanding pieces of the Hungarian music. Thanks to the first feature, Hungaroton deserved the name of “publisher of new discoveries”, while in the latter field the Bartók New Series, an outstanding accomplishment, must be mentioned. This is the second release of Bartók`s complete works and the first series was also published by Hungaroton. Hungaroton has lately started its complete Kodály series and is also active in the field of compilation works, concentrating on certain genres. The collections of the works of Jenő Hubay, László Lajtha and Leó Weiner has been and is being released here as well.
•  In the popular genre, the life-time work of such perennial stars as Zsuzsa Koncz, György Korda, Péter Máté, Pál Szécsi, or that of the Bikini, Illés, Omega, Neoton Família or Benkó Dixieland is concentrated around Hungaroton. In terms of cabaret and the entertaining music the bar is set high by Géza Hofi, and the children`s all time favorite is Judit Halász, regardless of whether she sings, introduces the world of opera or tells tales to them. From the folk music scene Márta Sebestyén, Kati Szvorák, the Jánosi, the Muzsikás and the Vujicsics ensembles stand out. Hungaroton is also proud to work with the best performers of gipsy music and Hungarian songs; from the Lakatos, Sánta, and Kállai Kiss dynasties, through the Budapest Gipsy Symphony Orchestra, the Rajkó Orchestra, Oszkár Ökrös dulcimer player, Apollónia Kovács, Erzsébet Talabér and Margit Bangó, to Károly Solti and the singing actor Ferenc Bessenyei. Last, but not least we must mention the actors of famous literature albums: Zoltán Latinovits, László Mensáros, Imre Sinkovits, Irén Psota, Éva Ruttkay and Klári Tolnay, as well as the relics preserving poems recited by their authors.
• Hungaroton`s classical music albums often receive prizes in international competitions. Besides the awards of the Diapason, Goldberg, Le Monde de la Musique, Pizzicato and other periodicals, the three MIDEM awards (for the Dohnányi violin concertos, (1999), the Bartók collection (2002), the first SACD of the Bartók New Series (The wooden prince, Kossuth – symphony), and the Classical Internet Awards (2004), for the Kocsis conducted Bartók super audio CD must be highlighted.
• Hungaroton prizes