BMG's Encore (their catalog and "magazine") had an interview with Ted Perry,
the founder of Hyperion Records.  I thought some might be interested in what
he had to say.

   Encore:  What gave you the idea to establish Hyperion Records
   independently?

   TP:  I'd run record companies for other people and woke up one day
   and realized that I could do it for myself.  I didn't actually start
   Hyperion with much money, and I certainly didn't move into expensive
   premises in the West End.  I ran (the label) from a back room at
   home, by myself, although my wife did the accounts.  I didn't draw
   any money from it, therefore I had to find another job to pay the
   grocery bills and the mortgage for a year or two.  So I drove a cab.
   I was hurtling around south-east London, driving people to airports
   and hospitals and so on.  I remember I popped home for a cup of coffee
   on the way to the airport one Saturday, and there was one of a series
   of broadcasts on (our classical music station) Radio 3 called Early
   Music Forum.  It was an hour-long, fairly scholarly program.  I wasn't
   really listening to it, but my attention was suddenly caught by this
   lovely, serene and beautiful music.  I looked in our Radio Times-
   the broadcast journal- and it said "'A Feather on the Breath of God',
   the music of Hildegard von Bingen, 1098-1179" It was Emma Kirkby
   doing her thing, and I thought it was very beautiful.  Two or three
   weeks after that I had a telephone call from a chap in Oxford who
   said, "Hey, I've got one of your records to review," and he'd liked
   it, and the presentation, and he thought he would ring me up.  He
   said:  "I've got some ideas you might be interested in." So, as I
   did in those days, I met him.  That chap was Christopher Page.  We
   went out for a cup of coffee, got on very well together, and he was
   full of ideas.  Then it suddenly dawned on me.  I said, "You're the
   guy that did the Hildegard thing, aren't you?" And he said, "Yes,
   why? Do you want a Hildegard record?" I said, "Yes, I do, please.
   I've only got two conditions.  I want exactly the same music as the
   broadcast and exactly the same artists." "Easy," he said.  So we set
   it up.  The group didn't even have a name.  Somebody had to print
   something in the Radio Times and the BBC producer said, "We'll call
   them 'Gothic Voices'." We decided that was an appropriate name so
   that's what we called them for the record.  It was their first record.
   They were totally unknown but within a year or two they were famous.
   They'd made a best-selling record, which is still selling; it's paid
   for all my mistakes and kept us afloat over the years.

   The two main areas I thought I should favor or concentrate on were
   early music and British music, and often of course the two go together.
   There's been a lot of scholarship in the past few decades.  Music is
   constantly being discovered, edited and made performable and there
   are lots of scholars and artists able to re-create it, so it was
   quite a happy hunting ground, really.  I went for English music
   because we are, after all, an English label, and I think it's only
   right that we should promote the music of our own country.  I am not
   a scholar myself, but I know when I'm talking to somebody who knows
   what they're talking about.  I go a lot by instinct and personality
   and keep my eyes and ears open.  It's no good making rubbishy records.
   People spend a lot of money on them and I like them to feel reasonably
   pleased when they get home and open the bag.

Ted Perry was a champion of the music of the late Robert Simpson and is
responsible for many of the existing recordings of his music.  I have heard
that Hyperion will be removing some of the recordings of Simpson's string
quartets from their catalog in the near future, if they have not already
done so.

Larry Sherwood