RECORDS
Independent label: The Music Masters Records. From the earliest days of the gramophone there has always been a demand for records of Classical music. Thanks to the limitations of the 78rpm format, it initially tended to come in three-and-a-half minute chunks, with a symphony, for example, being spread over several sides. The birth of the LP in the 1950s meant that long pieces of music could be fitted on to one side of a record. Excerpts from popular Classics still appeared on 7" EPs and singles, but there was a dwindling market for them - most music-lovers preferred to hear the popular bits as part of the whole works, as the composers had intended. By the time the '70s came round, Classical 7"s were a rarity. The occasional one slipped out, usually as a result of some familiar piece being used on an advert or in a television programme, but they were few and far between. The Music Masters label must have been one of the last to put out a series of Classics in that format; it was a product of Music For Pleasure / EMI, who had a far more successful album-only Classical music label, Classics For Pleasure. Music Masters EPs came in coloured picture sleeves; twenty of them were released, all on the same date - the 29th of September 1972, according to Trade paper 'Music Week'. To judge by their rarity, they appear to have sold rather poorly. Numbering was in an MM-30000 series, and the label came in yellow as well as green. The tracks - or a selection from them, with others added - were later issued on three LPs on EMI's budget-price 'Sounds Superb' label, 'The Music Masters, Vol.1' (SPR-90029), 'Vol.2' (SPR-90049; 1975), and 'Vol.3' (SPR-90068). Distributed By EMI Records. Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.
| 72 | The Little Symphony And Chorus Of London | Messiah Excerpts | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30001 |
| 72 | Nicolas Kynaston | Canon In B Minor, Op. 56 No.5 | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30002 |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30003 | |
| 72 | London Philharmonic Orchestra And Band Of The Welsh Guards | Overture 1812, Op. 49 - Part 1 | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30004 |
| 72 | The Little Symphony Of London | Prokofiev - Peter And The Wolf Part One | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30005 |
| 72 | The Little Symphony Of London | Prokofiev - Peter And The Wolf Part Two | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30006 |
| 72 | Shura Cherkassky | Ritual Fire Dance | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30007 |
| 72 | London Philarmonic Orchestra | The Beatiful Blue Danube | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30008 |
| 72 | Sinfonia Of London | Symphony No. 40 In G Minor, K 550 | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30009 |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30010 | |
| 72 | Band Of The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst | The Music Masters - Sousa | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30011 |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30012 | |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30013 | |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30014 | |
| 72 | London Philharmonic Orchestra | The Music Masters Edward Greig (1843-1907). | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30015 |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30016 | |
| 72 | The Music Masters Edward Greig (1843-1907) | Moonlight Sonata | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30017 |
| 72 | Not Traced | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30018 | |
| 72 | London Philharmonic Orchestra | A Night On The Bare Mountain - Part 1 | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30019 |
| 72 | International Concert Orchestra | Air On A G String From Suite No. 3 In D Major | THE MUSIC MASTERS | MM | 30020 |
