“… fantastic transfers… a wonderful sort of insight in a kind of authentic sound… I think Yves St-Laurent is a jeweler: the craftsmanship is so high here, it’s just lovely!”
Mark Swartzentruber, Producer — Sunday Morning with Suzy Klein, BBC Radio 3
Soon to celebrate its 10th Anniversary, the intrepid historical label St-Laurent Studio continues to expand its tantalizing offerings, now boasting a catalog of over one thousand titles. Its original line of expert transfers from shellac originals has been supplemented by several series, among the most notable being the most extensive and diverse catalog of Sviatoslav Richter concert recordings ever released, an invaluable Artur Rodzinski collection, drawing upon never before issued archival material, and “live” broadcasts featuring many of the world’s great orchestras, including those of Cleveland and Boston.
What follows here is an interview with its busy founder, Yves St-Laurent, and then his own hand-picked selection of recommended issues, all embedded with hyperlinks back to his shop, ready to order.
Interview
Q: When did you launch your label and what were your first issues? How large is your current catalog? Are all titles available as downloads?
YSL: I started my St-Laurent Studio label in 2010. I am an elementary school teacher and father of 6 marvelous children and all this adventure was kind of by accident. As a big classical music collector, I did some 78 rpm transfers to add recordings to my collection. After listening and comparing with official issues, two of my friends convinced me to make them available worldwide by creating my label and website. All began with my transfer of Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade conducted by Artur Rodzinski ( YSL 78-001). Ten years later, my catalogue contains now more than 1200 titles, including 357 volumes in the Sviatoslav Richter private collection. All volumes are available as downloads, but customers have to contact me for that. I plan to make my website completely download friendly in a couple of years. I am very surprised at the speed at which my label took off, especially given the fact that St-Laurent Studio is only one guy … me.
Q: You have a partnership with Norbeck, Peters & Ford. Could you tell us more about that?
YSL: I was a customer of Norbeck, Peters & Ford. They were always a reference and a source of great discovery. One day, I went to Vermont to take some 78 RPM records I bought from them and met those three passionate guys. After listening to one of my transfers, with tears in his eyes, Jim Peters declared that from now on, all of his collection was mine and that I will never need to buy 78s anymore. They decided to distribute my label on their website and then began a very close and solid friendship between us. They are part of my family now.
Q: Originally you specialized in transfers of 78rpm recordings, but you now offer a wealth of broadcast material as well, with series devoted to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and others. Could you speak a bit more about this?
YSL: My first passion and expertise is to transfer 78 rpm records. My main goal is to make available great recordings of the past in the sound quality they deserve, no matter the number of sales. People around the world contact me with that in mind to share with me treasures they collected over the years, and are pleased to give access to unpublished material through my label to music lovers. Those live recordings may come from radio or private collections in different formats (tapes, acetates …). Despite the fact that I did not do the transfer myself, I put my touch to enhance them (pitch corrections, sound restoration …).