Phaedra (CD label)

Phaedra's Founder, Luc Famaey

Luc Famaey (Mechelen, November 11, 1940) was introduced by his grandfather into the musical life of his native city, which was flourishing at the time. There was the Municipal Conservatory, whose director was conductor and composer Godfried Devreese, the Lemmensinstituut, directed by Jules Van Nuffel, composer and conductor of the choir of St. Rumbold's Cathedral, and Jef Denyn's carillon school (nowadays the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn"), all of which regularly programmed Flemish music. Famaey ended up getting so fascinated by this music, and by classical music in general, that he dropped out of university and began to study music. But he did not become a professional musician. In 1970 he was hired by the "Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep" (BRT), nowadays the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT), as "cultural chief assistant", in which function he welcomed and catered for musicians who came to perform for BRT/VRT. He became acquainted with just about every classical musician in Belgium and with many musicians and composers from abroad. To a certain extent he also became familiar with the workings of recording studios. His familiarity with great quantities of Belgian music, his extensive network built up over his many years at BRT/VRT, his technical knowledge of music and—to a lesser extent—of sound recording enabled him to start Phaedra, shortly before he retired.

His aim in doing so is clear from the following quote: "the next generations will rediscover romantic Flemish music." Phaedra is his way to make this music available at home as well as abroad, which is why he always provides English versions of the texts of Phaedra CD booklets.

In Flanders' Fields

With its 93 CDs "In Flanders' Fields (IFF)" is by far Phaedra's most important CD series. Its name alludes to the general ignorance of most of the works on its CDs. Their scores lie buried in libraries, unknown and forgotten, just as the soldiers of World War I lie buried, unknown and forgotten, In Flanders Fields.

The series brings works of over 120 Belgian composers, most of them written in the (late) romantic tradition. But from the very beginning IFF CDs also included works by contemporary, modern composers. Some older music can be found on CDs of choral music, but there are only a couple of CDs containing exclusively older music.

Half of the composers on IFF CDs are virtually unknown; consequently the recordings of their works are almost all world premiere recordings. The others are somewhat better known, though most are not exactly household names:

However, most IFF CDs with works by these better known composers record lesser known works, and are therefore world premieres as well. Some IFF CDs feature, besides Belgian works, works by (well-known) composers from abroad. For example, #72, Choir Music from Poland and Belgium, features works by César Franck (born in Liège), Vic Nees, Jan Van der Roost and Jules Van Nuffel as well as compositions by Polish composers Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, Józef Elsner, Wojciech Kilar and Krzysztof Penderecki. The aim of such juxtapositions is to show that works by Belgian composers can hold their own when confronted with works from abroad.

Phaedra Classics

The main purpose of the Phaedra Classics series is to give Belgian musicians, who often record Belgian works for Phaedra without fees, the opportunity "to shine in works from the great repertoire". Of the 32 Phaedra Classics CDs, 22 feature Belgian musicians exclusively; on 6, Belgian and foreign musicians perform together.

Prizes and honors

A number of Phaedra CDs were awarded national prizes:

as well as international ones:

In addition, the label Phaedra itself also received several awards, sometimes directly, but mostly through its founder, Luc Famaey: