The Early Recordings Association (ERA) was delighted to host its 2025 conference from Tuesday, 1 July to Thursday, 3 July, at the University of Surrey, Guildford. This significant three-day event, made possible in part by the generous funding from the Royal Musical Association (RMA), served as a vital platform for exploring the rich and diverse sound worlds captured on early media, fostering collaboration and advancing current research in the field. The conference programme meticulously reflected the vibrant state of current scholarship, spanning the history of recording technology, the analysis of historical performance styles, and the profound cultural impact of the early recording industry worldwide.
The conference commenced with a welcoming address from the ERA Board, setting an inspiring tone for three days of in-depth discussions and practical engagements. A particular highlight was the distinguished keynote address delivered by Professor Mark Katz, John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a recipient of the RMA’s 2016 Dent Medal. Professor Katz’s presentation, ‘Ways of Thinking about Early Recordings’, offered compelling perspectives, exploring early recordings as ‘Art Objects’, in relation to ‘Disability’, as ‘Agents of Harm’, as ‘Instruments of Empire’, and as a ‘Modern Phenomenon’. This comprehensive approach stimulated considerable discussion and encouraged new research avenues among delegates.
The analytical programme was structured into nine sessions and three interactive workshops, each delving into critical aspects of early recordings.
Day 1: Tuesday, 1 July 2025 The first day began with Session 1, ‘Recording historiography’, which addressed the crucial need for accurate metadata in sound recordings and the challenges of creating global discographic databases. Presentations included a discussion on the reliability of discographies in the 21st century and a fascinating account of ‘The Earliest BBC Recording: The First Monarch on Air’, detailing its journey from widespread broadcast to rediscovery.
Session 2, ‘Recording markets’, explored the commercial landscape of early recordings. Research presented analysed the dynamics of selling sound carriers in regions like Greece in the 1930s, based on newly discovered correspondence, and highlighted the practices of record sellers and their interaction with early radio broadcasting in Serbia/Yugoslavia in the early 20th century.
The afternoon saw Session 3, ‘Analysis’, which applied computational techniques to reveal the unique micro-level shaping strategies in iconic performances such as Pau Casals’s Bach cello suites. Further presentations explored formal articulation strategies in early recordings of Johannes Brahms’s piano music, challenging conventional assumptions about performance practices, and demonstrated the potential of complex statistical analyses in characterising diverse performance styles.
The day concluded with Workshop 1, ‘Preservation of Phonographic Cylinders in the Czech Republic – WorkFlow and Methodology, National Museum Sound Lab’, providing practical insights into archival processes.
Day 2: Wednesday, 2 July 2025 Day two commenced with Session 4, ‘Music and rhetoric’, where papers explored the expressive qualities of early recordings. Topics included analyses of ‘Speak-against-the-music’ in ‘Die Dreigroschenoper’, recorded performances of Bach’s Cello Suite II, and the phonographic implications for ‘Zarzuela Vocality’.
Session 5 focused on ‘Performance styles’. Presentations covered topics such as asynchrony in Cécile Chaminade’s recorded performance style, classical and romantic approaches to conducting Beethoven’s Symphonies, and the re-editing of Elgar’s 1929 Piano Improvisations. Another paper presented a comparative analysis of different recordings of the same composition, exemplified by the case of Victor Herbert, examining interpretative choices like portamento and tempo rubato.
A unique Lecture Recital, ‘Waxing lyrical: Observations on recording onto wax disc’, was presented by Professor Neal Peres Da Costa, Claire Burrell-McDonald and Anna Fraser. This session shared insights from their experience of recording vocal works onto wax discs, exploring how expressive practices translate to this medium and helping to understand early recording ‘chiaroscuro sound worlds’.
The second workshop, ‘Connecting European Archives: A Collaborative Network for Sound Recording Repositories’, facilitated crucial discussions on establishing interconnected archives within a unified platform for historical recordings under the ERA, with participants from across Europe.
Day 3: Thursday, 3 July 2025 The final day began with Session 7, ‘Belgian recordings’. Discussions included the project for a phonographic archive in Brussels by Mahillon, the emergence of Belgian creative industries through Disque Chantal and Ghentian musicians, and an approach to early recordings through the creative gesture of performers like Eugène Ysaÿe. The session also traced the evolution of the audiovisual collection at the Musical Instruments Museum of Brussels.
Session 8, ‘Mechanical music’, featured presentations on the role of the piano in early 20th-century piano concerto rolls and an examination of fairground musical libraries and how automatic organs were used to attract audiences.
The conference concluded with Session 9, ‘Non classical repertoires’. Papers explored various subjects, including searches for traces of 19th-century Karelian kantele improvisation in early recordings, the global network of Asian popular music exemplified by ‘The Fragrance of the Durians’, and the concept of ‘Musical Orient’ in Italy through early recordings.
The final workshop, ‘Exploring Casals’ Sounds: Mechanical recording technologies and cello’, offered a unique interactive experience with a team of cellists, pianists, and recording engineers, providing hands-on engagement with historical recording technologies in relation to cello performance.
The ERA conference successfully fulfilled its mission as a collaborative platform for sharing knowledge, experience, and skills, facilitating lively discussions and forging new connections among researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts worldwide. The breadth and depth of the topics covered underscored the enduring relevance and dynamic nature of early recordings research. We are particularly excited to report that new international collaborations between researchers and institutions emerged from these discussions, and we anticipate making announcements and sharing further news about these developments very soon. We believe this conference has significantly contributed to the ongoing scholarly dialogue and will inspire future advancements in the field.
Dr. Nikos Ordoulidis is a musicologist, an executive board member and a member of the organisation committee of ERA.