Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.[1]
Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard Itter (5 April 1928 – 1 March 2014) of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, was a businessman and record collector. Having heard many poor records, he determined to make only good ones.[2]
Lyrita concentrated on the work of United Kingdom composers. At first, this consisted of the piano music of Arnold Bax, Gordon Jacob, E.J. Moeran, and Michael Tippett amongst others. The earliest recordings were made in the music room of Itter's home. Itter was responsible for the engineering, production, and editing of the recordings. If he managed to sell 100 copies Itter would have been able to break even. RCS.2 was the first catalog number, and Gordon Jacob wrote a composition specifically for this album, "Elegy for Piano and Cello", to fill out the program on the disc.[1]
In time, the bulk of Lyrita's catalogue became