Author Topic: BBC Coded Music Scheme  (Read 762 times)

apmnut

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BBC Coded Music Scheme
« on: October 13, 2025, 06:45:45 PM »
Making a topic for this since lately I've just recently been thinking about these rare LPs meant for internal BBC use which were used for their famous test cards in the 70s and 80s, of which no rips have surfaced. Of particular interest are the LPs showcasing music from various German orchestras licensed from several sources (German radio and various libraries), including several Sonoton tracks which were never released on any of Berry Music's labels (Studio One, Programme Production, etc.).

The below are the ones I'm interested in the most, going by archived listings on Gripsweat and RateYourMusic, but whatever you folks have, I'll gladly take:
CM 3 (contains various Sonoton tracks performed by the Otto Sieben and Michael Naura ensembles)
CM 6 (contains Sonoton tracks performed by the Manfred Minnich Orchestra)
CM 7 (contains Sonoton tracks performed by the Edmund Vera orchestra and the Franz Loffler ensemble)
CM 8 (contains at least one Heinz Kiessling Orchestra track from Brilliant Musik, "Free Admission")
CM 12 (contains some rare tracks from Ring Musik. Some of these are also on the Fontana LP "The Beat is Marching")
CM 17 (contains Sonoton tracks performed by the Edmund Vera orchestra)
CM 90 (contains at least one Europhon cue performed by the Belevedere Orchestra)
CM 194 (contains various tracks performed by the Siegfried Merath Orchestra. One of these cuts, "Happy Polka" by Franz Frankenberg, was also released in Germany on the Phonostar label)
« Last Edit: October 13, 2025, 06:53:26 PM by apmnut »

Swingalong

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Re: BBC Coded Music Scheme
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2025, 10:42:00 PM »
A lot of these Coded Music LPs were just publisher LPs with BBC stickers put on top of the labels. I know some were from Montparnasse 2000. There were admittedly some which were compiled from unique recordings obtained by the BBC from external sources, but I think they are rarer.

The scheme was expanded into the BBC Radioplay series, which had several incarnations. The Sigs & Sessions series were almsot all just publisher discs with BBC labels plonked onto them.