Rattle Records is about to turn 30.
It was the brainchild of Steve Garden, Tim Gummer and Keith Hill back in 1991 – a music label standing outside of the usual commercial musical imperatives, an audiophile label devoted to 'art music', including jazz and contemporary classical composition.
Through the years, Tim and Keith left to pursue other projects, and for a while Rattle was owned by Victoria University of Wellington’s publishing division. The University ended that arrangement in 2016, and Steve reacquired ownership of both the label and its studio.
So far, the label’s 150 releases have received 44 award nominations, and 20 of those have been winners. That number's due to increase soon, as the albums of all three finalists in the Best Classical Artist category of this year's Aotearoa Music Awards are Rattle recordings.