| Desto Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1951 |
| Founder | Horace Grenell |
| Country of origin | United States |
Desto Records was an Americanrecord label. It was founded in 1951 by Horace Grenell who had a mail order business of selling children's records and was looking to expand genres.
The first issue was a three disc edition ofThe Beggars Opera. It released albums sporadically over the next decade, but in 1964 expanded to become one of the main distributors ofcontemporary classical music by American composers.
Artists published includedDominick Argento,Leslie Bassett,Jack Beeson,Luciano Berio,Henry Brant,Henry Cowell,George Crumb,Norman Dello Joio,Irving Fine,Lou Harrison,Charles Ives,Ulysses Kay,Ezra Laderman,Otto Luening,Peter Mennin,Gian Carlo Menotti,Douglas Moore,Lawrence Moss,Ned Rorem,Gunther Schuller,Roger Sessions,Joel Spiegelman,William Grant Still,William Sydeman,Randall Thompson,Vladimir Ussachevsky, andCharles Wuorinen.
In 1974 Grenell sold the label to the owners of CMS Records ofMount Vernon, New York. The two companies were merged and the label was discontinued in 1982.
