Concept
Durium was an Italian record label, active from 1935 to 1989. Part of the catalogue and the brand were subsequently taken over by Ricordi, who used it for some reissues. Its initial trademark consisted of the writing Durium in block letters, surmounted by the stylisation of three trumpets and an eagle. Immediately after the war, this logo was abandoned to move to the stylisation of a disk with three internal rays crossed by the writing Durium in italics. Durium SA was founded in 1935 in Milan (originally as Durium La Voce dell'Impero) by a group of Milanese entrepreneurs including Martinengo and Alberto Airoldi, who became its president. The headquarters were in Corso Garibaldi in Milan and production covered both discs and sound producers. The first records released were recitations of tales for children, and other productions aimed at emigrants and troops abroad. In the years 1935/1936 - lacking the material for the production - discs were also published on cardboard supports, containing language courses, technical courses, and propaganda. With the outbreak of war the offices and some recording studios were transferred from Milan to Erba. At the end of the Second World War after the return to Milan in the new headquarters in the passage of the Osii 2 the company, meanwhile become Durium, moves the administrative and representation offices in via Manzoni. The core of what will be the burning and printing remains in Erba. It is a period of economic difficulties linked to the still immature Italian discography; the financial position stabilizes in 1948 with the entry into the society of the Armenian-born entrepreneur Krikor Mintanjan (whose surname is sometimes Italianized in Mintangian) who nominates his wife Elisabel responsible director and assumes as artistic director the nephew of the co-founder Alberto, Aurelio Airoldi, who will remain in the company until 1987, and the pianist, arranger, and composer Franco Cassano, who will remain at the direction until 1986.