Among Abbado’s first recordings, these performances of two of Mendelssohn’s favourite symphonies are some of the most sparkling and vivid to have been recorded. They date from 1968 when Abbado was under contract to Decca and have remained benchmark recommendations for these works ever since

Eschewing the barn-storming bravura of some of his colleagues, Claudio Arrau brought an extra dimension – a spiritual, meditative one – to his performances of Liszt and these recordings of the Concertos unfold with unequalled grandeur. Equally compelling are his expansive readings of the three ‘Études de Concert’.

One of Radu Lupu’s earliest Decca recordings, this couples two of Beethoven’s most dramatic C minor works. The performance with Lawrence Foster receives its first CD release while the C minor Variations have, time and again, been recognised as classic recordings.

Charming performances of Baroque with a hint of Romanticism in one of George Szell’s best-loved recordings – and one of the very few he made for Decca.

Some of the most legendary recordings of these highly popular works for violin by Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens and Bruch, together on a single CD.

Five substantial pieces of ‘classic’ Delius are brought together on this remarkable and heartfelt tribute to the English composer (who spent very little of his actual career in England!). These mono recordings with the LSO and Anthony Collins are true legends and for the Eloquence reissue have been remastered for optimum enjoyment. They represent Decca’s […]

Outrageously entertaining and sumptuously recorded, this CD brings together two perennial children’s favourites and couples them with a generous selection (with chamber orchestra) of nursery rhymes with the ever-popular Kenneth McKellar. Beatrice Lillie’s narrations are a hoot and this is one of those rare recordings which uses Ogden Nash’s verses for ‘Carnival of the Animals’.

Big, beefy Brahms here from Julius Katchen who brings muscle to the high-powered sections of the Brahms second concerto. His ‘Paganini Variations’ are by turn, tender, sly and transcendental.

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And the fifth volume, The Heart of Tchaikovsky, showcases classical music’s ultimate Romantic, his music often a reflection of his passionate, sometimes torrid life. From the love theme of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, to music from his ballet, ‘The Nutcracker’ and the core of his First String Quartet (Andante cantabile), […]

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And the first volume, Music for Relaxation, offers a miscellany of classical pieces from piano (the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata) to orchestral music by Grieg, Elgar and Borodin.

There have been many recordings of the Brahms symphonies but few have the passion, vitality and drive of István Kertész’s Vienna Philharmonic cycle. This 4CD collection brings together all of Kertész’s Brahms recordings for Decca. The two Serenades were recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. His Wiener Philharmoniker Brahms cycle began in May 1964 with […]

The name of Pierre Monteux evokes recollections of the man who conducted the Ballets Russes for Serge Diaghilev and the notorious scandal surrounding the first performance of Stravinsky’s ‘Le sacre du printemps’ in Paris in 1913 as well as for scrupulous attention to style that he brought to bear on French masterpieces of the turn […]