The so-called French Suites are actually no more French stylistically than either of Bach’s other sets of keyboard suites, the English Suites and the Partitas. They are a fascinating mixture of movements of differing national styles, primarily French and Italian, lacking an introductory movement such as a prelude and conceived for performers without the virtuoso […]

Newly remastered from the original L’Oiseau Lyre tapes, a little-known Bach recording in the true French style. The modern phenomenon of the Cello Suites as a staple of any record collection may be laid at the feet of the Catalan cellist Pablo Casals, whose HMV recording, released in 1939, belatedly placed the set alongside The […]

A newly remastered treasury of Baroque ensemble music from Gabrieli to Haydn, including several recordings receiving their first international CD release. The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra was founded by Karl Münchinger in 1946, and it was only after six months of intensive rehearsals that the 31-year-old conductor allowed it to make its debut. The orchestra gave […]

Two Decca LP albums of orchestral miniatures, newly remastered and issued complete for the first time on CD, with a substantial bonus from Karl Münchinger’s varied discography. Karl Münchinger (1915-1990) was remembered for decades as a solid conductor of Baroque music, but previous reissues on Eloquence have served to broaden our view of a consummate […]

Sir Adrian Boult’s first Messiah for Decca, newly remastered and coupled with a rare L’Oiseau-Lyre recording of the Bach Magnificat, new to CD. When this Messiah was released in 1954, critics were quick to recognise it as exemplifying the English oratorio tradition at its finest. Boult used a large chorus – the London Philharmonic Choir, […]

Three L’Oiseau-Lyre LPs celebrating the art of a much-loved contralto, newly remastered and compiled together for the first time, including material new to CD. The history of British contraltos on record, extends beyond Kathleen Ferrier to Constance Shacklock and before her Dame Clara Butt but their select number was joined in the 1950s by Helen […]

Endowed with a prodigious and versatile musical talent, the harpsichordist’ George Malcolm, brought a consummate polish to both performance and recording. Despite working at the vanguard of historically informed performance, he did not pursue an aesthetic of zealous purity but concentrated rather on refinement of effect to communicate the spirit of the composition. Happy to […]

Three Decca albums of popular Romantic classics, remastered complete for CD and compiled for the first time. Recorded at London’s Kingsway Hall early in 1957 and first released in the US by RCA Victor, ‘Overtures in Spades’ was a collection of operatic openers that enjoyed more popular currency then than they do now: Suppé’s ‘Light […]

While playing organs worldwide and concentrating his work in his native England, Peter Hurford nonetheless gave recitals on organs across Australia throughout his long career. However, he hardly played an instrument more dazzling in its impact and variety than the organ which was installed at the Sydney Opera House. Completed in May 1979 at a […]

A trumpet and organ spectacular: three original Argo and DG albums on a generous, newly compiled 2-CD set. In Baroque works generally, the trumpet is always accompanied by drums both of these instruments having strong associations with military music. The organ, on the other hand, is primarily associated with the church and it is within […]

The complete Philips and L’Oiseau-Lyre recordings of Bach cantatas made by Sir Neville Marriner, reissued together for the first time. Bach’s cantatas vary enormously in scale and style, ranging from festal works featuring elaborate choral movements and large instrumental ensembles including trumpets and drums, to more meditative cantatas for a single voice and only a […]

A newly remastered, richly documented set celebrating the art of a Spanish Beethoven specialist recorded at the peak of his powers in the late 1950s. Born in Zaragoza in 1905, Eduardo del Pueyo left Spain in 1920 to enter the Paris Conservatoire but rejected the teaching of Marguerite Long outright. In thrall to Beethoven’s genius […]