Sonatas and concert pieces by Fauré, Franck, Ravel, Debussy, Vieuxtemps, Ysäye and Lekeu. The stereo recording with Varsi, which receives its first international release on CD.

Making its first international appearance on CD, is Ansermet’s complete recording of a favourite ballet score – ‘Coppélia’ – its toy-box effects deliciously captured by Ansermet and the Suisse Romande. Ansermet only recorded selections from ‘Sylvia’ and they appear here, together with the rare 1960 recording of the second ‘Daphnis et Chloé’ suite which, for sheer […]

The recorded legacy of Albert Wolff is one of the most sought-after by collectors. Of Dutch parentage, but born in Paris, Wolff was something of a polymath: pianist, organist, conductor, composer, and had a long career in recording studios beginning in 1920. His first recordings for Decca, starting in the summer of 1951, were a […]

These unique recordings make their first appearance on CD. Some make their first ever appearance on Decca! Jean Morel (1903–75) counted among his teachers Isidore Philipp, Gabriel Pierné and Reynaldo Hahn. He established a connection with the United States early on, teaching at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleu between 1921 (when he was just eighteen!) […]

Maazel’s colourful recordings of Debussy and Ravel for Decca have earned praise for their clear-sighted brand of Impressionism. To three of Debussy’s major orchestral works – La Mer, Nocturnes and Jeux – he adds the standalone section from Images (Iberia). The 2CD set represents the sum of Maazel’s Debussy and Ravel recordings for Decca.

Ion Voicu was a legend in his own country, Romania and in the profession at large and appeared in most major musical centres. Yet he was not as well known in the English-speaking countries as he should have been. The long cold war and the dictatorial regime in his native land were mainly to blame […]

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos’s 1965–66 recording of Spanish orchestral favourites was a huge success in its time, not only for the orchestra and conductor’s sense of colour, flamboyance and rhythmic acuity, but also for the sheer panoramic sound-spectrum with the fabled ‘Decca Sound’. Bringing together works both Spanish in origin as well as of Spanish […]

Pierre Monteux is the ideal interpreter of Ravel that great teaser and lover of mystification. Born less than a month apart in 1875, the two men were bound to come together in pre-war Paris which was such fertile ground for artistic novelty. The 1914-18 war scattered the main actors of Parisian musical life. Like Ravel, […]