Newly remastered and compiled for the first time, the complete Decca recital albums of Irma Kolassi are now available on this 4CD set from Eloquence. Born in Greece but raised in Paris,she  began her career as a pianist until her ‘richly regal’ (The Times) mezzo-soprano was discovered. As a vocal coach in Athens, she worked […]

During the golden age of the LP, Horst Stein was among a select band of central-European conductors (Vaclav Neumann and Otmar Suitner are another two notable examples) revered by Japanese orchestras and audiences, perhaps more than their Western counterparts. They had an uncomplicated mastery of the repertoire that shunned interpretative eccentricity and plugged listeners into […]

Unlikely in theory, fruitful in practice: for the first time on CD, Eloquence presents a duet recording of the Greek-born, French mezzo-soprano, Irma Kolassi and French-Canadian tenor, Raoul Jobin. Kolassi was no creature of the stage: her brief recording career centres around Decca recital albums which have also been newly remastered and reissued by Eloquence […]

Among the final albums made by the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt was a history in sound of Viennese dance, the waltzes and polkas that made contemporary millionaires of the Strauss dynasty and have since travelled the world not least thanks to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day concert. The leader of those concerts for 25 years, […]

Founded in 1937, the annual Queen Elisabeth Competition for violin and piano is still the best-known such event organised in Belgium and is considered among the best and most demanding in the world. Following in the footsteps of his fellow countryman, Emil Gilels who won first prize for piano in 1938, Mikhail Faerman stunned both […]

First issued by Argo in 1969 under the title ‘Elizabethan Words and Music’, this anthology of madrigals, poetry and pieces for lute is a further reissue by Eloquence from the Purcell Consort of Voices. ‘Metaphysical Tobacco’ (480 7740) is another reissue as part of ‘The Tudors’, an Eloquence series which focuses on the composers who made […]

In a quickly released series for Deutsche Grammophon, Andor Foldes went into the studio towards the end of the 1950s with around half of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and these recordings have now been reissued by Eloquence, in many cases for the first time on CD. The solo works were complemented by two concerto recordings which […]

A couple of years after making these Beethoven recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Andor Foldes remarked that ‘I am not a prodigy and I am not an octogenarian. I just have to be good’.  Such plain-spoken reserve might be considered characteristically Hungarian. Eloquence has already released Foldes’s long-esteemed albums of his fellow countrymen Bartók (480 7100) […]

Another joyous anthology of verse and music from the expert, London-based ensembles of voices and viols who have already contributed several valuable reissues to ‘The Tudors’ series on Eloquence. ‘Lo, Country Sports’ takes its title from the madrigal by Thomas Weelkes, complemented by the pastoral poetry of Thomas Nashe and Edmund Bolton, among others. It […]

There were many worlds in George Malcolm’s (1917–1997) universe – organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, choral director and conductor – and this one demonstrates his unique skill as a solo performer who, throughout his career, more than any other individual defined the harpsichord’s identity in England. After World War II, Malcolm became the most famous English […]

A collection of all of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies and ballet suites from the rich archives of Deutsche Grammophon. All the performances have been justifiably critically appraised. This volume includes First, Second and Fourth Symphonies, the latter two with Abbado, and the First in Michael Tilson Thomas’s suave, fairy-lights recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. ‘Michael Tilson […]

There were many worlds in George Malcolm’s (1917–1997) universe – organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, choral director and conductor – and this one demonstrates his unique skill as a solo performer who, throughout his career, more than any other individual defined the harpsichord’s identity in England. After World War II, Malcolm became the most famous English […]