As an eleven-year-old in 1895, Wilhelm Backhaus met and performed for D’Albert, Grieg, Nikisch and Brahms, among others. Here was a pianist who shunned hectoring gestures of the late Romantic era for economy and purposefulness. ‘His facial expression always remained steady, showing an unceasing concentration on the sounds his hands were coaxing from the instrument […]

Borodin’s second and third symphonies plus the Overture and Polovstian Dances from Prince Igor and ‘In the Steppes of Central Asia’ collected on a single CD.  This is all of Ernest Ansermet’s Borodin recordings for Decca; recordings widely praised for their dynamism and thrust.

A rare foray for Ansermet into the Baroque era. Henri Helaerts and Roger Reversy were principal winds with the Suisse Romande and their solo work appears in many an orchestral work in his recordings. For this collection of Baroque concertos, Helaerts is soloist in two Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos recorded 16 years apart – in 1952 […]

Bach’s music featured early in Ansermet’s career and he conducted the fourth Orchestral Suite in his last concert. Playing Bach in the 1960s was not quite the affair it is today but it would be false to assume that Ansermet’s Bach is the bloated, romanticised affair that was current in the 1960s. While his readings […]

A collection of four of the most popular of Mozart’s sonatas, including the Alla Turca with its famous Rondo finale and the C major, KV545, sometimes called ‘for beginners’ and certainly played by many of them. Haebler delivers suitably eloquent performances.

Made early in Edo de Waart’s recording career with the superb Netherlands Wind Ensemble – probably the leading wind ensemble in the world – these are gloriously rich and autumnally-hued performances of two of Mozart’s greatest Serenades, coupled with a little-known Adagio.

A superb collection of four complete Britten orchestral masterpieces in performances that have been lauded over and over again. The ‘Simple Symphony’ is engagingly done, the virtuosity in the ‘Frank Bridge Variations’, not to mention state-of-the-art sound engineering, has never been exceeded and the two Van Beinum recordings have a wonderful nobility to them.

This ‘Best Of’ features complete works and in some of their most energetic performances. Mehta & Co raise the roof with their ‘Organ Symphony’ and Dutoit & Co have the best fun in ‘Carnival’. The recording is rounded off with two of the most popular pieces for violin and orchestra inimitably performed by Kyung Wha […]

Gorecki’s Third Symphony entered the pop charts in the 1990s and has always been a favourite that has embraced an audience way beyond the classical aficionado. Here is one of its foremost (and earliest) recordings by a Polish team that knows the work of its countryman inside out.

The companion volume to Kubelik’s recordings of Schumann’s first and second symphonies. As with those, there is an air of elegance about these and the slow movement of the ‘Rhenish’ is perhaps without equal. There is also a refulgent ‘Manfred Overture’ to complete this well-filled disc. First release in Australia.

Other than the Symphonies and the Violin Concerto, these works represent some of Sibelius’ most popular orchestral pieces – and some of their finest performances. The ‘Finlandia’ is truly epic and searing, the ‘Valse triste’ ethereal, and the ‘Four Legends’ (which includes the famous ‘Swan of Tunonela’) in turn ethereal and commanding.

The first CD release of these priceless recordings from the Decca archives. Kertész brings his blend of thrust and tenderness (and huge architectural conviction) to the Fifth Symphony while John Ogdon and Neville Marriner perform the First Piano Concerto ‘to the manner born’ with not a single high-jink glossed over. Raymond Tuttle provides the fascinating […]