Joshua Rifkin is a musical polymath – a Bach scholar and a Ragtime specialist. His performances of Ragtime are gentle and inviting and in this wonderful recording of Rags and Tangos (made in 1990 for Decca) he treats us to a Scott Joplin-free exploration of music from this genre.

For many years, the ground was thick with misconceptions about Anton Bruckner – that he was a sort of idiot savant, that he composed nothing of merit until he reached middle age and that he was to be spoken of in the same breath as Gustav Mahler. None of these fables, and others, could be […]

For too long absent from the catalogue, Dohnanyi’s pair of recordings coupling Stravinsky and Bartok present him and the Vienna Philharmonic at their scintillating, dramatic best. Here is one of the most exciting accounts of ‘Petrushka’ ever to be committed to disc and the sordid tale of ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’ is sharply etched in this […]

For too long absent from the catalogue, Dohnanyi’s pair of recordings coupling Stravinsky and Bartok present him and the Vienna Philharmonic at their scintillating, dramatic best. ‘The Firebird’ is luxuriously done, the final apotheosis most moving and the lesser known ‘Two Portraits’ of Bartok are showpieces of instrumental colour, timbre and contrast.

Jean Martinon (1910-76) was not only a successful conductor but also an accomplished composer and his musical intuition and fine ear for detail is evident at every turn in these recordings. This release will achieve cult status, as did the original recordings, made in 1958 (Massenet, Meyerbeer) and 1959 (Dvorak). The French works were recorded […]

Tchaikovsky poured his emotions into his symphonies, particularly the last three, and posterity has rewarded him by making them inescapable parts of the standard orchestral repertoire. The orchestral suites, however, have not attained the popularity of the symphonies, perhaps because they trade tragedy for wistfulness and exaltation for charm. All four are the work of […]

Given Bernstein’s sheer sweep of the music of Richard Strauss (the ‘Salome’ excerpts are spine-tingling) it’s a pity he didn’t record any more. These precious recordings with Montserrat Caballe, are valuable not only for Bernstein’s advocacy of Strauss on record but also for the Spanish singer’s shimmering interpretations – girl-like in the opera, ravishing in […]

You will search far to find such potent, explosive recordings of the Smetana ‘Bartered Bride’ excerpts or the selection of five ‘Slavonic Dances’ here included, or as picturesquely sculpted a ‘Vltava’. Istvan Kertesz brings poetry and fire in equal measure to these works in a superbly recorded concert that is rounded off with Dvorak’s tuneful […]

These rarities of sprightly, energetic and utterly charming music make a welcome return to the catalogue at budget price. A contemporary reaction to the first production is found in the diary of Count Zinzendorf, who found the subject ‘…extremely sad, lugubrious and frightening… Hell appears, furies dance with lighted torches and torment Don Juan; in […]

Janet Baker started her singing studies with Helen Isepp in 1953. She won second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier awards only three years later making her debut in the same year. She quickly established herself as a regular of the Glyndebourne Festival and a member of Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group also making her mark […]

Recorded in her 59th year, this was one of Sutherland’s last studio recordings. The notes are by Richard Bonynge, the indefatigable mind behind the research of much of this repertoire.

Among the many recordings of the complete Mozart Violin Concertos, this one, with the late Iona Brown directing the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields from the violin, has lain dormant for far too long. Gramophone magazine welcomed it with the words: ‘a series which is outstanding for its freshness and spontaneity in a […]