This collection of Ravel’s most popular piano works restores to the catalogue all the Ravel that Vladimir Ashkenazy ever recorded – a thrilling ‘Gaspard’ (his second – 1982 – recording of this work) as well as the ‘Pavane’ and ‘Valses’. The coupling presents the gifted young pianist, Naida Cole, in an ethereal ‘Jeux d’eau’ and […]
Seiji Ozawa’s magnificent Ravel recordings for DG were made in the 1970s and issued as a 3CD set. They have long been out of the catalogue and are now reissued individually and at budget price on Eloquence. The sheer energy and sense of colour, the acuity of Ozawa and the Bostonians response to every shifting […]
Seiji Ozawa’s magnificent Ravel recordings for DG were made in the 1970s and issued as a 3CD set. They have long been out of the catalogue and are now reissued individually and at budget price on Eloquence. The sheer energy and sense of colour, the acuity of Ozawa and the Bostonians response to every shifting […]
One day in 1891, General Meredith Reid appeared unexpectedly at the doorstep of Claude Debussy. Because the composer spoke little English and Reid spoke no French at all, it took a hastily obtained interpreter to sort out exactly what it was that the august General wanted from the composer. It turned out that the General […]
Seiji Ozawa’s magnificent Ravel recordings for DG were made in the 1970s and issued as a 3CD set. They have long been out of the catalogue and are now reissued individually and at budget price on Eloquence. The sheer energy and sense of colour, the acuity of Ozawa and the Bostonians response to every shifting […]
Three of Ravel’s chamber works, none currently available in the catalogue, all coupled at budget price. The Beaux Arts’ magnificent, full-throttle reading of the Piano Trio is their most recent (1983) recording of this work. The Carmirelli Quartet recorded for Decca in the 1950s and theirs is a demure reading of the String Quartet. Eduard […]
When Vladimir Horowitz died in 1989, many music-lovers bemoaned the passing of ‘the last Romantic’ – an allusion to a bigger-than-life and subjective brand of pianism more typical of the first part of the 20th century than of its close. But was Horowitz really ‘the last’? When Jorge Bolet died a year later, the phrase […]
As he explains in his liner notes for this CD, Lynn Harrell uses the voice as his point of departure for this collection of encores. They are largely reflective pieces with a bit of fun such as the unfairly forgotten Glazunov ‘Spanish Serenade’ thrown in for good measure. And this once popular disc now makes […]
Two recordings make their international CD premieres here. Solti recorded both these popular Mendelssohn symphonies twice for Decca and these are the earlier versions. The ‘Scottish’ dates from November 1952 and is in mono. The ‘Italian’ in stereo, recorded 1958, also with producer John Culshaw, is an absolute legend and has had many requests over […]
One of the world’s most benevolent conductors, Eduard van Beinum cajoled out of his orchestras some of the most luminous sounds ever to be heard in concert and on record. He recorded extensively with the Concertgebouw for Philips and earlier, for Decca. Three Haydn symphonies were recorded for Decca in 1951, 1952 and 1953 and they […]
Bringing together four of Mendelssohn’s earliest works, this collection also showcases Marriner and the Academy in one of their earliest recordings – that of three of the composer’s String Symphonies. Warmly recorded and virtuosically despatched, they are coupled with a scintillating (unnumbered) Piano Concerto by Mendelssohn, with John Ogdon as a fleet-fingered soloist.
Regarded by the Fitzwilliam Quartet itself as one of its finest recordings, this performance of the Franck String Quartet has long been out of circulation and now returns to the catalogue with an ultra-sensitive reading of the Violin Sonata with Amoyal and Rogé.
