The first CD release of these marvellous LP recordings of Sibelius with Vladimir Ashkenazy. There’s ice and fire in Boris Belkin’s performance of the Violin Concerto and the half-lights in the other, lesser known, pieces are admirably captured by both Ashkenazy and Marriner.
These delightful Cantatas have very familiar tunes that Handel was later to reuse in other works, so many of them are instantly recognisable. They also elicit some of the most visceral singing imaginable from Helen Watts.
This is one of the most sought-after and highly-praised recordings of ‘Hänsel und Gretel’, Engelbert Humperdinck’s everlasting fairy-tale opera. What’s more, the sonics are thrilling and the stellar cast is a veritable Who’s Who of the great opera stars of the 1970s.
These are unashamedly old-fashioned but beautifully clear, performances of these timeless masterpieces. They were recorded in the famed ‘old’ Concertgebouw and the sound of the winds especially – horn (track 3) and oboe (track 2) – are beautifully glowing.
Charming performances of Baroque with a hint of Romanticism in one of George Szell’s best-loved recordings – and one of the very few he made for Decca.
Spacious, generous performances of two of the most popular piano concertos in the repertory. These recordings have been unavailable for a very long time.
Magnificent performances from the great Arthur Grumiaux of three thrilling sonatas for violin and piano. The Tartini is often sought after and not easily available. The Franck recording is something of a ‘benchmark’ performance and a true rarity making an appearance in the form of the almost swooningly lush Lekeu sonata, from a composer whose […]
All the popular songs and choruses from five G&S favourites performed by the most renowned interpreters of their music.
Swaggering performances of Americana from two celebrated conductors whose interpretation of this music ranks amongst the very finest.
Never has a more sublime recording of German Opera Choruses been made. Varviso and his Leipzig and Dresden teams deliver some of the most ravishing sonorities you’ll ever here in a compilation that focuses on Wagner and is surrounded by Weber, Nicolai and Beethoven.
One of the most fizzing, entertaining recordings of ‘The Barber of Seville’, brought off with tremendous panache by the principals with instinctively shaped, pliant playing from the Naples orchestra under Silvio Varviso.
Two murders, an attempted rape and a suicide, all packed into about a hundred minutes, makes for spellbinding drama. And this performance of highlights from ‘Tosca’ is just that, in one of Tebaldi’s early recordings for Decca.
