Sir Neville Marriner and his Academy made some of the most priceless recordings of Vaughan Williams for Decca and Philips and this collection restores to circulation his Philips traversal of music by this composer with the addition of five pieces made for Decca – the Romance for harmonica (with Tommy Reilly), possibly the best version […]
Erik Satie was eccentric and genius rolled into one. And his influence on generations of other composers cannot be underestimated. Here, together with the popular ‘Gymnopedies’ and ‘Gnossiennes’ (all of them), are heard some other lesser-known piano pieces of his. All are well worth exploring, especially in these mesmeric performances by the Dutch pianist, Reinbert de […]
The first-ever coupling of these two quintessential French symphonies. D’Indy’s atmospheric ‘Symphonie sur un chant montagnard Français’ is something of a Lisztian pastoral symphonic essay with a glorious obbligato part for solo piano, here performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Weller and the LPO then deliver a sumptuous performance of the little-known Dukas Symphony, a work just […]
Colin Davis’ recordings of Mozart have stood the test of time and his readings of the composer’s choral music are imposing, ennobling edifices of interpretation. The soloists in the ‘Great Mass’ blend marvellously and the ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ is given a reading of quiet intensity.
A superb collection of Verdi overtures, marvellously performed by the one-and-only Vienna Philharmonic in sumptuous readings by the late Giuseppe Sinopoli.
Herbert von Karajan’s famed 1960s recordings of the Second and Fourth of Beethoven’s symphonies. Of his recordings of the Fourth, the present one is perhaps the fiercest and the most obviously lyrical. Grecian and golden-toned, the spirits of Dionysus and Apollo held in a rapturous balance.
Two thrilling 20th-century orchestral works, ideally realised in the hands of Zubin Mehta and released for the first time on CD! The volley of timpani as they hurl challenges at each other in the Nielsen is one of the most exciting moments of orchestral music. And Scriabin’s ‘Poème de l’extase’ (Poem of Ecstasy) is one […]
A Beethoven extravaganza, coupling two of his works using the piano & other forces. The ‘Choral Fantasy’ receives one of its most powerful performances and the ‘Triple Concerto’ one of its most ennobling.
Time and again these performances of two haunting French chamber works have been voted as the best in the catalogue. These elegant, suave performances now reappear on Eloquence.
The first CD release of a recording that was a legend in its lifetime. Campoli was, besides his many concert-platform accomplishments, a salon violinist of the first rank and naturally this easy ability to switch between the two domains gave him the edge over many other violinists of his day in this charming repertoire. When […]
John Mauceri made several Philips recordings of music from the movies, often music with the strong flavour of Hollywood. This collection extracts some of the best of those moments and ranges from quiet and introspective – try the Elgarian ‘Jurassic Park‘ excerpt or the romantic ‘Cinema Paradiso’ – to thrilling, spatial and scary: ‘Star Wars, King […]
Lovers of Richard Strauss’ music have long considered the Jerusalem disc of orchestral songs a ‘must-have’ in their collection. They are sheerly glorious – as is the ‘heldentenor’ of Siegfried Jerusalem. They are now reissued with Haitink’s searing account of ‘Death and Transfiguration’.
