These magnificent recordings of the Ravel Piano Concertos have taken a far too long leave of absence from the Decca catalogue and are now back, with generous Faure and Franck couplings. Beautifully recorded sound too.
The fearsomely, devilishly virtuosic Caprices of Paganini represent a technical and artistic Mount Everest for the violin. No. 24 has been popularly used as a basis of sets of variations by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Lutoslawski, Blacher and many others. Here, the Caprices are performed in the unusual arrangement for violin and piano, made by Schumann. They […]
These wonderful performances of Haydn’s Piano Trios – eight in all, across the two volumes – have long been unavailable.
This happy assembly of pianists and conductors share the honours for these three Mozart concertos, making a welcome return to the Decca catalogue.
Zubin Mehta has had a long association with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducting them for his first ever recording for Decca (Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony – Decca Eloquence 461 3572) and returning often to conduct them both in their home city and on tour. Collected here for the first time are his complete Decca recordings of Schumann […]
There is a celebrated letter from the year 1810 in which Bettina Brentano enthuses to the poet Goethe about a recent meeting with Beethoven. ‘When I open my eyes’, Beethoven had announced to her, ‘I must sigh … I must despise the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all […]
From Roussel’s delightful tribute to the animal kingdom in ‘Le festin de l’araignée’ via two of Dukas’ symphonic masterpieces (‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ in state-of-the-art sound) to Chausson’s powerful and massive Symphony in B flat, this generous anthology in the ‘Decca Ansermet Legacy’ features the conductor in music he knew intimately and performed inimitably.
This volume of Debussy’s dramatic works and ballet music is dedicated, by and large, to ‘rarities’ by the composer. Few of Debussy’s works have divided critical opinion more than ‘Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien’, banned as it was by the Archbishop of Paris six days before its premiere. The beautiful, rarefied ‘Six Épigraphes Antiques’ were […]
Mozart at his most elegant in music for sophisticated players of flute and harp. Giving what the Penguin Guide described as ‘meltingly beautiful accounts’, the players of the solo concertos ‘perform with the utmost distinction under Böhm, who lets the music unfold in an unforced way, relaxed yet vital’.
This compilation, drawn from the archive of ‘the Opera Company’ – Decca – boasts many of the greatest Verdi recordings ever made and features the greatest highlights of his operatic works. Here you’ll find the stars of the opera performing Overtures, Arias and Choruses from La Traviata, Aida, Luisa Miller, Otello, Nabucco, Rigoletto and Il […]
The classic recording of the nine Beethoven Symphonies – Karajan’s 1960s effort – returns to the catalogue now on Eloquence at super-budget price.
A relaxed and eloquent ‘Spring Sonata’ contrasts with a lean and athletic performance of the ‘Kreutzer’ from two expert Beethovenians. In between comes the Op. 12 No. 2 – a sonata that greatly puzzled its audience at the time of its composition.
