Julius Katchen that colossus that bestrode the pianistic firmament for all too short a time, recorded the Brahms Handel and Paganini Variations three times, twice in mono and once in stereo. Surprisingly, these much-praised 1958 recordings have never before been issued on CD and are now being made available singly, on Eloquence. All of Katchen’s […]
A delightful – and generous (80+ minutes) – coupling of two singular symphonies. Grieg’s Symphony in C minor is an early effort and the first ever recording of this work with the Bergen Symphony Orchestra and Karsten Andersen. It makes its first international appearance on CD. The charming ‘Rustic Wedding Symphony’, full of good humour […]
Two of Dvorák’s sunniest inspirations on CD together. The rare recording of the Violin Concerto with German violinist Edith Peinemann is once more made available and Kubelík’s recording of the Serenade was always one of the most highly recommended.
In 1976, Willi Boskovsky, unusually perhaps, made a lovely Grieg recording for Decca. About a third of it was briefly issued in the 1980s on Decca’s ‘Headline’ series but now, for the first time, we offer the whole record with the bonus of Stanley Black’s recording of the four ‘Lyric Pieces’ (on CD for the […]
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 […]
