Legendary cellist, Pierre Fournier’s stereo recording of the Dvořák Cello Concerto is well known but his earlier recording from July 1954 for Decca is largely forgotten. It’s revived in this Kubelik-led anthology also bringing back to the catalogue the conductor’s mono version of the Janáček Sinfonietta and his electrifying account of Tchaikovsky’s love poem ‘Romeo […]

Collected together on this CD are all the César Franck recordings Ansermet made for Decca. Led by his glorious account of the Symphony, it includes the ethereal ‘Les Éolides’ as well as the terrifying ‘Le chausseur maudit’ (The Accursed Huntsman).

One of the greatest joys for a music lover is to discover repertoire that one has not yet heard from a composer whose music one believes one was largely familiar. Beethoven’s folk song settings are truly a treat; this is easily the least familiar and least appreciated realm of his considerable output. What is probably […]

This and the other two 2CD sets – 4800830 and 4800837 – represent all of Ansermet’s Prokofiev recordings for Decca (with the exception of a mono recording of the March and Scherzo from The Love for Three Oranges). Both the Paris Conservatoire and the Suisse Romande versions of the ‘Classical’ Symphony are included.

While Handel’s Concerti Grossi are much performed and recorded, the exquisite Oboe Concertos and the grand Concerti a due cori are unfairly neglected. Bringing together both these sets of concerti, this generous 2CD set presents Neville Marriner’s Decca recordings of the former (one of his first) and Philips recordings of the latter. Included too, are […]

Grumiaux’s wonderful 1957 performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Concertgebouw and Eduard van Beinum, coupled with the first release on CD of Van Beinum’s recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Two radiant works in glorious performances coupled on Eloquence.

This and the other two 2CD sets represent all of Ansermet’s Prokofiev recordings for Decca (with the exception of a mono recording of the March and Scherzo from ‘The Love for Three Oranges’ – the stereo version appears here). Both, the Paris Conservatoire and the Suisse Romande versions of the ‘Classical’ Symphony are included and Ruggiero […]

Sparkling accounts of famous French overtures, rare and familiar, all recorded in 1960 and part of the Eloquence magnum opus, the ‘Decca Ansermet Legacy’.

The stunning ‘Covent Garden Anniversary Album’ released complete for the first time on CD, coupled with Solti’s firecracker accounts of Overtures and Preludes. Soloists include a range of 1960s Covent Garden stalwarts, – Carlyle, Sutherland, Veasey, Minton, Shuard, Collier, Gobbi, Evans, Pears and Ward; and conductors – Downes, Bonynge, Walton and Goodall. Nearly 160 minutes […]

Ernest Ansermet’s view of Bartók was a lyrical one and his incredible ear brought out lines, sonorities and shape in this music that have rarely been equalled. Here, collected together on CD for the first time, are his complete Bartók recordings for Decca as part of the ongoing ‘Decca Ansermet Legacy’. They include some of […]

Issued collectively for the first time on Decca are the complete Berlioz recordings of Ernest Ansermet. Included too is the rehearsal for ‘Symphonie fantastique’ (in French) previously issued on LP only in the US and Japan. The set also offers excerpts from ‘La damnation de Faust’ (the ‘Danse des sylphes’ making its first international appearance […]

The Berlioz Symphonies in acclaimed performances by Daniel Barenboim – Fantastique: first international CD release; Roméo: a rare recording returns to the catalogue. And Lorin Maazel conducts a wonderful performance of ‘Harold en Italie’ – long unavailable on CD.