Jean Martinon (1910-76) was not only a successful conductor but also an accomplished composer and his musical intuition and fine ear for detail is evident at every turn in these recordings. This release will achieve cult status, as did the original recordings, made in 1958 (Massenet, Meyerbeer) and 1959 (Dvorak). The French works were recorded […]

With this CD, you are in possession of two very special LP recordings which form one of the most sparkling collections of its kind. In short, you have a gem. The concert going public has, alas, been deprived of this once-popular overture repertoire for too long: classical music these days has become a serious business, […]

Venerated for their perky, piquant performances and the ripe, rich Decca sound, Walter Weller’s thrilling readings of Shostakovich’s Symphonies 1 & 9 have long been on the reissue request list. Now, they appear on CD for the first time coupled with another Decca classic of earlier vintage – Martinon’s ‘Age of Gold’ suite.

In the vast vacuum left by Arturo Toscanini’s retirement and death, French conductors were prominent among those who dominated the orchestral scene, especially in America. One of the most gifted was Jean Francisque-Étienne Martinon (1910–1976). His complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon (as both conductor and composer) are here collected for the first time. Conscripted into […]

Jean Martinon’s career in the recording studio got under way after World War II when, in 1947–48, he and the London Philharmonic Orchestra recorded music by Mozart, Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Chabrier. Between then and April 1960 he recorded extensively for Decca. Brilliant as many of these recordings are, they have completely overshadowed the parallel legacy […]