Elgar: Enigma Variations; Cello Concerto
April 29, 2016Two celebrated recordings in the Decca catalogue, in performances of pathos, sweep and grandeur. Mehta’s ‘Enigma’ has been ranked as among the very finest in a highly competitive catalogue.
Two celebrated recordings in the Decca catalogue, in performances of pathos, sweep and grandeur. Mehta’s ‘Enigma’ has been ranked as among the very finest in a highly competitive catalogue.
With its beautiful slow movement, ‘Adagietto’, used in the film ‘Death in Venice’, this symphony achieved immortality and the widest listening public. But the rest of it too is wonderful stuff – dramatic, searing, thrilling. This is also one of its most dramatic performances and a benchmark in the discography of this work.
One of the most impassioned accounts of the ‘New World Symphony’ to be committed to disc, is generously coupled with the lyrical Eighth Symphony. Outstanding performances all.
The first release on CD of these two wonderful performances. The Berlioz is scored for viola and orchestra while the Bloch is written for cello and orchestra and both works represent their heroes (one named, the other unnamed) in ever-changing landscapes. Needless to say, the performances are absolutely first-rate.
The first release on CD of these immensely colourful recordings of two Russian masterpieces, one paying homage to the East via the ‘Arabian Nights’ and the other to the exoticism of Spain.
Thrilling performances of four of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral works issued together in these recordings for the first time on CD. Both the ‘1812 Overture’ and the ‘Capriccio Italien’ were demonstration discs in their time and it’s not hard to see why in these larger-than-life performances conducted with enormous panache by Zubin Mehta.
A thrilling ‘Emperor’ from Lupu and Mehta is coupled with some solo piano rarities. Both the two Rondos and the two Sonatas included here are among Beethoven’s simpler pieces for piano and, while ever charming, they are constantly played by piano students and on regular piano exam syllabuses.
There are few Ravel orchestral compilations – at any price – that could hold a candle to this one. And most of the Mehta material appears on CD for the first time. A wilder ‘La Valse’, a more erotic ‘Daphnis et Chloé’ with its orgiastic finale you’d be hard-pressed to find! And what a magical finale […]
A thrilling collection of Overtures and Preludes (with some popular orchestral pieces thrown in for good measure) from Zubin Mehta. As a showman of the best variety, his recordings remain one of the Decca catalogue’s richest legacies with more than half of this collection released on CD for the first time.
A stunning Wagner collection featuring all the major overtures and preludes (including the very rare and very beautiful ‘Die Feen’ – The Fairies), this collection is also noteworthy for other reasons. For a start, it brings together in a single collection the complete Decca Wagner recordings of Zubin Mehta and the complete Philips Wagner recordings […]
While Mozart is regularly touted as a teenage wonder, experts say there’s nothing he wrote as a teenager that could rival Mendelssohn’s Octet – a work beloved of audiences and ensembles alike. One of Decca’s earliest digital recordings was of the string orchestra version of this piece by the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. Lusciously […]
Over the years, Eloquence has pioneered on CD the Decca discography of Zubin Mehta. Here is his beautifully-graded account of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony together with passionate performances of the Leonore Overture No. 3 and the Egmont Overture.