Three L’Oiseau-Lyre LPs celebrating the art of a much-loved contralto, newly remastered and compiled together for the first time, including material new to CD. The history of British contraltos on record, extends beyond Kathleen Ferrier to Constance Shacklock and before her Dame Clara Butt but their select number was joined in the 1950s by Helen […]

PhilomusicaSeveral Eloquence releases have celebrated the pellucid timbre and vivid characterisation of the British soprano’ Jennifer Vyvyan. ‘A treasury to treasure’ was the BBC Music Magazine’s verdict on ‘Songs of England’ (482 5045), a L’Oiseau Lyre recital from 1953. Four years later, she took part in the first complete recording of Purcell’s masque, ‘The Fairy […]

The works on this collection are drawn from two of the very first stereo LPs released by L’Oiseau-Lyre, the sub-label of Decca. ‘Music of Handel’ was a 1958 album containing arias (recently reissued by Eloquence 482 4759) and this instrumental suite from ‘Rodrigo’, one of the composer’s early pre-London Italian operas, performed in Florence in […]

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And in the second volume, Romantic Bach, discover why as a Baroque composer his music transcends time, place and genres. This collection offers the quiet moments of Bach’s music – piano transcriptions of his chorale preludes; slow movements from concertos and beloved moments from his Cantatas.

Sir Adrian Boult made a selection of Decca recordings in the 1950s and 60s ranging from Baroque repertoire (Bach, Handel) to the music of the 20th century – most notably the first eight Vaughan Williams symphonies. Coupled together for the first time on CD are his two major Handel recordings  for Decca – of the […]