Among the final albums made by the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt was a history in sound of Viennese dance, the waltzes and polkas that made contemporary millionaires of the Strauss dynasty and have since travelled the world not least thanks to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day concert. The leader of those concerts for 25 years, […]
Relative rarities among his output are Richard Strauss’ concertos, many written later in his life. This collection brings together works for oboe, clarinet and bassoon (the Duet Concertino) and the scintillating ‘Burleske’ for piano and orchestra. In addition to conducting the concertos, Ashkenazy also conducts the early tone poem ‘Aus Italien’ and Maazel’s humorous reading […]
Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And the third volume, the Magic of Mozart, showcases of some of his most magical, gorgeous slow movements, several of which – from the Piano Concerto No. 21 (‘Elvira Madigan’) and the Clarinet Concerto (‘Out of Africa’) – have acquired popular status from their incorporation into films.
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 […]
During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Decca recorded a number of albums of overtures with some of its key conductors. Many of these were singled out by the press for their terrific sound quality (the fabled ‘Decca Sound’) and for their often adventurous programming. Some of them also included entr’actes and intermezzi. Prized as collectors’ […]
Concertos, symphonies, operas … sonatas, serenades and divertimenti. But Mozart and Ballet Music? Truly a rarity! Much of the music on this disc formed the tenth and last LP in Decca’s complete Dances and Marches series with the Wiener Mozart Ensemble under Willi Boskovsky for which he chose younger players, some of whom had not […]
