“I still remember the time when I played Rachmaninov’s Piano Concert No. 3 for the first time in London in 2001. After the concert, he gave me a hug with tears in his eyes, and said that he had high hopes for me. Master Fou was a great artist that I respected very much. I […]
Piers Lane writes about the winner of the 2021 Sydney International Piano Competition – the first to be held online – a selection of whose live recordings are released on Decca Eloquence. What an exciting time it was in January 2020! I had appointed four experienced musicians to listen along with me to the 285 […]
Peter Quantrill examines the Decca legacy of the British conductor, responsible for one of the first complete Sibelius symphony cycles to be recorded. Violinists have often left the leader’s chair and stepped on to the podium. Sir John Barbirolli and Arturo Toscanini number among the most distinguished cellists who swapped bows for batons. A rarer […]
Piers Lane reflects on the Sydney International Piano Competition What were you doing in July 1977? If you were in Australia and a piano-lover, you were probably heading for Sydney or tuned into ABC Radio, the national broadcaster, because the new Sydney International Piano Competition was big news and you didn’t want to miss it. […]
Thomas Fine explains the background to the Kubelík Mercury Masters Sometime immediately before 23 April 1951, two young men boarded a train in New York City and travelled to Chicago carrying a new and technologically ground-breaking microphone. Recording engineers C. Robert (‘Bob’) Fine, 29, and George Piros, 31, arrived at Orchestra Hall the morning of […]
By Alan Sanders From the early 1920s onwards, English-speaking purchasers of classical records will almost certainly have come across discs played by the ‘Berlin State Opera Orchestra’. This body was clearly a frequent visitor to the recording studios at the time, and it seemingly had no exclusive contract with any company, since it appeared on […]
On the occasion of her 80th birthday (17 January 2021), Dame Gillian Weir reflects on her working relationship with French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992), with illuminating insight and amusing anecdotes. Their special relationship is now celebrated in a new 22-CD Limited Edition Box Set on Eloquence, in which Messiaen’s work features on seven on […]
From the 1920s till the 1960s, composers of all stripes — particularly American composers — beat a path to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger.
Years ago, as a youthful Bartók acolyte, I learned the three piano concertos via Géza Anda’s marvellous DG recordings (with Ferenc Fricsay conducting) and the solo piano works from György Sándor’s near-complete series on Vox. Years later I acquired Andor Foldes’ DG mono set of the solo works (less comprehensive than Sándor’s but still representative) […]
Suzanne Danco’s recorded legacy is perhaps smaller than one might have wished, but we are nevertheless fortunate to be able to enjoy her rare talent in its many aspects, from the great soprano roles of Mozart to the delights of French song and opera.
Alan Sanders pens a portrait of Roger Désormière, one of France’s great hopes, whose career was cut short following a car crash in March 1953 which left him paralysed.
Waltzing all the way from Vienna to London. Peter Quantrill discusses a reissue of Josef Krips conducting music by the Strauss Family. A little over a quarter of a century after first raising a baton, Josef Krips made his London debut with a British orchestra in March 1948. He conducted the Philharmonia and Pierre Fournier […]
