Mozart was Josef Krips’s yardstick in music: ‘My maxim is that everything has to sound as though it were by Mozart, or it will be a bad performance.’ Collected here are his Mozart symphony recordings with the Concertgebouworkest for Philips (1972–73), including a rehearsal sequence for Symphony No. 33, as well as the celebrated 1955 […]

A groundbreaking Decca album celebrating the glory of both bel canto and the voice of Sutherland in her prime, long unavailable on its own, reissued complete with a booklet introduction from Richard Bonynge. More than a quarter of a century has now passed since Decca remastered ‘The Age of Bel Canto’ among the first releases […]

Newly compiled for the first time, the Decca career of a pre-eminent Mozart conductor, complemented by his recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Westminster. Peter Maag began his career as a pianist, but turned to conducting with the encouragement of Wilhelm Furtwangler. He made his first Decca recording having lately turned 30, with the Suisse Romande […]

Mercury, Philips and Decca recordings of orchestral pops conducted by the supremely versatile Sir Charles Mackerras, including a pair of Strauss overtures new to CD. Few conductors, if any, have demonstrated the sheer versatility of Charles Mackerras. He could turn his sharp ear and his unfussy baton technique to every corner of classical repertoire, and […]

A generous compilation of short pieces either recorded individually or extracted from the Decca discography of Ernest Ansermet. Included is a complete ten-inch LP of encores entitled ‘Orchestral Favourites’ and containing pieces by Falla, Chabrier, Mussorgsky and Debussy. This dates from October 1955, near the beginning of Decca’s stereo catalogue whereas the rest of the […]

‘I think that every art is an art of authority but between “authoritarian” and “dictatorial” there is a vast difference.’ So remarked the Hungarian conductor, Antal Doráti, towards the end of a long career which included, near its beginning, almost a decade spent working closely with orchestras in The Hague and Amsterdam. That work, very […]

During the golden age of the LP, Horst Stein was among a select band of central-European conductors (Vaclav Neumann and Otmar Suitner are another two notable examples) revered by Japanese orchestras and audiences, perhaps more than their Western counterparts. They had an uncomplicated mastery of the repertoire that shunned interpretative eccentricity and plugged listeners into […]

‘Gervase de Peyer is one of the greatest instrumentalist alive’ announced Fanfare magazine. One of the foremost clarinettists of the 20th century, London-born Gervase de Peyer was chosen soloist for a host of conductors and made many award-winning recordings for Decca, L’Oiseau-Lyre and EMI among others. His Concerto recordings have won the Grand Prix du Disque, […]

With his Scandinavian looks and fine physique, Ticho Parly (1928–1993) seemed predestined to portray Wagner’s heroes. Like his fellow-Dane, Lauritz Melchior, Parly began his career as a baritone. He pursued his vocal studies initially in Paris and then in Denmark, Italy and Switzerland. To finance his studies he worked for several years in a travel […]

The Dutchman, Arnold van Mill (1921–1996), never enjoyed the international fame of his German contemporary, Gottlob Frick or the younger Martti Talvela and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Yet at the height of his formidable powers in the 1950s and 60s, he had few rivals for rotund depth and sonority of tone (with what Hope-Wallace called ‘double bass […]

One of the greatest soprano legends of all time, Nilsson’s 1963 Decca recital with Edward Downes of popular opera arias by Wagner, Weber, Beethoven, et.al. has never been fully issued. Here it is on CD – issued complete for the first time and in the fabled sumptuous Decca sound – coupled with her rare ‘Ah, […]

Never has a more sublime recording of German Opera Choruses been made. Varviso and his Leipzig and Dresden teams deliver some of the most ravishing sonorities you’ll ever here in a compilation that focuses on Wagner and is surrounded by Weber, Nicolai and Beethoven.