Posts tagged as "charles-dutoit"

Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos

September 30, 2016

It is common to refer to ‘the’ Mendelssohn Violin Concerto – the one in E minor, Op. 64 – but earlier in his career, Mendelssohn composed another which was posthumously published. After falling into complete obscurity for a century, this score eventually found its way into the hands of Yehudi Menuhin who published the first […]

Aromatherapy Vol.4

August 18, 2016

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And in the fourth volume, Music of the Night, there’s the ‘Barcarolle’ from Offenbach’s ‘Tales of Hoffmann’, slow movements from String Serenades by Mozart, Dvorak and Suk and of course, Chopin’s night music, celebrated by his popular D flat major Nocturne, Op. 27 No. 2.

Aromatherapy Vol.8

August 18, 2016

Aromatherapy, the quiet moments of classical music. And the seventh volume is a collection of music inspired by the countryside. This album takes a tour of many and varied landscapes beginning with the English countryside as seen through the eyes of Vaughan Williams, coupled with the Vienna Woods, in Johann Strauss II’s popular waltz, France’s […]

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-3, Grieg: Piano Concerto

May 25, 2016

Tchaikovsky’s three piano concertos (including the third in Taneyev’s completion) are here collected for release in superbly colourful performances by Peter Jablonski with the Philharmonia. Peter Maag, for some time a conductor much associated with Decca (as witness his marvellous Mozart recordings, now on Decca Eloquence, as well as some glorious Mendelssohn) was meant to […]

The Best Of Saint-Saens

May 25, 2016

This ‘Best Of’ features complete works and in some of their most energetic performances. Mehta & Co raise the roof with their ‘Organ Symphony’ and Dutoit & Co have the best fun in ‘Carnival’. The recording is rounded off with two of the most popular pieces for violin and orchestra inimitably performed by Kyung Wha […]

D’Indy: Symphonie sur un Chant Montagnard Français; Dukas: Symphony in C major

May 4, 2016

The first-ever coupling of these two quintessential French symphonies. D’Indy’s atmospheric ‘Symphonie sur un chant montagnard Français’ is something of a Lisztian pastoral symphonic essay with a glorious obbligato part for solo piano, here performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Weller and the LPO then deliver a sumptuous performance of the little-known Dukas Symphony, a work just […]

Rossini: Famous Overtures

April 29, 2016

This has to be one of the most amazing recordings of Rossini Overtures ever made. The polish and scintillation of the orchestral playing practically outclasses any other recording and the sense of fun is infectious! Try track 1 and you’ll be sold!

Poulenc: Stabat Mater; Gloria

April 29, 2016

Few more radiant expressions of choral singing exist than the opening of Poulenc’s Stabat Mater with Dutoit’s fine recording here restored to circulation and coupled with Lopez-Cobos conducting the energetic Gloria, also famous for its soprano solo. The coupling appears for the first time on CD: Bizet’s Te Deum, the original LP coupling for the […]

Favourite Rhapsodies

April 29, 2016

Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony bring a fantastic array of colour as well as subtlety to these marvellous Rhapsodies. With an array of countries represented – the Rhapsodies largely paying tribute to indigenous music – the cover illustration highlights these associations.

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphonic Dances

April 29, 2016

Rachmaninov was so horrified by the disastrous 1897 premiere of his First Symphony that he became ‘a changed man,’ to use his own words. For two years after that fateful evening, he composed almost nothing, and occupied himself by conducting operas in Moscow and by concertising at home and abroad. The trauma caused Rachmaninov to […]

Rachmaninov: The Bells; Spring; Three Russian Songs

April 29, 2016

Asked in later life to name his favourite works, Rachmaninov chose not his orchestral masterpieces nor those for piano but two of his choral works, the ‘Vespers’ and this ‘choral symphony’ of sorts, ‘The Bells’ based on verses by Edgar Allan Poe. It is good to welcome back Dutoit’s spacious and beautifully recorded account and […]

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5; Wedding Cake

April 29, 2016

Saint-Saëns’s complete piano concertos on a 2CD Eloquence set presents some truly rare recordings – Campanella’s of the Fourth and Tagliaferro’s of the Fifth. And while the second is oft-played, this set gives the listener an opportunity to discover the lesser known First and Third. Also included is the first release on CD of ‘Wedding […]