In the words of the composer and critic, Virgil Thomson, the unique sonorities of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under its founder-director, Ernest Ansermet, were ‘smooth as a seashell, iridescent as fine rain, bright as the taste of a peach’. Ever since its foundation in 1918, the OSR had been coached and trained with […]

‘From Melba to Sutherland: Australian Singers on Record’ is the first-ever comprehensive survey of the recordings of Australia’s greatest singers – in a unique, new, 4CD set from Decca, complete with biographies of each of the 80 artists, rare photographs, all contained within a 68-page booklet. Why has there been such an extraordinary procession of […]

Five composers, three LPs … an all-Italian, all-rare, 2CD compendium. Fernando Previtali’s orchestral recordings for Decca of music by Respighi, Casella, Ghedini, Petrassi and Casella were recorded in July 1956 and had a relatively short lifespan. Other than Respighi’s ‘Pines of Rome’, the remaining music was then – as it is now – largely unfamiliar […]