This volume of Debussy’s dramatic works and ballet music is dedicated, by and large, to ‘rarities’ by the composer. Few of Debussy’s works have divided critical opinion more than ‘Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien’, banned as it was by the Archbishop of Paris six days before its premiere. The beautiful, rarefied ‘Six Épigraphes Antiques’ were […]
A brilliant collection of some of Tchaikovsky’s most moving and most exciting moments. Continuing Eloquence’s popular ‘Best Of’ series – ideal for the newcomer.
Tchaikovsky poured his emotions into his symphonies, particularly the last three, and posterity has rewarded him by making them inescapable parts of the standard orchestral repertoire. The orchestral suites, however, have not attained the popularity of the symphonies, perhaps because they trade tragedy for wistfulness and exaltation for charm. All four are the work of […]
A wonderful collection of Franck tone poems, most of them drawn from Daniel Barenboim’s now deleted recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and adding the wonderfully airborne Ansermet performance of ‘Les Eolides’. Try the sheer orchestral terror of ‘Le Chasseur Maudit’ (‘The Accursed Huntsman’) or the blazing brass of ‘Redemption’ for sonic thrills or revel in the […]
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 […]
The 1897 premiere of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1 was one of the most notorious disasters in classical music. The composer, sensing that misfortune was about to befall him and his newest creation, sat not in the audience but backstage (‘squirming,’ according to his cousin Lyudmila Skalon) in what is now the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. […]
Sergei Rachmaninov began his Third Symphony in August 1935 at Senar, his Swiss villa, while riding a final wave of popular success. His ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ had enjoyed a successful premiere the year before, and subsequent performances had gone far to mute criticism that the composer’s well of inspiration had dried up. […]
Receiving its first ever release on CD, this legendary performance of Rachmaninov’s super-romantic Second Symphony conducted by Paul Kletzki will be seized up by collectors and bargain hunters alike. From Ashkenazy’s remarkable survey of the Rachmaninov orchestral works comes ‘The Isle of the Dead’. Reviewing it, Gramophone magazine writes: ‘a searingly powerful reading of ‘The […]
Ballet hybrids often eclipse the originals from which they are drawn and such is the case with the music on this disc. Including such popular pieces as the ‘Can Can’ from Orpheus in the Underworld and the ‘Barcarolle’ from The Tales of Hoffman, there is possibly no better recording on the market than Solti’s Gaite […]
Newly mastered from the original tapes and released on Decca for the first time, this Maag release couples the familiar ‘Posthorn Serenade’ with the lesser known D major, KV 203.
Some of Mozart’s lesser known symphonies are integrated for this Mozart/Maag release with mono recordings of Nos. 28, 29, 34 (among the earliest of Maag’s Decca recordings) coupled with stereo recordings of Symphony No. 32 and the delectable ‘Serenata Notturna’. Everywhere, style, finesse and charm are evident in these performances.
Appearing on CD for the first time, Lamberto Gardelli’s Pizzetti recording has been one of the most venerated in the Decca catalogue, not only because the music is comparatively rare but because the recording is true state-of-the-art. The music has Gallic charm and a Stravinskian sense of razor-sharp wit, not to mention a fascinating storyline […]
