Posts tagged as "felix-mendelssohn"

Mendelssohn: String Symphonies 9-12; Octet

March 16, 2018

A comprehensive survey of the young Mendelssohn at his most prodigiously accomplished, in superbly cultivated performances by a classic Italian ensemble, including a recording never before issued on CD by Decca. In the 1960s and 70s, I Musici was  synonymous for record collectors with Baroque music. Having been founded by graduates from Rome’s Accademia di […]

Fiedler Encores

February 15, 2018

One of the last century’s great popularisers of art music who introduced the names of Mozart and Strauss to millions, Arthur Fiedler recorded for several labels during his half century as music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Eloquence has already reissued the Deutsche Grammophon ‘Sleigh Ride’ album (480 6715) of festive-themed treats by Handel, […]

Alfredo Campoli: The Bel Canto Violin – Vol 3

January 12, 2018

One of the most significant violinists in gramophone history, Alfredo Campoli enjoyed tremendous success in the 1930s as a purveyor of light music, both in concerts with his own salon orchestra and on Decca. A series of six, 2CD reissues from Eloquence focuses on the violinist’s postwar reinvention of himself as ‘Campoli’, the classical soloist. […]

Alfredo Campoli: The Bel Canto Violin – Vol 2

January 12, 2018

One of the most significant violinists in gramophone history, Alfredo Campoli enjoyed tremendous success in the 1930s as a purveyor of light music both in concerts with his own salon orchestra and on Decca. A series of six 2CD reissues from Eloquence focuses on the violinist’s postwar reinvention of himself as ‘Campoli’, the classical soloist. […]

The Complete Studio Recordings

November 27, 2017

‘In every way the most transcendentally gifted young piano student I have heard in the last 25 years’ was Percy Grainger’s pronouncement of the young Eileen Joyce (1908–1991) when he first heard her play in 1926. From the goldfields in Western Australia whose capital city is the most remote in the world, Joyce defied incongruous and […]

Christmas at Westminster Abbey

October 13, 2017

At the age of 22, in 1963 when he became sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston was already the anointed Crown Prince of the King of Instruments. The reputation of his virtuosity and stylish response to a repertoire of five centuries had spread far before him. Having left the Abbey in 1967, he then returned […]

Doráti in Holland

June 16, 2017

‘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 […]

The Cambridge Buskers Collection

January 20, 2017

Is nothing sacred? The Cambridge Buskers bring their madcap humour to the greats of classical music – everything from the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and the ‘1812 Overture’ to Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and the ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’! And not forgetting Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies in under four minutes… This 4CD set brings together the pair’s most famous albums, released […]

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 […]

Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4

May 25, 2016

Among Abbado’s first recordings, these performances of two of Mendelssohn’s favourite symphonies are some of the most sparkling and vivid to have been recorded. They date from 1968 when Abbado was under contract to Decca and have remained benchmark recommendations for these works ever since

Brahms: Double Concerto; Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings

May 25, 2016

The first-ever pairing of these two marvellous ‘Double’ Concertos on CD. The Brahms is a classic performance, gutsy as well as autumnal and the work comes from towards the end of the composer’s rich harvest. The Mendelssohn, by far the lesser-known of the two pieces, conversely comes from the beginning of his life – in […]