‘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 […]
From 1962 (when he made his Royal Festival Hall debut) to 1967 and again from 1981 to 1987, Simon Preston held posts at Westminster Abbey, initially as sub-organist then as organist and master of the choristers. These recordings were made during that first period: signing off the compilation in style, Widor’s ‘Toccata’ was in fact […]
The last recording by a pioneer of the Bach revival on record, newly remastered and issued internationally on CD for the first time. New editorial notes by Bach specialist, Nicholas Anderson, giving context and authoritative detail on the Christmas Oratorio, the career of Fritz Lehmann and this recording project. At Fritz Lehmann’s untimely death on […]
There was a time – at least until 1960 – when Bach’s ensemble music was a familiar sight on the concert programs of symphonic orchestras. The musicians of an ensemble such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam understood this music and how to distinguish it from Mozart or Mahler or Stravinsky. But concerns of […]
There were many worlds in George Malcolm’s (1917–1997) universe – organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, choral director and conductor – and this one demonstrates his unique skill as a solo performer who, throughout his career, more than any other individual defined the harpsichord’s identity in England. After World War II, Malcolm became the most famous English […]
There were many worlds in George Malcolm’s (1917–1997) universe – organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, choral director and conductor – and this one demonstrates his unique skill as a solo performer who, throughout his career, more than any other individual defined the harpsichord’s identity in England. After World War II, Malcolm became the most famous English […]
There were many worlds in George Malcolm’s (1917–1997) universe – organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, choral director and conductor – and this one demonstrates his unique skill as a solo performer who, throughout his career, more than any other individual defined the harpsichord’s identity in England. After World War II, Malcolm became the most famous English […]
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 […]
For all the popularity and reinvention that now surrounds Antonio Vivaldi’s collected violin concertos known as ‘The Four Seasons’, it is difficult to believe there was a time when they were completely unknown. Like Vivaldi himself, whose once lofty reputation fell into complete obscurity following his death in Vienna in 1741, ‘The Four Seasons’ travelled […]
Few composers have had their music rearranged with such variety and a high degree of success as Johann Sebastian Bach. Mozart, Elgar and Webern, Mendelsohn, Brahms and Vaughan Williams and countless others, not to mention jazz musicians such as Jacques Loussier, Dave Brubeck, the Swingle Singers and even the rock band, Procul Harum, all rearranged […]
Written to entertain a certain, Count Keyserlingk, in his waking hours, Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ is a tour de force of keyboard writing and this represents one of its greatest recordings. Also on the programme are two popular ‘Fantasies’ plus the jolly ‘Italian Concerto’.
The critically-acclaimed 5CD set ‘King of Instruments’ is now reissued as five individual CDs retaining the original liner notes and the recollections of Dame Gillian on the making of these seminal recordings
