A unique collection, bringing together Schumann’s Concertos and concertante works, including the first international release of Ingrid Haebler’s recording of the Piano Concerto and Barenboim’s of the Konzertstück for Four Horns. The unjustly neglected Concert Pieces, Opp. 92 & 134 are given glorious readings by Ashkenazy and both the Cello and Violin Concertos receive admirable […]
A thrilling collection of Overtures and Preludes (with some popular orchestral pieces thrown in for good measure) from Zubin Mehta. As a showman of the best variety, his recordings remain one of the Decca catalogue’s richest legacies with more than half of this collection released on CD for the first time.
Dame Gillian Weir’s first and seminal recordings were made for Argo/Decca. They have systematically been issued in Australia and the final instalment brings her recording of the two Couperin Organ Masses, expertly and enchantingly performed on the organ of the Prediger-Kirche, Zurich. The Couperin scholar David Tunley provides the engaging liner notes.
Solti came late in life to the music of Shostakovich and in his introduction to the recording of the Thirteenth Symphony (reprinted in the booklet) explains the music’s effect on him. These rare recordings have long been out of the catalogue and are now issued as a 2CD set at super-budget price. Sergei Aleksashkin is […]
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 […]
A collection of music for strings, including the first complete appearance of a rare LP by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and Rudolf Barshai of music by Bartók (one of the most invigorating “Divertimento” recordings ever made). Vivaldi is coupled with a selection of gleaming ‘Visions Fugitives’ (arranged by Barshai from Prokofiev’s piano pieces) and the […]
A collection of some of Liszt’s most symphonic piano works, this recording by Lilya Zilberstein includes the Ballade in B minor, which openly acknowledge Liszt’s debt to Chopin and the two Légendes of 1863, which bear witness to a period in which Liszt (then 52) became almost obsessed with the religious life. The six Consolations, published […]
If the organ is the king of instruments, Dame Gillian Weir is its undisputed queen. This album provides a selection of the critically-acclaimed recordings she made in the 1970s for Decca, all of which have now been issued on Eloquence.
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 […]
This is one of the most ennobling performances of ‘Lohengrin’ and the stellar cast is led by one of the most famous of all Wagnerian heldentenors, James King. The CD provides nearly 74 minutes of music from this masterpiece, including both the Act I and Act III preludes and the famous ‘Bridal Chorus’.
A beautiful collection of Purcell favourites, both from recent times with artists of the calibre of Emma Kirkby and Christopher Hogwood, to such Purcell champions of the mid-20th century as Benjamin Britten, whose rousing arrangement and performance of the ‘Chaconne in G minor’ is here included.
Herbert von Karajan turns his attention to the swaggering pomp of favourite marches by the ‘other’ Strauss family and many others in this good natured and emblazoned romp.
