Borodin’s second and third symphonies plus the Overture and Polovstian Dances from Prince Igor and ‘In the Steppes of Central Asia’ collected on a single CD. This is all of Ernest Ansermet’s Borodin recordings for Decca; recordings widely praised for their dynamism and thrust.
A rare foray for Ansermet into the Baroque era. Henri Helaerts and Roger Reversy were principal winds with the Suisse Romande and their solo work appears in many an orchestral work in his recordings. For this collection of Baroque concertos, Helaerts is soloist in two Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos recorded 16 years apart – in 1952 […]
Bach’s music featured early in Ansermet’s career and he conducted the fourth Orchestral Suite in his last concert. Playing Bach in the 1960s was not quite the affair it is today but it would be false to assume that Ansermet’s Bach is the bloated, romanticised affair that was current in the 1960s. While his readings […]
From Roussel’s delightful tribute to the animal kingdom in ‘Le festin de l’araignée’ via two of Dukas’ symphonic masterpieces (‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ in state-of-the-art sound) to Chausson’s powerful and massive Symphony in B flat, this generous anthology in the ‘Decca Ansermet Legacy’ features the conductor in music he knew intimately and performed inimitably.
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 […]
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 […]
This and the other two 2CD sets – 4800834 and 4800837 – represent all of Ansermet’s Prokofiev recordings for Decca (with the exception of a mono recording of the March & Scherzo from The Love for Three Oranges – the stereo version appears here).
The three 2CD Tchaikovsky/Ansermet sets represent his complete Tchaikovsky recordings for Decca.Ansermet’s recording of ‘The Nutcracker’ is in a league of its own, and many will find fascinating his own sequencing of numbers from ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. Refined, yet passionate, many of the pieces on these recordings make their first international appearance […]
The three 2-CD Tchaikovsky/Ansermet sets, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, represent his complete Tchaikovsky recordings for Decca. Ansermet’s recording of The Nutcracker is in a league of its own and many will find fascinating his own sequencing of numbers from Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Refined, yet passionate, many of the […]
The three 2CD Tchaikovsky/Ansermet sets, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, represent his complete Tchaikovsky recordings for Decca. Ansermet’s recording of The Nutcracker is in a league of its own and many will find fascinating his own sequencing of numbers from Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. Refined, yet passionate, many of the […]
Making its first international appearance on CD, is Ansermet’s complete recording of a favourite ballet score – ‘Coppélia’ – its toy-box effects deliciously captured by Ansermet and the Suisse Romande. Ansermet only recorded selections from ‘Sylvia’ and they appear here, together with the rare 1960 recording of the second ‘Daphnis et Chloé’ suite which, for sheer […]
