Posts tagged as "decca"

QUEEN OF THE KEYBOARD

August 11, 2022

Mark Ainley surveys the artistry of Greek pianist Gina Bachauer, to mark the release of her complete Mercury Living Presence recordings. Many pianists are impossible to classify and fit no school. Gina Bachauer was one of these… unlike most modern pianists she was a romantic with a virtuoso approach to the keyboard…. She played in […]

From Shellac to Stereo

May 5, 2022

MICHAEL GRAY explores the Wilhelm Kempff legacy Wilhelm Kempff began recording for Deutsche Grammophon (DG) in the autumn of 1922. (Kempff is quoted as saying he began recording in 1920. However, his first record falls within DG’s matrix series for discs made in the autumn of 1922.) Before 1916, DG had been the German branch […]

ANTHONY COLLINS

July 23, 2021

Peter Quantrill examines the Decca legacy of the British conductor, responsible for one of the first complete Sibelius symphony cycles to be recorded. Violinists have often left the leader’s chair and stepped on to the podium. Sir John Barbirolli and Arturo Toscanini number among the most distinguished cellists who swapped bows for batons. A rarer […]

The Legacy of Swiss conductor, PETER MAAG

January 6, 2021

In 1990 Peter Maag (1919–2001) returned to the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Lisbon for a run of Così fan tutte, an opera he had been directing for over 40 years. He raised a few eyebrows when he asked for an orchestra of only 26 players. ‘If there is more,’ he explained, ‘Mozart vanishes.’ Mozart, […]

Olivier Messiaen – The Composer I Know; The Man I Knew

December 14, 2020

On the occasion of her 80th birthday (17 January 2021), Dame Gillian Weir reflects on her working relationship with French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992), with illuminating insight and amusing anecdotes. Their special relationship is now celebrated in a new 22-CD Limited Edition Box Set on Eloquence, in which Messiaen’s work features on seven on […]

Joan Sutherland on curating 'My Favourites'

October 9, 2020

When I was asked to choose a disc of my own favourite recordings I thought ‘What a good idea!’. In actual fact, it has become a torment as I have far too many favourites! I have ended up with a few pieces which have been part of my life and given me intense pleasure – […]