GAETANO DONIZETTI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Donizetti: Anna Bolena (complete opera with libretto recorded in 1970) Nicolai Ghiaurov, Elena Souliotis, Marilyn Horne, John Alexander / Wiener Staatsopernchor & Opernorchester, Silvio Varviso [ Australian Decca Eloquence / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Apr/1997 ] 'Marilyn Horne virtually carries the whole opera (in this recording) on her shoulders, and page after page of the score reveals her as a consummate singing-actress.' Opera, January 1971 |
TCHAIKOVSKY / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / PROKOFIEV / TANEYEV / CUI / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: The Art OF Oda Slobodskaya - The Decca & Rymington van Wyck recordings Oda Slobodskaya (soprano) & Ivor Newton (piano) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2011 ] Born in 1888, the Russian soprano Oda Slobodskaya won a scholarship for secondary education but, having completed her schooling, to her displeasure, found herself working with her parents in a second hand clothes shop. |
BERLIOZ / RAVEL / DEBUSSY / ROUSSEL / BIZET / TCHAIKOVSKY / etc
The Legacy of Charles Munch Orchestre de la Société Philharmonique de Paris, L'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, London Philharmonic, Charles Munch [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 14 CD Box Set - released 22/May/2020 ] The inspirational French maestro Charles Munch on disc: an unrivalled retrospective, covering three decades of incandescent music-making, including recordings new to CD and long unavailable, newly remastered and comprehensively documented. |
GABRIEL FAURE / ERNEST CHAUSSON / PAUL DUKAS
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Faure: Pelleas et Melisande / Dukas: Sorcerer's Apprentice / Chausson: Symphony Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet [ Decca Eloquence / CD - released 20/Jul/2002 ] The best-loved French classics performed by the famous Orchestre de la Suisse Romande |
GUSTAV HOLST
Holst: Savitri / 7 Part-Songs / Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda / etc Osian Ellis (harp) Janet Baker, Robert Tear & Thomas Helmsley / The Purcell Singers, English Chamber Orchestra, Imogen Holst [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 10/Feb/2011 ] "This classic performance will be difficult to better...Janet Baker gives a radiant and most moving interpretation of the title role" (Gramophone Magazine Re-issue of the Month - July 2011) |
TRADITIONAL / DOWLAND / CAMPION / etc
Osian Ellis: Songs with Harp Osian Ellis (harp & voice) [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 25/Mar/2015 ] "[the songs are] launched and sustained with arresting expressiveness. […] The whole gamut of moods in the Welsh songs is found to be more artfully arranged when one has played it through several times. I found many of the songs, unfamiliar at first |
BEETHOVEN / SCHUBERT / BOCCHERINI / HAYDN / etc
Pablo Casals - The Philips Legacy Pablo Casals (cello/conductor) with Mieczysław Horszowski (piano), Sándor Végh (violin), Ensemble of 102 Cellos, etc [ Decca Eloquence / 7 CD Box Set - released 28/Jul/2022 ] The late chamber recordings made by the great Catalan cellist with longstanding friends and colleagues, including two versions of Beethoven's 'Ghost' Trio, the 1956 'Hommage à Pablo Casals' LP, and the Schubert String Quintet with the Végh Quartet. |
VARIOUS COMPOSERS
The World of Ballet [2 CD set] Paris Conservatoire, New Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Anatole Fistoulari [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 10/Nov/2011 ] "I soon found my attention held with delight. This is Strauss as Strauss is played in Vienna" (Gramophone) |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saens: The Five Piano Concertos / Wedding Cake Pascal Roge, Daniel Chorzempa, Bella Davidovich, Michele Campanella, Magda Tagliaferro (pianos) / various orchestras [ Decca Eloquence / 2 CD - released 9/Apr/2007 ] Saint-Saëns complete piano concertos on a 2CD Eloquence set presents some truly rare recordings - Campanella's of the Fourth and Tagliaferro's of the Fifth. |
ALBENIZ / ROMERO / TARREGA / SOR / etc
Guitar Favourites Pepe Romero, guitar [ Philips Australian Eloquence / CD - released 6/Dec/1999 ] "Few musicians can be this flexible with the unwinding of a piece and yet never sound self-indulgent. He seems to know exactly where an emphasis lies, how long to pause, where to push, when to float poetically. This music is Shakespeare, not just... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto Nos 1 / Concert Fantasy Peter Katin (piano) / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult / New Symphony Orchestra of London, Edric Cundell [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 15/Dec/2015 ] "the orchestra does well, and Katin gives us the fine clarity and control which always distinguish his playing" (Gramophone on Concert Fantasy) |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Britten: Folk Songs (with harp) / A Birthday Hansel / Suite for Harp / Canticle V / Part Songs Peter Pears (tenor) Osian Ellis (harp) / Wilbye Consort [ Decca SBS Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Jul/2008 ] 'This is a very important release at a budget price and is a "must have" for the pleasure of genius' MusicWeb |
GERALD FINZI
Finzi: Choral Music Philip Langridge (tenor), London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus Richard Hickox / The RIchard Hickox Singers / Exultate Singers [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 10/Jul/2019 ] "The Exultate Singers are an admirable group of 16 voices, with firm tone and excellent chording. Their words, moreover, are as clear as choral words can be" Gramophone |
BYRD / CAUSTUN / PURCELL / ALLEGRI
Evensong for Ash Wednesday Ray Goodman (treble) / King's College Choir, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / CD - released 11/Sep/2011 ] Roy Goodman's recording of the Allegri Miserere (in David Willcocks's edition, sung in English) was its first, made in March 1963. Although reissued countless times, the complete Argo recording from which it emanates - Evensong for Ash Wednesday -... |
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini - Madama Butterfly (Highlights from the complete opera) Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe Campora, Nell Rankin, Giovanni Inghilleri / Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, Alberto Erede [ Decca Australian Eloquence / CD - released 20/Mar/2016 ] "Tebaldi rises to every climax with opulent, unforced tone..Giuseppe Campora appeared regularly at the Met between 1955 and 1965. He sings naturally and musically, with no forcing of his attractive, lightish voice at climaxes." MusicWeb |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Verdi: Il Trovatore (highlights from the opera) Renata Tebaldi, Mario Del Monaco, Giuletta Simionato, Ugo Savarese, Giorgio Tozzi / Grand Theatre de Geneve Orchestra, Alberto Erede [ Decca Eloquence / CD - released 1/Nov/2000 ] One of the great troubadors of his time, Mario del Monaco has power, masculinity and virility to burn in his portrayal of Manrico on this recording of Trovatore. Tebaldi is a sweet and moving Leonora, excelling in such moments as 'Tacea la notte' |
SCARLATTI / MOZART / BELLINI / TOSTI / GLUCK / etc
Serenata Tebaldi Renata Tebaldi (soprano) with Giorgio Faveretto (piano) & Richard Bonynge (piano) [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 1/Nov/2015 ] It is difficult to dissociate the pure, warm tones of Renata Tebaldi's voice from her usual operatic repertoire - the heroines of the Italian lyric stage of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which, thanks to her exceptional vocal and... |
ADOLPHE ADAM
Adam: Le Corsaire (complete ballet recorded in 1992) Richard Bonynge, English Chamber Orchestra [ Eloquence / Decca / 2 CD - released 17/Aug/2018 ] For this 1990 Decca recording, Richard Bonynge included a divertissement in Act II, the Pas de fleurs (including the famous NailaWaltz), written by Léo Delibes (who had made his début as a ballet composer in La Sourcethe year before) for an 1867... |
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY / FREDERIC CHOPIN
Nicolai Orloff - The Decca Recordings Nicolai Orloff (piano) / The National Symphony Orchestra, Anatole Fistoulari [ Eloquence / Decca / CD - released 10/Feb/2019 ] 'Beautifully played and recorded with all fit gentleness … The player's feathery lightness in the studies, and his ease of rhythm - no hurry or flurry - please me keenly. I like the scale of things.' Gramophone, April 1948 (Chopin) |
MIKLOS ROZSA
Rozsa: Ben Hur, Julius Caesar & Quo Vadis Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Miklos Rozsa & Bernard Herrmann [ Decca SBS Australian Eloquence / 2 CD - released 20/Dec/2010 ] "The whole disc is brilliantly played and as brilliantly recorded" (Gramophone on Ben Hur) |