Classical Music

These from his landmark complete cycle... all well received and I enjoyed hearing them again. B�hm is as excellent a Mozart conductor as Karajan, playing the quick movements in the most lively manner... Haffner is enjoyable, with a faster tempo in the finale, and plenty of momentum to the first movement. K318 has a vital and dramatic performance, The Linz minuet and finale both have sturdy, solid playing; a powerful performance... B�hm is really in his element with the Prague: the first movement is magnificent, superbly played, superbly architected. (Overall)... he shows an exceptional ability to bring subtle emphasis to the felicities of the writing... - (Gramophone).

Classical Music

A superb performance with excellent sound makes this a benchmark recording and my top CD choice of the year. Shostakovich fans ignore this release at their peril ! (MusicWeb) "A searing new live account by Rostropovich, well-recorded and unmissable (he) has something unique to say about this work, transcending any doubts about his conducting... The finale is articulated with tremendous cut and thrust, the sheer heft of the strings mightily impressive... The brass project powerfully as they do in real life, the woodwind audibly composed of individual stylists, the strings sound virile. It's all here... Play loud or not at all." (Gramophone)

'Colin Davis leads a superb quartet of soloists and brings out all the humanity and tenderness of the music with his customary skill. The LSO Chorus responds brilliantly.' (Classic FM). 'Colin Davis who meets the work on it's own particular ground with such imagination and style in this version. The great fugal perorations are crisper under Davis - more Haydnesque, you might say.' (Gramophone). BBC Radio 3 CD of the Week. 'This has impressed everyone... a feeling of immediacy and drama tempered with vision and maturity.' (BBC). 'Feel the warmth of Finley's opening bass solo, marvel at the open throats of the LSO Chorus.' (The Times).

Classical Music

'Sir Colin Davis conducts the Requiem with a judicious mix of fire and meditative calm' (Gramophone) 'a strong set of soloists... Every note fills me with affection and wonder, and that's rare... his performance really feels like a live one as if we're hearing this glorious score straight out of the crucible in which it was forged... From the Domine Jesu Christe onwards everyone seems gripped by the unfolding drama, prompting them to give of their individual and collective best... there's a tension in the orchestra a sense of approaching finality... that dark, tolling figure in the Lux Aeterna is unforgettable, the soloists singing with a liberating loveliness that's equally memorable... Dies irae is (another) case in point... Sir Colin's performance�is in another league entirely' (MusicWeb)

Classical Music

it is no good having lewd words one cannot hear... so full marks for the City Waites and their swinging dialect style... items are sometimes accompanied, sometimes not, and this nicely provides contrast, but they are made into lively entertainments (Penguin Guide 3*) "a taste of the broadside ballad culture which pervaded the Restoration... The Maid's Complaint is a remarkably spontaneous scene, led by soprano Lucie Skeaping complete with a bunch of drunks who join in, late... Good fun but not very clean!" (Gramophone) "good diction allows particular clarity" (MusicWeb)

This is a grandly scaled, nobly contoured reading, by turns monumental and ferociously dramatic. With biting choral attack, searing, spitting strings and scything trumpets, the Dies irae has a terrifying intensity I have rarely heard equalled. The Rex tremendae, too, is overwhelming in it's desperate fervour and grimly sustained impetus, with the inexorable dotted rhythms hewn from granite... If you want a traditionally conceived budget-price Requiem, well sung, superbly played and vividly recorded, Davis's performance has much to commend it." (Gramophone)

The most successful and best-known Welsh Male Voice Choir, now in a popular budget collection.

Great hushes, mighty crescendos, time for every duplet and triplet to be grounded and yet to resonate with momentum. This was Bruckner's maximal minimalism at it's most majestic (The Times) "the LSO's principal horn (David Pyatt) here sets down a wonderful opening benchmark for what follows... Haitink's conducting is a master-class in the art of control while appearing to stand back and let everyone play their best... This version easily holds it's own with the best." (Classic FM magazine)

Richter given first-class modern digital sound, and on top technical form... playing of consistent poetry... charming nostalgia... first recommendation for Tchaikovsky's piano music(� Penguin Guide 3*) "breathtaking, inspiring artistry" (Gramophone)

Classical Music

(Brahms) "a performance that brings warmth as well as drama to this music one must go... to Richter and the Borodin Quartet... (Gramophone) "Absolutely magnificent... a performance in a thousand. It must be heard" (EMG) "There is no better performance available at any price" (Penguin Guide to LPs).

78 mins of well-remastered vintage classic tracks chosen by experts a great romp !

Classical Music

A natural inheritor of Scriabinesque exoticism, Szymanowski brings out the best in Scriabin's most imaginative interpreters, which is why Gergiev proves such a convincing interpreter... excellent playing from the LSO. Matsuev has his feet... firmly planted on terra firma... The gorgeous return to lushness in the second movement suggests an almost Ravelian sensibility... Matsuev and Gergiev turn the finale into Szymanowski's danse generale. (Gramophone). "Stabat Mater is beautiful and Gergiev has the full measure of it's 23 gorgeous minutes." (MusicWeb).

A simmering first recording of Granados' luscious Dante and strong performances of Goyescas and Piezas, all vividly recorded. Dante is a find, a two-part symphonic poem, the first section not quite Tchaikovskian, using luscious post-Wagnerian chromaticism which even brings voluptuous hints of Scriabin and early Schoenberg... When Francesca tells her story, there are even hints of Puccini. The vocal entry, beautifully prepared, is longingly and entreatingly sung by Herrera... How beautifully they introduce the bewitching highlight of Goyescas, 'La maja y el ruiseinor' ! simply and beautifully sung by Lucey. Anselm Ferrer's orchestration of the Piezas sobre cantos populares re-creates the music in orchestral terms, to make an entertaining centrepiece in a first-class collection, richly recorded. (Gramophone)

Classical Music

Special 2CD set, Unique Compilati on of all the Greatest Moments in Opera Bjorling, Tebaldi, de los Angeles, Freni, Price, di Stefano, Bergonzi. Specially Priced 2 CD set with an amazing array of the best arias and ensembles from Puccini's Operas. All the most famous highlights from Nessun Dorma to Vissi D'arte. 32 tracks

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

(9th) They capture not only the joyful irreverence but the sense of danger lurking beneath... solo wind playing is excellent throughout... brilliantly played and vividly recorded (CD Review) (15th) "with a superbly vivid Fifteenth, generally hard-driven � la Mravinsky but far more convincingly poised... first movement goes at a frightening lick, deserting the toy shop for the asylum, the slow movement lacks only the very last ounce of desolation and the finale, always intelligently conceived, is suitably emotive at the close. The sound has immediacy and enough depth." (Gramophone)