Richter's interpretations in these years had an elemental power, unselfconscious abandon that was refined and tempered in later life. These entirely unedited performances, given over more than three decades from the mid 1950s to late 1980s, feel not only live but somehow extraordinarily real. Not that Richter ever gives the impression of playing for the microphone, and his vision of musical structures remains constant whether in the studio or concert-hall.... The Schubert D major Sonata (studio recording 1956) is a tower of inner strength

Gramophon magazine greeted both these recordings with rapturous reviews when first released; "Profoundly satisfying, the work of musicians who know the scores backwards, love playing them and know what not to do... Haitink and the LSO seem set to provide one of the top Beethoven cycles of the digital era"

Davis... magnificently crowns his whole career as a Berlioz interpreter, generally outshining even his pioneer version of 30 years earlier... Petra Lang is superb, firm, rich and intense, investing every phrase with emotional power, instantly establishing her dominance... Ben Heppner excels himself (Penguin Guide ROSETTE). Gramophone Awards' Best Opera; Academie Charles Cros' Grand Prix du Disc, Opera News' Recordings of the Year; Grammy Opera of the Year Award 2001

an outstanding production for the interest of the music, and for the superb quality of both playing and recording. Manuel Ponce's concerto for Segovia has symphonic leanings... and southerly leanings, extending to authentic native tunes and sultry guitar rhythms. The combination is fascinating... Rodrigo's Fantasia benefits from the tone-colour of the guitar, enhanced further by this particularly good recording... Segovia ensures for posterity... his superlative playing (Gramophone)

a blaze from heaven descended on him while he was conducting this extremely good First Symphony. He sets a well-nigh perfect tempo for the march and follows with a really lively, excited allegro. Even better though, the playing captures that elusive vein of fantasy that is Elgar... moments of magic explain why Elgar wraps himself round our hearts... are all here in the beautifully balanced recording. Marriner knows where he is going and the final pages are superb. (Gramophone)

'Films are fantasy - and fantasy needs music' (Jack L Warner / Warner Bros.)

Vanguard's reissues of Purcell, the composer most closely associated with Alfred Deller... The purity of tone, the extraordinary resonance of lower and middle notes, the technical skill and sensitivity of his singing all remain... Stylish playing by George Malcolm and others (including young Neville Marriner)... celebrated not only Deller himself but his generation who did so much to bring Purcell out to reveal his genius (Gramophone)

(contains EMI's Great Recordings collection plus 6 more !) "the playing itself is certainly as beautiful as one could imagine, with good balance on the stereo between violin and piano." (Gramophone) "the kind of favourites that flecked his concerts with such consistent beauty. The subtlety of his vibrato usage and the sophistication he employs bring their own very true rewards. As indeed does the certain tristesse he finds in the final bars - unusually so." (MusicWeb)

a sympathetic and sensitive guide to this repertoire... well recorded. She produces a wide range of keyboard colour and a good dynamic range. On the whole the set makes a clear first choice in this repertoire (Penguin Guide 3 stars) "She is not one of the bash and glitter school. Her approach reaches the heart of the music by stealth... soft playing which is yet deep in tone" (Musical Opinion)

This recording of Elgar's 2nd Symphony has garnered lavish praise; Classic FM proclaimed it the most passionate and detailed account with the world-class playing of the LSO. BBC Radio 3 while nominating it the top budget choice, described it as being "Larger than life, but capturing every mood with humanity and tenderness". The Guardian and Sunday Times included it in their list of best releases of 2002 and the Penguin Guide chose to highlight the breathtaking gentleness, glorious brass and remarkable dynamic range.

a deeply felt, thoughtful and, where needed, highly dramatic interpretation of an indisputable masterpiece. (Gramophone) "orchestral textures were sensuously coloured, and the vast symphonic structure flawlessly paced and handled. The choral singing, thrilling in it's immediacy and clarity, can only be described as electrifying from start to finish" (The Guardian) "For Davis, Elgar is a European composer, and the links to Wagner are clear... Davis is the star: guiding shaping, enhancing the beauty and the flow." (The Times)

An extremely enjoyable and idiomatic side to the great Finnish composer. Unjustly overlooked, these works are exciting expressive and vivid. You come away with a great sense of Sibelius as an original creator who entertains.

Alto finally releasing a worthy version of this cornerstone of the repertoire. When it was first released the Sunday Times was rapturous; "a magnificent Ninth, done with total commitment under Haitink's inspiring leadership... with splendid chorus and soloists in full cry, and orchestra in blazing form"the slow third movement... moves along at a pace few conductors would have employed fifty years ago. Yet it never sounds hurried, and the dramatic brass interruptions towards it's close have an appropriately apocalyptic ring. The extraordinarily vivid recording, in which the basses are caught to stupendous effect - especially in their passages of recitative... before welcoming the 'Ode to Joy' theme - adds hugely to the effect." (BBC Music magazine)

This album has the best possible couplings for the inimitable New World Symphony "'Davis offers a story and a sense of conviction that place his performance in a wholly different league.' (BBC Music Magazine 5 stars) "Unmissable... Superb in all respects. Sound quality doesn't come any better than this whatever the price. Don't hesitate!" (Classic CD)

Probably the most significant Russian symphony between Tchaikovsky's Path�tique (1893) and the Fourth Symphony of Shostakovich (premiered 1961), this was to be hailed as the first Soviet Symphony, partly because of the use of French Revolutionary songs in the finale. This is a splendidly fiery, memorable and ultimately moving work which deserves a big-occasion performance and this performance is by far the best yet to be recorded

[BBC Music Magazine's Disc of the Month]: 'Right from the start, with those dark, dragging rhythms, there's a sense that something special is afoot here... Gergiev charts the whole labyrinthine course with thrilling assurance [whilst] the virtuosity and sensitivity of the L.S.O - is a continual exhilarating delight.' The Times]: "This is a terrific, gripping performance from Gergiev and the L.S.O of Mahler's Seventh, an edge-of-the-seat experience... Gergiev brings an almost palpable darkness, fear and mystery to the three central movements, giving an impression, in the central scherzo, of hot, tormenting laser lights darting in from all angles, and he imbues the outer movements with an almost frenzied momentum."

(Concerto): Hickox unfurls the opening tutti richly, nobley, purposefully... no lack of brilliance, the fireworks are dashingly, tastefully despatched... sudden flashes of Paganinian dazzle(others): "The slow movement of the Piano Concerto... with a sympathetic performance from Margaret Fingerhut. Douglas Bostock is persuasive with his Elgarian rubato, which is what matters most." (Gramophone) "Polonia is to my mind, one of the finest works Elgar wrote... The nail-biting martial music mixes with spine-tingling Polish themes to reach a gloriously romantic and bombastic conclusion... a splendid reading by Bostock. The disc receives one of Classico's best recordings to date with painstaking preparation in evidence throughout as his Munich players play with true commitment and dedication" (MusicWeb)

Grammy Nomination 2014; Gramophone Magazine's Editor's Choice; MusicWeb International's Recording of the Month: '[Davis'] last-ever Berlioz recording, demonstrates yet again his unique empathy with and understanding of Berlioz's music as well as his authority in conducting it.' Classical Source: 'Those two concerts in Saint Paul's were colossal events. I attended the first and have rarely been so moved by the magnificence of stately music superbly rendered... and captured here with remarkable fidelity.' The Arts Desk: 'This is an essential purchase - a first-rate reading of a religious work combining entertainment and spiritual uplift.'

Most important, historically, is the Moscow recording of the original 1962 version of Shostakovich's Symphony No.13 (with the bass Vitaly Gromadsky), using Yevtushenko's (pre-censored) text commemorating the massacre of Jews at Babi Yar... Yevtushenko's original ('I feel myself a Jew'), was what the anti-Semitic Soviet government would have no truck with. So it's significant this is once again made available, especially in such a memorably intense performance. (Gramophone)

Here, at last, is Hildegard sung by Benedictine nuns... living the same life, breathing the same air, and trying to capture the spirit of their great predecessor... they represent really lovely, rather unusual tones, beautifully sung, and with understanding (� Gramophone) "it seems to me absolutely to catch the spirit of her music: this Vespers disc, sung by the nuns of the Abbey of St Hildegard in Eibingen. (Gramophone Critics' choice 1998)

an essential disc for Puccini-fanciers... these chips off the workbench fascinatingly illuminate what we know of the opera composer... recorded sound is very vivid and immediate for the excellent Raphael Quartet.... "Among the six quartet pieces I crisantemi is justly well known a charming piece that provided material for Manon Lescaut. The second of the three Minuets similarly gave Puccini the idea for the brilliant opening of that opera... Scherzo in A minor of the same year is delightful, presumably intended as another movement for the quartet" (Gramophone)

Benjamin Britten had a rare genius for setting words to music, becoming one of the most successful choral composers of the 20th Century... Voices and organ make a mystical union, spotlighting their sonorous incompatibilities... Rejoice: Once again the composer extracts a first-rate performance" "Gloriana Dances: choral singing of such quality... balance of the recording... exceptionally life-like and satisfactory, and the sound as good as I have heard... no carol is more perfect in it's simplicity than his Hymn to the Virgin... I also enjoy Britten's church music from New College, Oxford, directed by David Lumsden. This includes the Hymn to St Cecilia." (Gramophone)

Financial Times' Disc of the Year; New York Times' CDs of the Year/ "Performance: * Recording: * 'Beuron, probably today's finest lyric tenor, gives the performance an essential idiomatic core in his narration... [Tenebrae are] dramatically alert and glowing as stained glass, the angelic messages skin-pricklingly ethereal." (BBC Music Magazine) "[Sir Colin's] revisitation of this truly classic score is utterly and totally compelling.' (International Record Review)

Review Examples: (5th):"However committed you are to any other interpretation, his demands to be heard."(Gramophone);(6th/14th): BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Month Nov.2014. (8th): Mravinsky's live recording of the Eighth of capital importance and demands to be heard: the Leningrad audience is struck dumb by it." (Gramophone). (10th): deeply moving.... Maxim Shostakovich should be compared with Haitink for noble sobriety" (Gramophone). (11th): "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). (13th): So it's significant this is once again made available, especially in such a memorably intense performance." (Gramophone). (15th) "a superbly vivid Fifteenth, generally hard-driven � la Mravinsky but here far more convincingly poised" (Gramophone)

exciting reading of Arnold's finest symphony from unexpected sources, coupled with enchanting CD debutants... The 5th is a marvellous symphony, perhaps his greatest - powerfully argued, confidently structured, and full of memorable invention. It is good to see it so well played and recorded in Munich, guided by Douglas Bostock who comes into his own in four extra works, which are all first recordings. Divertimento- a splendidly characterful triptych; there is much outrageous fun in the St Trinian's score - bursting with irreverent ideas and effects; and the lovely, nostalgic 'Sarabande' of Solitaire (one of his most touching tunes).(Gramophone)