(Guitar) "Yepes' cadenza is as clean and bright as a new pin, and his rapid repeated-note finish is fantastic." "I am coming to regard the Fantasia para un gentilhombre with it's gracious nobility and baroque feeling as a masterpiece to match the more famous Concierto de Aranjuez." (Harp): "Zabaleta plays most beautifully and the recording is immaculate." (Gramophone)

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

Regarding this performance of the 7th Symphony, The Sunday Times remarked; "This beautiful performance deserves to win many new friends for Dvorak's most Brahmsian symphony. Davis's love of this music shines out of every bar culminating in a towering account of the finale, which unlike many, here emerges as a fully satisfying conclusion" With reference to the 8th symphony, BBC Music Magazine applauded this performance; "More successfully than any other recording, Davis captures the slow movement's elusive heart of darkness." BBC Radio 3 1st Choice Recording.

[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)