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)

John Philip Sousa

although the best-known Rachmaninov works are not uncharacteristic, they represent only one side of his musical personality. Some of his finest scores have nothing to do with the piano, or the orchestra, and ranking high among them are his two major religious pieces, the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, and the Vespers... The culmination of 100 years of effort by Russian composers to fuse liturgical and art music. Certainly they were not unexpected for Rachmaninov, because the tones of Russian religious choirs - dark, rich, sonorous - haunted his inner ear as much as the sound of piano (Gramophone)

Combine the stirring sound of a large smooth choir, with balalaikas, and great Russian baritones with the varying rhythms of folksong and marches and you have a worldwide success, as the legendary Alexandrov realised in the 1930's

Paray's whimsically relaxed and sparkling account of Espa�a gives great pleasure and his rubato in the F�te is equally winning... wholly delightful... warm and polished... beautifully balanced [Lalo Namouna Suite] "What delightful music this is, particularly in such expert hands" (both: Penguin Guide 3*)

Yet again Sir Colin Davis demonstrates his supreme mastery as a Berlioz interpreter... especially fascinating is to compare this latest Harold en Italie with earlier versions - the biggest contrast is the extra tautness of Davis's interpretation, with speeds consistently faster... The textures are sparer, sharper and lighter - bringing extra incisiveness all round. One other benefit is that the magnificent Tabea Zimmermann, is balanced as part of the orchestra. The beauty of her tone, with it's nut-brown colours on the C-string, is never masked, but the balance allows pianissimi of a delicacy never achieved by the 1975 version. In the introduction there is a repeat marked 'pianissimo possibile' - just what you hear in magic tones. (Gramophone)

Ahronovitch is direct and exciting and the title is well borne out by the performances. The recording is brilliant without being aggressively so, and has plenty of weight (with splendid brass sonorities in Night on the Bare Mountain) plus an effective ambience. The Sabre Dance has great energy and the Prokofiev March from Love for three oranges is nicely pointed, and it includes favourites such as the BBC TV Onedin Line theme - the Adagio from Spartacus. In short, this is excellent value and does much to recommend the L.S.O series."(Gramophone). (Tchaikovsky): "recording spectacular, and the balance truthful... fusillade of canon at the end of '1812' is impressively realistic" (Penguin Guide)

Double CD release containing 150 minutes of stirring memories including nostalgic wartime news bulletins.

DRIVING INSTRUCTOR-20 COMEDY CLASS / VARIOUS

[Syms.1&2] "two performances of masterpieces: marvellous orchestral playing and a carefree feeling to the music-making... playing is highly detailed and relaxed. The lack of bombast and aggression in the louder passages is to be applauded... performances unbuttoned and refined... sound quality is vivid, forward and clear" (MusicWeb) ; [5th MC3106] "Right at the opening, the listener notes the extremely rich, dynamically full-powered and yet transparent sound of the Westdeutsche Sinfonia, also rich in it's tonal quality. Under the gripping direction of Dirk Joeres, the symphony becomes a first-rate sound experience" [7th] "Joeres is not influenced by any (other) styles. He conducts a classically shaped and full-blooded Seventh in which the focus is on the music, On the accompanying note, he fully explains the symphonies and his interpretive concept with a great deal of knowledge" (Pizzicato)