One of the most prominent French conductors of his generation, Georges Prêtre (1924-2017) was celebrated for both opera and orchestral music. A former music director of the Paris Opéra, he has conducted the major orchestras of Europe and the USA. Before becoming Maria Callas's favorite conductor, he was also Francis Poulenc's one, who entrusted him with the premiere of many of his scores. This boxed set, which brings together each of Poulenc's works documented by Prêtre within the EMI catalogue, shows the many facets of his music: sincere, spontaneous, moving and capable of astonishingly contrasting registers.

Unanimously acclaimed by her peers, the music-loving public and the press, French pianist Catherine Collard (1947-1993) died far too soon. The memories of her concerts, master classes and generosity are still very much alive today. The recordings made for Erato and EMI gathered here bear witness to her exceptional talent.

Beethoven: Cello sonatas & variations - Gautier Capu�on - Following on from last year's live recording of the Shostakovich cello concertos, this album sees Gautier return to the studio with his friend and recital partner of many years, Frank Braley, in a program of Beethoven's Sonatas for Cello and Piano. In addition the album includes Beethoven's wonderful variations on three different themes - two on arias from Mozart's opera Die Zauberfl�te, and the other from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus. This is the first new recording of the complete Beethoven cello works for some time and is a long-awaited release. Making a guest appearance on the album is Erato cellist Edgar Moreau, who plays in the group of pieces by Falla. "This was the first time Edgar and I played together," says Garcia. "It felt spontaneous, like two friends getting to know each other."

A. SCARLATTI: SEDECIA RE DI GERUSALEMME

BALLI E BALETTI / ENGLAND MY ENGLAND

RIHM / DUSAPIN / MANTOVANI: THREE MODERN CONCERTOS

FIVE CONCERTOS FOR HARPSICHORD

PLI SELON PLI

Nicholas Angelich TITLE: Dedication - With this album entitled 'La Ronde', Nicholas Angelich pays tribute to the relationships between three of Romanticism's greatest composers for the piano, all born within 18 months of each other in 181-:-11: Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin. Nicholas Angelich, American-born, but French trained, is especially admired in the Central European repertoire of the 19th century, with Liszt, Schumann and Chopin all prominent in his personal pantheon.

DARDANUS SUITES

CONCERTOS / ETUDES / SONATAS 2 & 3 / POLONAISES

COMPLETE SYMPHONIC & ERATO RECORDINGS FOR WARNER

L'ALLEGRO IL PENSEROSO ED IL MODERATO

ETERNAL STORIES

Aspiring to Parnassus, the mythological mountain home of the Muses, Jean Rondeau explores the possibilities of the harpsichord in music composed over more than 400 years - much of it for the piano. He pays tribute to the Austrian composer Johann Joseph Fux, who in 1725 published the original Gradus ad Parnassum, an influential treatise on counterpoint, and to Muzio Clementi, whose similarly titled collection of piano studies came a century later. The theme continues with Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, an affectionate parody of Clementi from the Children's Corner suite. The album's scope extends to the renaissance (Palestrina) and to works conceived for the piano by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Rondeau's Gradus ad Parnassum sensitizes us to what repertoire written for the piano can reveal about the harpischord - and to what the harpsichord can reveal about repertoire written for the piano.