“Indisputably the most consummate artist in the history of the classical trumpet,” was how Gramophone described Maurice André, a musician characterised by both brilliance and refinement. These six CDs, which give pride of place to music from the 18th and 20th centuries, complement some of the most popular concertos ever written for trumpet with an enticing and fascinating selection of rarely-heard works.

Once a towering inspirational figure in the musical life of Berlin, later a crucial influence on musicians as diverse as Sibelius, Varèse, Schoenberg and Weill, Ferruccio Busoni is now being rediscovered by a new generation of performers and listeners.

Yuri Temirkanov's Royal Philharmonic recording has been around for a long time; it was recorded in 1986 and has been in the catalog ever since – for good reason. Temirkanov is always sensitive to the exotic nature of these scores, particularly Spartacus, and he brings excitement to the varied colorful dances of both ballets. His recording is more full-bodied than the Bolshoi CD; no under-staffed orchestra here, and their rich sounds have been superbly captured by EMI's engineers.

Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, pioneer of flight, anatomist, scientist - yet according to Vasari, Leonardo’s first job outside Florence was as a musician. “Music cannot be regarded other than as the sister of painting', said Leonardo, so for the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, I Fagiolini and Martin Kemp offer reflections of his images in vocal music: aural Fantasia dei Vinci - art through the prism of music.

A selection of Richard Strauss’s most-loved lieder and songs, and Elisabeth’s arias from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the role in which Lise Davidsen will make her debut at Bayreuth Festival. Plus Ariadne’s aria from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos: her 2017 Glyndebourne debut in the title role was named “one of those ‘I was there’ moments” (The Times).
Also includes Strauss’s iconic Four Last Songs, originally premiered by Decca’s Kirsten Flagstad. Recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra, who performed the premiere of the Four Last Songs, and Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.

This release is a truly unique collection of magical orchestral music by Charles Koechlin. November 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Koechlin's birth, and this release includes many world première recordings. The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and Heinz Holliger are experienced interpreters of this special repertoire.

28th December 2012 marks the 75th Anniversary of the death of Maurice Ravel, the great French composer, best-known for his beautiful melodies, orchestral & instrumental textures and mesmeric compositional effects.
Many consumers will know Ravel through his masterpieces, such as: Boléro, Pavane pour une infant défunte, Rapsodie espagnole, Gaspard de la nuit, Ma Mère l’oye, Daphnis et Chloë, Le Tombeau de Couperin and La Valse.

This 33-CD set stands as the most complete collection of recordings of Debussy’s music ever made: it comprises all his known works, including four pieces in world premiere recordings which were made especially for this edition. Compiled in collaboration with renowned Debussy expert Denis Herlin (responsible for several critical editions of Debussy’s music for Durand, the composer’s publisher), the box comprises recordings carefully chosen for their artistic quality and their authenticity of spirit. They span more than a century, even including recordings made by Debussy himself – he was a superb pianist. Many other distinguished names are among the performers, including a suitably impressive contingent from France.

Vaughan Williams had been interested in folk music since he was a boy. In December 1903, he noted down the tune of Bushes and Briars from a 70 year-old labourer who lived in the Essex village of Ingrave. Over the next ten years he collected more than 800 songs, and they had a profound effect on his development as a composer. Particularly significant was a week long visit to King’s Lynn in 1905, during which he collected some 30 songs. One was The Captain’s Apprentice as sung by the fisherman James Carter. This melody was used in the Norfolk Rhapsody No 1, the Sea Symphony and the Pastoral Symphony. Another was Ward the Pirate, used as a theme in both the first and second Rhapsodies.

Harry Freedman - Canadian Composers Portraits (2002) {2CD Set, Centrediscs CMCCD 8402}
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© 2002 Centrediscs | CMCCD 8402
Classical / Contemporary Classical / 20th Century

This recording is part of the Centrediscs’ Canadian Composers Portraits series which documents the emergence of a generation of pioneering professional composers who firmly established Canada’s place on the world’s musical map. Each release in this retrospective of the last fifty years is dedicated to a single composer and uniquely combines full-length documentaries on the composers’ lives and music, as well as a selection of their most important works. “Each of the performances is exceptionally well done, with precision and strong emotional presence.”

Arnold Schoenberg - Chamber Music - Arditti String Quartet (1995) {2CD Set, Auvidis–Montaigne MO782025}
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© 1995 Auvidis / Montaigne | MO 782025
Classical / Modern Classical / Avant-Garde / Chamber Music

Arnold Schoenberg exercised very considerable influence over the course of music in the 20th century. This was particularly through his development and promulgation of compositional theories in which unity in a work is provided by the use of a determined series, usually consisting of the 12 possible different semitones, their order also inverted or taken in retrograde form and in transposed versions.

Shostakovich's musically brilliant and ingeniously panoramic opera about love, lust, power and oppression is fabulously well played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons in this authoritative production. Stage director Martin Kusej builds on formidable musical strengths to forge a relentless drama that explores with emotional conviction the shadowy, layered boundaries between victims and perpetrators. First-rate protagonist Eva-Maria Westbroek is phenomenal in her gripping interpretation of Katarina, compelling the entire cast, including the choir, to almost unbearable realism in their portrayal of timeless human weaknesses.

Director Sven- Erich Bechtolf “has again delved deeply into music and text”, observed the opera magazine Opernnetz in its rave review of the performance captured here. “In Rolf Glittenberg’s beautiful Jugendstil salon, he is constantly in touch with the heartbeat of the story […] As Ariadne, Soile Isokoski radiates enchanting vocal beauty as she forms endless nuances in one blossoming phrase after another. Daniela Fally sings the gruellingly difficult part of Zerbinetta with great flexibility, acting it with nonchalant coquettishness.

Sergei Prokofiev devoted the last twelve years of his life to War and Peace. He completed the orchestration by April 1942 and the entire score was ready in March 1943. Having completed the first version (containing eleven scenes) unusually quickly, the composer continued working on the opera over the next ten years. The greatest landmark in the stage history of the opera came with the 1991 production at the Mariinsky Theatre, when Prokofiev's complete score was performed for the first time with no cuts.

In the Pierre Boulez Saal Opening Concert, Daniel Barenboim, the Boulez Ensemble and renowned soloists are celebrating the idea of what this new concert hall of the Barenboim Said-Academy in Berlin stands for: to create a space where beloved classics, modern masterworks of the early 20th century, and music of our time can be heard side by side and inspire audiences and performers alike.