Antonin Dvorak

Recorded in 1957

Recorded in 1952

From matter to colour…

The cello players of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, moved by an enthusiasm and complicity that is frequently admired, created a cello ensemble in 2005, Les Phil’Art’Cellistes, now composed of Jean-Claude Auclin, Pauline Bartissol, Catherine De Vençay, Marion Gailland, Renaud Guieu, Karine Jean-Baptiste, Jérémie Maillard, Clémentine Meyer, Nadine Pierre, Jérôme Pinget, Daniel Raclot et Nicolas Saint-Yves.

From the Prelude to Lohengrin to …del matiz al color… by the Argentinean composer Martin Matalon, this first disc by the Phil’Art’Cellistes (The Philarcellists) spans some 150 years of music. An invitation to travel in the special repertoire of the cello? A tribute to composers who have aimed for the universal, whilst drawing on the vigour of a national culture? Certainly, but not only. The subtitle of the album, 'from matter to colour', gives us another vital lead: the connection of music with the other arts. In fact, not one work on the programme is 'pure music'. Whether it be dance with Dvořák, theatre with Wagner, Fauré and Bernstein, or the visual arts with Debussy and Matalon, each piece opens up to a different dimension, more visual, more tactile, more significant, too, of which the cello, often compared to the human voice, becomes the special interpreter. But this disc is, above all, the expression of a common culture: that of the orchestra and the symphonic repertoire that refers back to the very origins of the ensemble, founded in 2005, within the cello section of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Les Phil’Art’Cellistes? Creation and raison d’être of an ensemble unlike the others…

Herbert von Karajan, the legend! Spectacular 10 CD Classic-Box! He was one of the most significant and well-known orchestra leaders of the 20th century.

He was working with big and famous symphonic orchestras in all well-known operas all over the world. This Box contains a representative profile of his creation.

Meditation is a collection great works of a contemplative nature from the violin repertoire.

This collection features conductor Robert Shaw, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Robert Shaw Festival Singers performing sacred choral classics from some of the albums they recorded for Telarc between 1979 and 1993.

In consistently excellent sound, Shaw’s unrivalled mastery of this repertoire shines through in every selection on the disc, from the final pages of the "Prologue in Heaven" from Boito’s Mefistofele, to the towering conclusion of Mahler's Symphony No. 8.

Otto Klemperer was born on 14th May 1885 in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland) and died on 6th July 1973 in Zurich and hence next year we mark 40 years since his passing. Although disfigured by a stroke suffered whilst a brain tumour was being removed he became a world-renowned conductor whose recordings became and remain touchstones for the EMI catalogue.

Having completed the highly successful series of Beethoven recordings it was natural for EMI to seek further Romantic symphonies from Otto Klemperer. In addition to those of Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler which appear in their own specific boxes, Klemperer recorded three by Schubert, two by Mendelssohn as well as the Hebrides Overture and Midsummer Night’s Dream Incidental music, all four by Schumann as well as three Overtures, the last three by Tchaikovsky as well as Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Franck’s D minor and Dvorák’s “From the New World”. This set also contains three Overtures by Weber and Johann Strauss’s Overture Die Fledermaus and two favourite Waltzes.

Although clearly not a Symphony the charming Incidental music to a Midsummer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn is included as Klemperer held it in the greatest affection and performed it on many occasions throughout his career.

With the exception of the Franck and three of the Schumann Symphonies all recordings are with the Philharmonia Orchestra and therefore predate 1964.