Felix Mendelssohn

Just as the composer would have wanted it, Christoph has selected a full chorus and a magnificently dimensioned orchestra for this recording. The New Orchestra performs on historical instruments and has gained renown as an outstanding interpreter of the music of the romantic era. Both the chorus and orchestra were founded by Christoph Spering. This is a fresh, brisk and sharp live performance.

Recording locations: Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland, May 1950 (Schubert: Piano Quintet); Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, April 1954 (Schubert: Octet); Vienna, Austria, June 1953 (Mendelssohn)

This recording forms part of a series of 10 reissues celebrating the glorious Decca recordings from the 1950s-1970s of the Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet), made up of key principals from the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

This collection brings together three of the most enduring chamber music masterpieces ever written. Mendelssohn’s Octet remains an absolute teenage marvel, never mind what Mozart wrote at a similar or younger age, or what child prodigies have accomplished since. Schubert’s “Trout” is one of his most joyous works and his Octet was one of the Wiener Oktett’s signature pieces, admired not only by a legion of concertgoers, record collectors and critics, but also the aged Richard Strauss who heard the ensemble perform this work.

What makes this set even more attractive is that the recordings of each of these pieces are rare and much sought-after. The Mendelssohn was the first of the ensemble’s two recordings (1953, 1972). The Schubert “Trout” Quintet was more famously recorded in 1957 with Clifford Curzon, but this 1950 recording, with the Oktett’s regular pianist, Walter Panhofer, is perhaps even more sublime. The Octet’s recording dates from 1954. It was recorded again in 1958, but for many, this first reading, which has never appeared on CD before, is perhaps even more spontaneous.

Distinguished commentator Tully Potter’s notes on the music and the performers are witty and engaging, adding yet another dimension to the reissue of these recordings, much loved as they have (until now) been much missed.

Recording locations: Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, September 1968 (Mendelssohn, Borodin), October 1968 (Kreutzer, Berwald), November 1972 (Rimsky-Korsakov)

This recording forms part of a series of 10 reissues celebrating the glorious Decca recordings from the 1950s-1970s of the Wiener Oktett (Vienna Octet), made up of key principals from the Wiener Philharmoniker and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Five titles were released in September and the remaining five are released this month.

In addition to recording standard chamber music repertoire, the Vienna Octet refreshingly explored the byways of chamber music, and this collection brings together five rarities of chamber music. The recordings were originally released in the early 1970s and the Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Quintet was recorded in the very last sessions of the Octet. Both, the Borodin and Mendelssohn are early works by the composers, but were published posthumously – the Borodin, published in 1938, shows influences of Mendelssohn and Schumann. Mendelssohn’s Sextet for piano and strings was written in the spring of 1824 when the composer was in his mid-teens and published twenty years after his death.

Conradin Kreutzer is not to be confused with his more famous namesake, Rodolphe Kreutzer (French violinist and composer, dedicatee of Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata). Conradin was a German composer writing several works for stage as well as a substantial corpus of chamber music. His magnificent Grand Septet is based on the instrumentation of Beethoven’s Septet and was first recorded by the Vienna Octet in 1951. 17 years later they revisited it and it was issued on LP coupled with the Berwald Septet included here.

Mendelssohn’s E minor violin concerto is one of the composer’s greatest works, and one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire.

Making his first recording of the work, James Ehnes is partnered by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia, recorded live.

The astonishingly precocious Octet, written when Mendelssohn was just 16, is given a sparking and vivacious performance by James and his friends from the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

His previous ONYX release of the Paganini 24 Caprices was universally praised by reviewers worldwide.

This disc is a far cry from the typical fare we’ve come to expect on the shelves around the Christmas season. The inclusion of Bach’s sublime Cantata 63 and Mendelssohn’s Vom Himmel hoch give the disc a year round appeal.

Vaughan Williams’ joyful The First Nowell is a veritable feast of well loved carols and the London Philharmonic Choir together with soloists Lisa Milne and Christopher Maltman exude Christmas cheer.

Vaughan Williams himself said ‘I think that every Christmas play ought to begin with God rest you Merry and end with The First Nowell.’

These are never-before-released Monteux live performances in state of the art digital restorations. The set includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Glinka, Hindemith, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, Schumann, R. Strauss of which there are no studio recordings with Monteux. Soloists include Stern and Serkin.

This 2-CD set contains an extremely wide range of music for boys' choirs, from the early polyphony of Allegri's Miserere to the present-day popular songs of Prince and Enya. Also included are some interesting works by some great 20th-century composers such as Copland, Britten and Ned Rorem.

The featured choirs are some of the world's most notable boys' choirs, from the Vienna Boys' Choir and the American Boychoir to, perhaps the best-known of them all, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. The most recent of the choirs here is Libera, formed by their conductor, Robert Prizeman, from school boys from around south London.

So, for those who already find the freshness and youthfulness of boys' voices uniquely appealing here is the perfect compilation. For those who have yet to make the discovery this set should prove a delightful musical journey.