Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This is a very important record for collectors of great orchestral interpretations, in that it reveals aspects of the great Hungarian-born but naturalised American conductor Fritz Reiner which have rarely been made available on disc before. There are two major highlights on this CD – Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ with the magnificent tenor Lauritz Melchior adopting a new role on disc as narrator, and an early war-time performance of Shostakovich’s epic Sixth Symphony with the Phlharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York. This very well-filled CD is completed by a brilliant performance of Mozart’s ‘Impresario’ Overture, and masterly accounts of the March from Tchaikovsky’s First Orchestral Suite, Debussy’s Fetes from his three Nocturnes and a beautifully transcription by Lucien Caillet of Bach’s ‘Little’ Fugue in G minor – the last three with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Excellent sound.

The combination of flute and harp is one that has fascinated composers over the centuries, and this outstanding new recording features some of the best pieces written for these instruments alongside new and rhapsodic transcriptions of music that has been arranged admirably for the natural combination of these beautiful instruments by these very gifted instrumentalists.

The album takes its title from the pieces by Mendelssohn which open and interpolate the programme, and here also are two rare but very charming songs by Mozart, and a group of four by Gabriel Fauré, with two by de Falla, alongside music from famous operas by Tchaikovsky, Mascagni and Massenet. There is music from France by Poulenc and from Russia by Rimsky-Korsakov, and this delightful album ends with a group of appealing Romanian folk-songs. A most charming record of wide appeal.

The Fibonacci Sequence, now well established as one of the foremost chamber ensembles in Britain.

Composed of musicians of international repute, the Fibonancci Sequence is distinguished by the variety and imagination of its programming. Here, they explore the repertoire for horn with founder member and renowned horn player Stephen Stirling with an international reputation as a chamber musician. The repertoire on this disc presents Richard Strauss' symphonic tone poem 'Till Eulenspiegels’, the beguiling ‘Idyll for horn and string quartet’ by Alexander Glazunov, Mozart’s Quintet in Eb KV407 (386c) for horn and strings with the unique scoring pairing violas rather than two violins, Koechlin’s ‘Four Pieces’ (or tiny vignettes) for horn, violin and piano, the beautiful oddity 'Serenata in Vano' for cello, double bass, clarinet, bassoon and horn by Carl Nielsen and Poulenc’s uniquely scored Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone.

Mozart’s unique talent may be sampled from the last two symphonies, two piano concertos, violin concertos 1, 2 and 3, flute concertos, the famous Requiem and four piano sonatas.