Maurice Ravel

Soothing and uplifting music for a goddess (domestic or otherwise). An album of music to help get away from it all, bathed in orchestral bliss with works by Mozart, Puccini and Beethoven inspired by feminine perfection.

The magic of the dance in music, with an emphasis on Paris towards the end of the nineteenth century. Orchestral works by Ravel ('La Valse'), Offenbach, Berlioz and others capture the mood of Renoir's beautiful portrait of dancers. Music for dancing and dreaming.

'Easy on a Sunday morning…' This collection of music is perfect for making a slow start to the day. So get the Sunday papers, put the kettle on, and relax with a beautiful mixture of piano and orchestral music with a slow, gentle style.

Among the great violinists of the 20th century, David Oistrakh retains a special place in the hearts of his artist colleagues and those of the musical public. As Pierre Fournier once said, “David Oistrakh is irreplaceable. He was an exceptional artist who gave the world a beautiful example of dignity, human beauty and warmth.” On the 100th anniversary of his birth (30th September), we celebrate the exceptional art of David Oistrakh with this very specially priced album of concertos, shorter works for violin and orchestra, and encores for violin and piano (on a bonus CD), all recorded between 1948 and 1961.

This is a feast of great violin playing, including rare and first-time releases on CD. All recordings have been newly remastered.

This is an Original Masters Twofer with a bonus CD – so it’s an unbeatable 3 CDs for the price of 1. The bonus CD features encores by Ysaÿe,* Wieniawski,* Sarasate, Kreisler, Vieuxtemps* and Paganini for violin and piano (Vladimir Yampolsky on piano). * = First releases on CD

The packaging is pretty special too: an 8-panel digi, with superb original “American” Decca artwork. Rare Oistrakh photos enhance the CD booklet. The Oistrakh recordings on Deutsche Grammophon’s Originals series are big sellers, and the present release should do well at retail as well as making a significant contribution to the Oistrakh centenary.

Phyllis Sellick was a remarkable pianist and teacher. Her playing inspired both Vaughan Williams and Walton to write for her. One of her most famous recordings is that of Tippett’s 1st Piano Sonata, included on this release. Born in 1911 she died in 2007.

The majority of the compositions on this disc are French possibly because the combination of oboe and piano is not one of the most common chamber music constellations, but in France it has a long established tradition. In a recent interview Bengt Rosengren recalled a sad time during the recording of this disc, “…many years of collaboration with the Pianist Kerstin Nylander, who plays about two thirds of the works on the recording. Following her tragic death in the spring of 07, I invited Matti Hirvonen to take her place as my conversation partner.”

The stylistic range on this programme is enormous between for example Colomer’s turn of the century ‘Grand Opera’ style and Shinohara’s modernistic purity.

This exciting release marks the first solo recital disc in some years by the world’s most celebrated violist Yuri Bashmet, and features high quality arrangements mostly not recorded before.

Reminiscences is a highly personal disc of Bashmet favourites and encores played over 30 years with his long-time piano partner Mikhail Muntian (who premiered Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata).

Marais’ haunting music for viol suits the viola well and forms the backbone of the recital, just as it did for his Carnegie Hall debut. Bashmet played Benda’s Grave at the Beslan Memorial concert with Gergiev in 2005, and the other beautiful arrangements (some by Bashmet’s teacher, the legendary Vadim Borisovsky) throw a new light on many old favourites.

Bashmet’s collaboration with ONYX has been highly successful - their first two discs of Russian string works (ONYX4007/ONYX4017) gained a Grammy Nomination and Award respectively. Their most recent disc of Tan Dun and Takemitsu featuring Bashmet as violinist, violist and conductor is getting equally great reviews (ONYX4027)

Despite Leopold Stokowski's (1882-1977) huge discography and having conducted the first American performance in 1943, he never recorded Prokofiev's cantata 'Alexander Nevsky', based on Eisenstein's film. This is of major importance for collectors.

This is the first official release of the entire 1970 live concert in the Doelen in Rotterdam.

Stokowski recorded Ravel's Fanfare pour L'Eventail de Jeanne' and Franck's Symphony in D minor immediately after the concerts for Decca Phase 4 but the live performances have more tension and presence and the Doelen's excellent acoustic has been well captured by the Dutch engineers.

All three works are played 'straight' without any embellishments by the conductor.

The original master tape supplied by the Dutch broadcaster AVRO in Hilversum was used for the entire 1970 concert which was recorded in excellent stereo sound. The remastering engineer, Paschal Byrne, who has been responsible for all the Leopold Stokowski Society releases on Cala Records, has done a wonderful job to improve the sound.