Specialists in Classical, Jazz, World and Folk Music CDs and DVDs

Manchester based musicians Jonathan and Tom Scott can always be relied upon to come up with the unexpected!

This latest CD of duos for Harmonium and Piano is no exception.  Saint-Saens’ Six Duos, op 8 (for this combination) is the main work, the rest of the programme features works by Gounod, Mascagni, Guilmant and others, with an extraordinary rendition of Danse Macabre to finish.  Great fun!
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The good folk at EMI have been at it again, for close on the heels of their massive Stokowski set comes another delicious eight disc Icons issue celebrating  the art of violinist Nathan Milstein.  It’s simply entitled ‘Aristocrat of the Violin’ and, for many listeners, that seems to sum up the man and his career to a T.  Indeed, critic Harold Schoenberg once wrote that Milstein ‘could well have been the most nearly perfect violinist of his time’.

Not that he was ever without competition in that field.  (more…)

Nearly everything about this new recital from tenor Jonas Kaufmann augurs well for the future,  for here perhaps  is the sort of German tenor that we’ve all been waiting for.   Described as a lyric spinto on his website, it’s a voice that is seemingly perfect for Mozart, the Beethoven Florestan and some Wagner,  and this is emphatically what the disc delivers: arias from ‘The Magic Flute’ and Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’, plus some bleeding chunks of Schubert and Wagner (the ‘Walkure’ - Siegmund and Parsifal).

And it’s with Wagner that the Kaufmann story really starts.  (more…)

It’s the moment in opera I always wait for: the orchestra strikes up, the audience goes quiet and the tenor steps forward.  Well, that’s how it used to happen in the old days and it still does now.

For there’s nothing quite like a tenor.  Whether lyric or dramatic nothing can replace the thrill of hearing a really great tenor voice wonderfully used.  And nowhere do I find this more rewarding than in the operas of Verdi.  Italian opera might have been written for tenors (no disrespect to other voice types!) and Verdi’s operas have no shortage of great arias written for them.  Whether your taste is for the lighter more lyric early Verdi roles or the heavier, darker, more dramatic ones then you’ll find something to thrill you with a new CD from Argentinian tenor Marcelo Alvarez called ‘The Verdi Tenor’. (more…)

There are certain musicians who incite controversy: Leopold Stokowski was certainly one of those (and yes, that WAS his real name).  Love him or loathe him Stokowski was a unique phenomenon: a master conductor and a sorcerer of sound he brought ‘classical’ music to thousands, pioneered innovative seating and playing arrangements for orchestras (yes, the dreaded ‘free bowing’), gave lots of American premieres of twentieth century works and helped develop recording (his first records were made with the ‘horn’ process of accoustic recording; some of his last in quadraphonic stereo).

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The Berlin Philharmonic has this music in its blood.  Here they sound totally comfortable with Sir Simon Rattle’s approach.  The performances themselves combine something of the weight and sonority of Furtwangler with the sheen of Karajan.  This is rich, old world Brahms but it never sounds stuffy or old fashioned.  Sample the third movement of the Third Symphony to see what we mean: there are few other versions as heartfelt or as beautiful. 

I’m not about to throw away my versions by Furtwangler, Mengelberg and co. but here is a modern version that re-asserts a great playing tradition and the great heart of a master composer.

Sir Simon Rattle - Brahms Symphonies - £21.50

Strauss’s massive ‘Alpine Symphony’ has been given a fine performance at the Proms by the Dresden State Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi.  Perhaps that’s why the orchestra’s CD of the work is currently our ‘Disc of the Week’.

Watching the Dresdeners play the work prompted a few reflections: here is the orchestra who premiered the work in 1915 under the baton of Strauss himself.  An orchestra like this is beyond price: it embodies one of the great musical traditions of the world.

Fabio Luisi - Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony” - £15.75

A recent EMI re-issue of Sir John Barbirolli’s classic 1964 version of Elgar’s Second Symphony with the Hallé Orchestra has got me thinking about tradition and modernity.  How do we preserve the best of the old with the best of the new? Do recordings have any part to play in this process? (more…)

Welcome to the Record Department and our new website.

With a department over-flowing with the latest classical and middle-of-the-road releases our stock contains an unrivaled variety of labels and recordings, quite unlike any other in the UK . Our staff are selected for their specialist and extensive knowledge of recorded music and repertoire from all genres. Always ready and happy to help you with all your recorded music requests, we hope to assist you soon.