The Very Best of Adagio

". . . el sonido pur�simo y �nico de la Deutsche y la multidimensionalidad de la Filarm�nica de Berlin comparten espacio con grabaciones de cortar la respiraci�n, pertenecientes a los dominios que mejor conoc�a el director." --Record Review, Mel�mano (Madrid), 1 February 2006

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.

French Ballet Music of the 1920s

�The zany exuberance of Les mari�s, concocted by five of Les Six in the 1920s, is infectiously captured in this colourful reissue, as is L'�ventail, a contemporaneous ten-composer collaboration.� --BBC Music Magazine, May 2005 ****

�these pieces are full of imagination and fun. Geoffrey Simon and the Philharmonia Orchestra give a very good account of themselves and the Chandos recording is little short of spectacular. --The Penguin Complete Guide to Compact Discs

Penguin Guide Rosette Winner

I listened to these two on-act pastiche ballets on a broiling hot, humid June night when it was 84 degrees in my living room and said, �who needs air conditioning! This is better than AC!�� What gorgeous playing and sound in All saints� Church Tooting (a suburb of London). --American Record Guide

The zany exuberance of �Les mari�s� concocted by five of Les Six in the 1920s, is infectiously captured in this colourful reissued, as is �L�eventail�, a contemporaneous ten-composer collaboration. --BBC Music Magazine

All this music, Gallic in its unsentimental clarity, demands the cleanest and crispest playing, and this the Philharmonia Orchestra admirably supplies. --Gramophone

The performances under Geoffrey Simon are excellent. They deserve nothing but praise. --New York Times

The sessions evidently secured the right zippy response from the Philharmonia while also providing interestingly colourful sound quality. --Which Compact Disc

Masters of the Guitar

34 Guitar Masterpieces...

With the world renowned masters of the guitar, this collection features the most popular works for the instrument and showcases the full emotional range from the vibrant and passionate, to the tender and expressive.

Revisions

Steven Isserlis has earned a reputation as one of the foremost cellists of our day. At the same time he has become known for his ingenuity and innovation in programming, something which this disc is the perfect example of. It combines four works for cello and orchestra that wouldn't even exist without Isserlis - all arrangements made at his personal request, and each of them by the arranger of his personal choice. The most radical reworking is the opening piece, an arrangement based on the fact that Debussy at the age of 19 composed a Suite for cello and orchestra. 

All that is known for certain about this suite is that its fourth movement was called Intermezzo, and that this piece has survived in a version for cello and piano. In her imaginative reconstruction of - or rather replacement for - Debussy's original composition, Sally Beamish has used this piece as the opening movement, going on to construct orchestral arrangements of four other Debussy works from the same period, including the piano pieces R�verie and Danse boh�mienne. The two Ravel songs which follow were arranged by Isserlis' friend, the violinist Richard Tognetti in order to supplement the concert programme for a tour that the two were to make with Tognetti's own Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Vladimir Blok's orchestration of Prokofiev's Concertino, which had been left incomplete at the death of the composer, was made as Isserlis was unhappy with the existing arrangement of the work, made by Kabalevsky. The disc closes with the earliest of these four re-visions, film composer Christopher Palmer's orchestration of Ernest Bloch's From Jewish Life, allowing the disc to end with the movement entitled Prayer - 'one of the most fervently beautiful pieces ever written for the cello', according to Steven Isserlis himself. Throughout the programme Isserlis receives the expert support of Tapiola Sinfonietta conducted by G�bor Tak�cs-Nagy.

Extreme classics

Here is a compilation of some of the most spectacular classical works ever written. That is not to say they are all thunderingly loud, and many are not loud all the time. Perhaps one of the elements that separates classical music from other genres is its contrasts in volume and all the shades in between. These composers were experts at using dynamic contrasts to great effect. Music by these great composers is now so ofter used as background to films and documentaries that we have forgotten how to really listen to it in all its varied moods.

With orchestras of more than 100 performers we run the gamut from calm and evocative to exciting and dramatic. Holst's The Planets exemplifies orchestral effect to the utmost in its marvellous depiction of space. Wagner features stirring opera music and the sort of power chords that would impress heavy metal fan. One of my favourites, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is a spectacular piece that still has the power to upset listeners of a nervous disposition. Listen to its mesmerising pounding rhythms. More sonic thrills await in Saint-Saen's finale of his Third Symphony.

To top it all, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture comes complete with bells and cannons.All up, there are excerpts from 26 exhilirating works some of which may drive you into a frenzy in their extremism so turn down the volume until you adjust some of the most powerful and extrovert music ever written. --Toowoomba Chronicle, November 2006

The Silver Violin

�Benedetti�s latest album has lots to commend it...Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony provide full-blooded backing. Extracts from two Shostakovich film scores are indecently enjoyable� --The Arts Desk, 27th October 2012

�her broadly romantic approach and genuine affection for this Hollywood-inspired concerto shine out...Benedetti is joined by star accordionist Ksenija Sidorova in a show-stopping performance which will have you on your feet! The warm acoustic of the Decca recording comes in appropriate widescreen sound.� --Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

�Benedetti decorates this repertoire with gleaming high-register pirouettes, plus vibrato throbs and hesitations that never descend into schmaltz...Such good taste is a pleasure, though her discretion can make the music paler than necessary.� The Times, 24th August 2012 ***

�The lush, romantic sound of Hollywood � 1930s to the present � suits her well� The Observer, 26th August 2012

�Benedetti's decision to place [the Concerto] in this particular context actually serves to enhance its musical stature. Certainly her performance is beautifully honed with a particularly atmospheric account of the central Andante...she has an instinctive grasp of the ebb and flow of Korngold's melodic lines and avoids the obvious temptation of becoming overtly mannered in order to intensify the musical expression.� BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ****