Grieg Scottish

SOMM RECORDINGS is pleased to announce a celebration of Favourite Orchestral Classics by Iain Sutherland and the Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Recorded in Munich in 1988 and Hanover in 1992, these glorious recordings bear the unmistakable stamp of the Scottish maestro’s reputation for emotion, colour and drama.

Decca’s first FFRR concerto recording available for the first time: Eileen Joyce / Tchaikovsky 2nd Piano Concerto – never released on 78rpm and long thought lost, the test pressings were recently found at the International Piano Archives in Maryland.

A two-disc collection of renowned classical music for that inevitable moment.

Befitting his legendary status, Jascha Heifetz-The Complete Album Collection, is the biggest box set ever created for a solo artist. With 103 CDs and 1 DVD, this limited edition collection features all of the violinist's recordings made by RCA Victor between 1917 and 1972,those made in England for His Master's Voice and distributed in the U.S. by RCA Red Seal, three LPs issued on Columbia Masterworks and one on Vox Cum Laude.

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

This disc contains works by Grainger in versions for large choral forces, performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under its new Chief Conductor, Sir Andrew Davis, and featuring the Sydney Chamber Choir and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus. The recording continues on from our nineteen-disc Grainger Edition box and brings our long-running Grainger survey to an end.

There is much to enjoy here and as a listening experience there are many original and ear-tickling moments. This music is, in fact, quite a discovery and if you were as disappointed as I was by the Grieg symphony do not be concerned; the Lange-Müller symphonies are much fresher in impulse.

Rob Barnett @ musicweb-international.com