Indispensables Diapason

Bruscantini rapidly established himself in buffo roles in opera by Mozart and Rossini such as Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, Il turco in Italia, L'italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola but also in works by Donizetti such as L'elisir d'amore, La fille du régiment and Don Pasquale. In some of these works he often alternated roles, from Figaro to the Count in Nozze, Guglielmo to Alfonso in Cosi, Belcore to Dulcamara in Elisir, Malatesta to Pasquale in Don Pasquale, etc. He also took part in many revivals of opera by Pergolesi, Scarlatti and Cimarosa. He even recorded with Marilyn Horne the first modern performance of Antonio Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso.

Sir Thomas Beecham was one of the most important orchestra conductors of the 20th century, exerting a huge impact on the entire field of classical music – and the way people listen to it, and the way people have been exposed to it – through his performances, recordings, and the two major orchestras that he founded. Beecham was born in 1879, the son of Sir Joseph Beecham, the maker of a popular and profitable brand of patent medicine. The elder Beecham was also a lover of music and when his son manifested an interest in music, the old man was glad to encourage him in any way that he could.

Pierre Monteux A major figure during the golden age of American orchestral music, conductor Pierre Monteux had an exceptionally long career that began in the 19th century, encompassed the premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, which he conducted, and extended into the 1960s. He fundamentally shaped several American orchestras in the French style. Monteux had a large recording catalog stretching back well into the 78 rpm era. Many of his recordings appeared in reissues well after his death; a 1955 recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra featuring works by Berlioz, Brahms, Chausson, Debussy, Franck, and d'Indy appeared in a digital form on the ICA label in 2018.Of nonreligious Jewish background, Monteux was born in Paris on April 4, 1875.

Igor Markevitch was a leading conductor, known for brilliant performances, especially of twentieth century music. He was also a composer who attracted some interest in his own day. His parents left Kiev when he was two years old. Markevitch was brought up in Vevey, Switzerland. He took piano lessons from his father and then with Paul Loyonnet and also started to compose. The pianist Alfred Cortot saw some of his piano compositions and recommended that the boy study in Paris. In 1925 he enrolled in Cortot's piano class at the École Normale de Musique. He studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition with Nadia Boulanger.

Pierre Monteux A major figure during the golden age of American orchestral music, conductor Pierre Monteux had an exceptionally long career that began in the 19th century, encompassed the premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, which he conducted, and extended into the 1960s. He fundamentally shaped several American orchestras in the French style. Monteux had a large recording catalog stretching back well into the 78 rpm era. Many of his recordings appeared in reissues well after his death; a 1955 recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra featuring works by Berlioz, Brahms, Chausson, Debussy, Franck, and d'Indy appeared in a digital form on the ICA label in 2018.Of nonreligious Jewish background, Monteux was born in Paris on April 4, 1875.

One of the great cellists as well as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century, Mstislav Rostropovich's passionate and virtuosic performance style sometimes seemed to reflect the turbulent events in his life, including his exile from his native Soviet Union. In addition to his ability to project with notable fullness in all registers of his instrument, he had complete command of the styles of all the musical eras and national schools in the standard cello repertoire of the time.

Claude Debussy was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Debussy's music frees itself of the academicism of the late nineteenth century (in particular that of the Austro / German School) to offer new perspectives and dimensions to twentieth century music.

Clifford Curzon
Enfant prodige du piano, Clifford Curzon (né Siegenberg, 1907-1982) enseigne très tôt à la Royal Academy of Music de Londres après en avoir été l'élève. Médaille d'or du concours MacFarren à 17 ans en 1924, il se perfectionne auprès d'Arthur Schnabel qu'il ne tarde pas à concurrencer, de Wanda Landowska et de Nadia Boulanger dont il se fait l'interprète. Si ce spécialiste de Mozart, Schubert, Schumann et Dvorak est resté fidèle à la maison Decca pendant toute sa vie, il s'est souvent opposé à la publication d'enregistrements qu'il ne jugeait pas satisfaisants. Son héritage n'en est pas moins considérable comme en témoigne le coffret de 23 CD édité pour le trentième anniversaire de sa disparition en 2012 (The Complete Recordings). Anobli en 1977, Médaille d'or de la Royal Philharmonic Society en 1980, Sir Clifford Curzon demeure l'un des plus grands, si ce n'est le plus grand, pianistes du Royaume-Uni. Au chapitre de ses réussites figurent les Impromptus de Schubert (1941), le Concerto n°1 (1962) et la Sonate n°2 de Brahms et les Concertos n°20 à 27 de Mozart (1967-1970).

Known as one of the world's finest orchestras, Berliner Philhamoniker has performed and recorded the symphonies and choral works of the great classical music composers since it was founded in 1882. It has been led by a series of major conductors including Austria's Herbert von Karajan and England's Simon Rattle, who was succeeded in 2019 by Kirill Petrenko from Russia. The orchestra performs more than 100 concerts a year at the Berlin Philharmonie and tours internationally. It has made thousands of recordings and won Grammy Awards and Gramophone Awards. The orchestra grew out of the Bilse Kapelle, which was established in the 1860s by Prussian composer and conductor Benjamin Bilse with 60 players.