Paul Paray

The Radio Legacy is a compilation of the seven part Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the four box sets devoted to the orchestra s chief conductors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly, and also featuring more recent recordings with Mariss Jansons.

Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht's six suites of piano pieces entitled La Nursery are among the most unjustly neglected masterworks of French impressionism. All but the third and fourth suites first appeared in 1905 and undoubtedly provided direct inspiration for Claude Debussy's Children's Corner, composed in 1908 and likewise included as filler on this fine ATMA Classique disc featuring Canadian pianist Lise Boucher. These solo versions of Inghelbrecht's signature work have not appeared on compact disc before – the earliest versions of these works were intended as teaching pieces and were scored out for piano four-hands.

For many listeners, Henryk Szeryng would be the No. 1 choice for a recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto. His interpretation is technically flawless, emotionally involved, and deeply probing; it makes Jascha Heifetz, for example, sound slightly offhand. In this French-made video from 1962, the Paris Conservatoire is not the best possible orchestra, but it is more than adequate and Paul Paray is an excellent conductor.

Ferras began studying the violin with his father, who was a pupil of Marcel Chailley. He entered the Conservatoire de Nice as a student of Charles Bistesi in 1941, and in 1943 obtained the First Prize. In 1944 he went to the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1946 he won the First Prize in both disciplines (violin and chamber music), and started his performing career with the Pasdeloup orchestra under the conductor Albert Wolff, and later Paul Paray.

An Italian grand requiem written around the axle of the 19th and 20th centuries might almost be predictable. It will be operatic. It will doff the hat to Verdi. It will have its vulgar moments. It will be recorded by an Italian orchestra on an Italian label like Dynamic, Bongiovanni, Aura or Nuova Era. Wrong, in this case, on most counts…..This is commendable revival. A requiem in which the Fauré-like reticence of plainchant meets the drama of apocalyptic visions.

Rob Barnett @ musicweb-international.com