Poco Collected

This box set collects five of the eight albums Poco recorded for Columbia's Epic Records imprint between 1969 and 1974 (the band parted ways with the label and signed with ABC Records in 1975) and aside from 1971's live Deliverin' (which isn't included here), it provides a neat capsule history of the Richie Furay era of the group (Furay left Poco following 1973's Crazy Eyes, the latest album collected in this set). A band that was just a blink ahead of its time, Poco was a bit too country for the rock audiences of the day and a bit too rock for the country crowd back then, but they paved the way for bands like the Eagles to grab a little bit of both of those musical cultures later in the decade. Always fun, energetic, and upbeat, Poco's finest phase came in those early Furay years and this box set affords an excellent way to plug into the best years of this delightful band.

Vaughan Williams had been interested in folk music since he was a boy. In December 1903, he noted down the tune of Bushes and Briars from a 70 year-old labourer who lived in the Essex village of Ingrave. Over the next ten years he collected more than 800 songs, and they had a profound effect on his development as a composer. Particularly significant was a week long visit to King’s Lynn in 1905, during which he collected some 30 songs. One was The Captain’s Apprentice as sung by the fisherman James Carter. This melody was used in the Norfolk Rhapsody No 1, the Sea Symphony and the Pastoral Symphony. Another was Ward the Pirate, used as a theme in both the first and second Rhapsodies.

Sixty-five years since Pierre Fournier first recorded for Decca, DG is proud to celebrate the artistry of this most distinguished of cellists and his wealth of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Philips – presented here together for the very first time in this 25-CD box set!

This is the largest, most comprehensive, and most valuable collection currently available of the playing of one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. Czech Radio seems to have recorded virtually everything Richter played during his frequent visits to Prague during a period of 34 years. Many of the highlights of the pianist's vast repertoire are included here, including 10 Beethoven Sonatas, two Concertos, and the "Diabelli" Variations, along with major works of Brahms, Chopin, Mozart, Ravel, Schubert, Schumann, and Scriabin.

"Between 1972 and 1982 Maazel was Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra and between 1973-79 made a series of recordings for Decca – all of which are collected here. The repertory includes many orchestral spectaculars and Decca’s first recording in Cleveland, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, is one of the very best and a recording which has achieved reference status. “…. The precision of The Cleveland Orchestra is little short of miraculous… the recording is one of Decca’s most spectacular, searingly detailed but atmospheric too.” [The Penguin Guide]

"Between 1972 and 1982 Maazel was Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra and between 1973-79 made a series of recordings for Decca – all of which are collected here. The repertory includes many orchestral spectaculars and Decca’s first recording in Cleveland, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, is one of the very best and a recording which has achieved reference status. “…. The precision of The Cleveland Orchestra is little short of miraculous… the recording is one of Decca’s most spectacular, searingly detailed but atmospheric too.”

The complete recordings on Nave of legendary Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov have now been collected into this specially-priced 10CD set. Included are critically acclaimed recordings of music by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin, Prokofiev, Scriabin and Rachmaninov. Personnel: Grigory Sokolov (piano)

We're celebrating with a unique deluxe package that has everything. It's a box unlike anything you have seen before. A stunning, blow-you-away, multi-coloured object made of high-quality, transparent, frosted injection-moulded acrylic. "The complete musician" Box comprises three separate elements: * A solid, heavyweight base in translucent red, including a white CD "bin" to hold the 40 albums * A detachable green "book-shelf" that holds the BOOK (see info below) – with an embossed metal DG cartouche on its side * Bright yellow cover that envelops the whole package, with etched ASM35 logo * In addition, a wrap-around info-sheet will be set under the shrink-wrap on the side of the box – it will fall away when the shrink-wrap is opened.

Normally, one thinks of pearl-divers as of people from the Southern seas, typically the Tropical ones. Certainly, the ice-cold waters of the polar and subpolar seas are not those most immediately associated with pearl-fishing. And, indeed, the “pearls from the Northern Seas” represented in this Da Vinci Classics album are intangible and invisible, as they represent the domain of the audible.