The Great War 1964

Count Basie was among the most important bandleaders of the swing era. With the exception of a brief period in the early '50s, he led a big band from 1935 until his death almost 50 years later, and the band continued to perform after he died…

Dmitri Borisovich Kabelevsky (1904-1987) is long remembered mostly as an innovative pedagogue and the one who sought to upgrade the curriculum so as to enhance music education for the youth. And like Kodaly of Hungary, Kabalevsky was something of a musical, cultural ambassador. As a composer, he wrote many pieces for children (for examples, the First Cello Concerto, Third Piano Concerto, a Violin Concerto and a song cycle "School Years"). His operas in particular were well known in Soviet Russia while about a few of his orchestral works had some currency in the West, including the Comedians, overture to Colas Breugnon, and to a lesser extent, the Second Symphony.

This is a very satisfying account of ‘Die Zauberflöte‘, principally on account of Böhm’s handling of the score. He inspires the Berlin Philharmonic to convey a Masonic ‘gravitas’ which is in keeping with the philosophy of Enlightenment Reason which lurks behind the pantomime elements of this unusual work. You will certainly find deliberate speeds here, which may not be to your taste if you like fleet, revisionist, original-instrument Mozart. Vocally it’s the women in this recording that have had a bad press: but Evelyn Lear has some lovely tones in her voice even if there are occasions when Pamina’s music presents her with challenges.

Herbert von Karajan was one of the 20th century's supreme conductors - unsurpassed in his ability to mould an orchestra and to achieve his ideal sound. He was also a master in the recording studio, with over 250 albums produced for Deutsche Grammophon - the label with which he is most closely identified. Here, on 10 specially-priced CDs, is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth, featuring his work from 1959 to 1979…

Vince Guaraldi was a well-respected jazz pianist whose greatest success came from avenues usually closed to contemporary jazz artists: he enjoyed a hit single at a time when jazz had largely been exiled from the pop charts, and he scored a series of very successful animated television specials (namely the Charlie Brown seasonal specials scores and soundtracks for which his name has become synonymous), a medium where cookie-cutter pop music was traditionally the order of the day.