Orchestral & Symphonic

In 1989, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants recorded some of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's finest sacred music for Harmonia Mundi: his celebrated Te Deum alongside two deeply moving works dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Shunning any kind of aesthetic...

In 1985, Gyorgy Ligeti produced a collection of six piano ?tudes, to which he added two further volumes in the following sixteen years. Many people in New Music circles of the time responded with a lack of appreciation and understanding. Whereas the...

In 1980 John Williams accepted the conducting post for the Boston Pops Orchestra. Thus begant the partnership of the most successful film composer/ conductor and the oldest and most successful "pops" orchestra in the world. Celebrate this fantastic...

In 1978, Bob Woods and Jack Renner took the first of many risks that are characteristic of Telarc's history. On the cutting edge of recorded sound technology, they made the first commercial classical recordings in the U.S. in the digital format. One of...

In 1970 Kurt Masur took over the direction of one of the best orchestras in Germany and the world: the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. One year later, in 1971, these recordings of the 12 Youth Symphonies by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy were made. They are...

In 1968, as he approached the age of 70, Georges Auric began work on Imagin?es, a series of six intimate works in a modernist vein - concentrated and compelling in their expression. Famously a member of Les Six in the 1920s, the multi-faceted Auric...

In 1962 in recognition 50th anniversary of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's death, Sir Malcolm Sargent recorded his Songs of Hiawatha, considered a milestone in English choral music. Also included on this recording are the Symphonic Variations of Anton?n Dvork...

In 1961, at age 86, Pierre Monteux was appointed chief conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra on a 25-year contract. It was typical of his sense of humour that he chose to sign a contract of this length at this time in his life, but there is no...

In 1958 Poulenc composed La voix humaine, a one-act opera for soprano and orchestra, based on the monodrama of the same name, written for the Com?die-Fran?aise by his friend Jean Cocteau. In this staging of the end of an amorous relationship, we hear...

In 1953, Nikolaus Harnoncourt founded the Concentus Musicus with colleagues from Karajan's Vienna Symphony Orchestra. His "ancient music" ensemble never pursued a revolution: "Musicology and historical instruments are not an end in themselves", says...

In 1936, the English composer and writer Constant Lambert described Igor Markevitch as 'the leading figure of the Franco-Russian school'. As a composer he had been commissioned by Diaghilev and performed by the likes of Alfred Cortot and Roger...

In 1935 Talich brought the Czech P.O to London, where he made legendary Dvork recordings including this Eighth Symphony - in which he felt truly in touch with the composer. Stanislav Novk's violin solos are exquisite, the pacing of the traditionally...