Sibelius: Symphonies 5 & 6, Tapiola
London Symphony Orchestra, Kajanus
Finnish National Orchestra, Schnéevoigt

Classic HMV recordings from the Sibelius Society recordings of 1932-4. "This is a recording that makes one feel that something of the musical essence of these works has been lost in the modern obsession with declamation and effect..."(Classic Record Collector)

Mendelssohn: Elijah
Harold Williams, Parry Jones, Clara Serena, Isobel Baillie, Tom Purvis, BBC National Chorus & Orchestra, Stanford Robinson

Choral CD of the Year, 2005 - Classic Record Collector

Recorded between 25th February and 8th March, 1930 at Central Hall, Westminster, London, this was the first ever substantially complete recording of Elijah to be made. "Williams is a magnificent prophet. From Elijah’s scene with Ahab, when he challenges the priests of Baal, one knows one is in the presence of a powerful figure..." (from CRC Review)

Beethoven: Piano Trios Nos. 3, 5, 11
Trio Santoliquido

Bringing together this wonderful Trio's 1942 wartime recording of the third Beethoven Trio with two DGG LP recordings from the fifites, a superb introduction to Trio Santoliquido. "The pianist is a classicist to her fingertips, throwing off pearl-like runs of notes with a consistently lovely tone, and her artistry is fully matched by her colleagues" (Tully Potter, Classic Record Collector)

Bach: The Art of Fugue
The Roth Quartet, Sir Donald Tovey

The Art of Fugue, arranged here for String Quartet by Roy Harris and Mary Norton, is augmented by Tovey's conjectural piano completion of the final Contrapunctus. "A unique historical document, lovingly and beautifully restored..." (Musicweb International review)

Mascagni/Leoncavallo : "Cav & Pag"
British National Opera Company

Two amazingly-well recorded operas from 1927, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci are both delivered in English with soloists of the calibre of Heddle Nash and Harold Williams to great effect. "The clarity and immediacy of sound reveal performances which at best give pleasure by any standards..." (John Steane, Gramophone)

D. Coates/Moeran : Violin Concertos
Colin Sauer - BBC Northern Orchestra - Groves
Campoli - BBC Symphony Orchestra - Boult

Two fabulous and ultra-rare recordings - the Coates previously unknown, restored from the only known set of acetates of the only performance, the Moeran a lost classic, perhaps the greatest performance ever given of his wonderful Concerto.
"Buried treasure indeed..." (Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone)

Milhaud : Orchestral & Chamber Music
Various, 1936-53

A compendium of rare and excellent recordings.
"The compelling reason to purchase the disc is the Protée Suite [which] for sheer bacchic mayhem is unsurpassed..." (American Record Guide)
"The Five Studies was, I believe, Paul Badura-Skoda’s first recording, so there is much of importance in this CD. Strongly recommended..." (Musical Opinion)
"...splendidly vigorous performance of the Second Symphonic Suite…" (CRC)

Moeran : The Collected 78rpm Recordings
Various, 1925-42

Bringing together all the commercial recordings of Moeran's music made during the composer's lifetime, including a collection of ultra-rare folk-song arrangements sung by John Goss in 1925/6, and fabulous new restorations of the great 1942 Heward/Hallé Symphony recording and the vivid 1941 String Trio reading by Jean Pougnet, Frederick Riddle & Anthony Pini.

Bizet : Carmen
Raymonde, Thill etc., Paris SO, Cohen

This classic recording of the world's most popular opera, made in and around 1928, has previously only had very limited exposure on LP or CD. While advertised and labelled as being by the Paris Symphony, the forces are actually those of the Opéra-Comique. In Georges Thill, playing Don José, we have the greatest French tenor of the century, and overall this is a memorable performance.