"Never have I heard better balance in a quartet on the gramophone, and the 'cello - that bête noir of the experts - has been recorded almost to perfection. The music, modern but free from eccentricity, is too simple to need explanation; musicianly and sincere throughout, it makes a deep impression."
- The Gramophone, Feb 1926, on the LSQ's Frank Bridge Idylls

This week we bring you one of the great "lost" ensembles, the London String Quartet, in a first volume of early electrical recordings made by Columbia. Hailed frequently in their time as the equals or betters of illustrious rivals such as the Budapest Quartet, here they can be heard in beautifully-rendered transfers of music by Schubert and Bridge.

We also celebrate the birthday of Stokowski with a 10% reduction on all his many recordings at Pristine.

"The performance was one of exceptional brilliancy and one that displayed to very marked advantage the virtuosity of the orchestra. Aside from its interpretive merits, it may be said that a presentation of this music which displays so much certainty and such high technical quality is rare. Add to this the authority and the fire of the reading." - New York Times, 1938

Artur Rodziński, who had effectively founded the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted his final concert of the orchestra's first season in music by Bach, Schreker and the Strausses Richard and Johann Jr. to rapturous effect on 16 April 1938. As this fabulous XR-remastered release testifies, it was music-making of the very highest order!

We also celebrate the musicianship of Sir Adrian Boult, 136 years old this week, with a 10% discount on all his recordings at Pristine.

In 1961 two great singers made their Met Opera debuts together in Verdi's Il Trovatore. As Franco Corelli and Leontyne Price ended their first performance on the famous New York stage their curtain calls went on for forty minutes.

A week later they were back to do it all again, still with Fausto Cleva's masterly direction from the podium, and this time for the benefit also of radio listeners. This stunning performance, heard now in Pristine's superb Ambient Stereo XR remastered sound, is truly unmissable.

We also celebrate the 150th birthday of legendary conductor Pierre Monteux, with a 20% discount on all his Pristine releases this week.