NB: Due to the current pandemic CDs may take longer than usual to arrive.

“The Ninth symphony,” said the Mayor [of New York], "is about the greatest piece of music ever written. It is a sort of spiritual and musical compound, a sedative, a vitamin, a tonic and a stimulant. Folks, as the opening bars start, you relax. As it unfolds, you reach out and hold your wife’s hand.” - NY Times, 24 Sept.1945

Exactly 75 years after its Carnegie Hall performance, here's the first release of this superb live performance of Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Leonore 2 Overture, with soloists Norma Andreotti, Nan Merriman, Jan Peerce and Lorenzo Alvary. A very special release for Beethoven's 250th birthday year!

NB: Due to the current pandemic CDs may take longer than usual to arrive.

"I’ve learned what I’ve been missing all these years—which I can only describe as string quartet heaven, designed on special commission by a beneficent Deity. The Léners have one of the most ravishing string tones of any string quartet I’ve ever heard—beautifully rich and well blended, but not the slightest bit greasy or fatty. This is simply the stuff of immortality; highest possible recommendation." - Fanfare on Volume 1

This week we bring you the second instalment of the complete Beethoven string quartets, as recorded by The Léner Quartet. This volume, recorded from 1926-1932, consists of the complete Middle Quartets: the three 'Rasumovsky' quartets, together with the 'Harp' and 'Serioso'. As with the first volume, this really is essential listening!

NB: Due to the current pandemic CDs may take longer than usual to arrive.

This week we present a full concert given by Jascha Horenstein with the newly-expanded Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in October 1969, in which all three works are new and important additions to the Horenstein recorded canon. We begin, as is traditional, with the shortest item, the Overture to Mozart's opera Idomeneo. This is followed by the second piano concerto of Saint-Saëns, played here by Philippe Entremont in a brilliant rendition.

The second half of the concert was dedicated to Schubert's 'Great' Symphony No. 9 - once again a work which has never appeared on a Horenstein recording until now. All three were recorded in fine mono sound and have been restored with XR Ambient Stereo remastering and are a must for any collector.