This week’s new release turns to Ataúlfo Argenta, one of the most gifted conductors of his generation and one whose career was cut tragically short at the age of forty-four. The programme brings together his 1953 Paris recordings with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in Albéniz’s Iberia and Turina’s Danzas fantásticas, with vivid Kingsway Hall stereo sessions from New Year 1956-57 featuring the London Symphony Orchestra in Rimsky-Korsakov, Granados and Moszkowski.

The contrast is fascinating: Spanish music from the inside in Paris, then Spain refracted through Russian, Spanish and German-Polish imaginations in London. Argenta brings rhythmic lift, colour and an instinctive feel for the music’s accent throughout, while the early Decca stereo recordings provide spectacular orchestral presence. Newly XR remastered, the release offers a compelling portrait of a conductor whose recorded legacy remains far too small.

We also mark the 75th anniversary of Artur Schnabel’s death with an automatic 20% discount on all Pristine recordings featuring Schnabel this week, from his pioneering Beethoven cycle to Schubert, chamber music and the piano concertos.

This week’s new release returns to Maria Callas’s studio recital recordings with a second volume spanning Puccini, Cilea, Giordano, Catalani and Boito, then Rossini, Meyerbeer, Delibes and Verdi, before closing with La Scala scenes from Cherubini’s Medea and Bellini’s La sonnambula. Tullio Serafin conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in recordings made in 1954 and 1955.

The emotional centre is Boito’s “L’altra notte in fondo al mare” from Mefistofele, where Callas turns Margherita’s prison scene into something closer to a confession than a showpiece. The 1954 Watford recordings have especially fine presence and clarity, and the new XR remastering brings the voice and Serafin’s orchestral detail into sharper focus while preserving the character of the originals.

We also mark Erich Kleiber’s birthday on 5 August 1890 with 10% off all Pristine releases featuring this exacting and vividly theatrical conductor, from Beethoven and Mozart to Strauss, Handel, Schubert and Ravel.

From 24 July until 6 August 2026 you can save up to 20% on Pristine downloads and Digital Music Collections. CDs are excluded, and no discount code is needed - your saving will be applied automatically at checkout.

The more you spend, the more you save:

• Spend under €30 and save 5%
• Spend €30 to €50 and save 10%
• Spend €50 to €150 and save 15%
• Spend over €150 and save 20%

For collectors, this is also an excellent moment to consider the Digital Music Collection, the complete Pristine catalogue on USB. It brings together our full archive of Pristine restorations in one convenient physical collection, ready to copy to your own music library and explore for years to come.

During the Summer Sale you can save up to €300 on the Digital Music Collection.

Normal weekly releases resume on 7 August. In the meantime, browse the catalogue, build your library, and enjoy summer savings across Pristine downloads.

This week’s new release is Gounod’s Faust in its celebrated 1930 Paris recording, with César Vezzani as Faust, Mireille Berthon as Marguerite and Marcel Journet as Méphistophélès. Henri Büsser, a pupil of Gounod himself, conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Paris Opéra in a performance steeped in the language, elegance and dramatic instincts of the French operatic tradition.

Originally issued across forty 78 rpm sides, this unusually expansive recording preserves not only the principal scenes but also the Walpurgis Night music and ballet. Mark Obert-Thorn’s new restoration draws together sessions made over ten months, taming their very different recording characteristics while revealing the vocal colour, theatrical immediacy and extraordinary authority of this historic performance. 

To mark the anniversary of Herbert von Karajan’s death on 16 July 1989, all Pristine recordings conducted by Karajan are currently reduced by 10%. The saving is applied automatically at checkout, with highlights ranging from Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony and Puccini’s Tosca to his vivid recordings of French orchestral music.

This week’s new release takes us to Tanglewood in August 1949 for Britten’s Albert Herring, recorded during the opera’s U.S. premiere production. Boris Goldovsky conducts the Berkshire Music Center Opera Department, with David Lloyd, later remembered as the first American Albert, in the title role.

This is a fascinating document of a new opera still finding its American voice: lively, theatrical, quick on its feet, and full of the energy of young singers making the case for Britten’s sharp little comedy of village respectability, spiked lemonade and quiet rebellion. The early tape source has needed careful reel-by-reel pitch correction, but once stabilised the performance comes through with remarkable freshness.

Our special offer this week marks Kirsten Flagstad’s 131st birthday. All Pristine recordings featuring the great Norwegian soprano are reduced by 10% until next Thursday, with the discount applied automatically at checkout.