An A-Z of 23 conductors in a feast of classic recordings from Decca's early years - 1929-1949 - including the golden age of its 'ffrr' technology.

Newly remastered from the best available sources by Mark Obert-Thorn, Ward Marston and Andrew Hallifax, this comprehensively annotated and richly illustrated set features several new-to-CD releases. It is a must-have for any follower of historical recordings.

Spanning almost twenty years, the unique story of this set begins in May 1929 with Decca's first major recording, Delius's Sea Drift - a performance whose merits were obscured at the time by surface noise, but which the latest technology reveals to be a gloriously sympathetic reading of Delius's poignant elegy. Back then, the conductor (Anthony Bernard) was not even printed on the 78 labels; yet, for a later recording in the set, a suite of Handel, the name of Erich Kleiber stands out: a sign of how far the label travelled in its first twenty years, through some choppy commercial waters, to become a byword for technological excellence and world-class musical artistry drawn from around the globe.

The pre-war recordings inevitably centre on British/Irish conducting talent, old and new: Hamilton Harty, dynamic in Haydn and Walton; Walton himself, in a definitive first recording of Façade; atmospheric Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Coates from Henry Wood. One of the rarest items in the set is Bach's Concerto for Two Violins as led by Mengelberg in 1936.

The post-war material includes several great names of the podium from those pre-war days, judiciously picked up by Decca when they might otherwise have been forgotten: Albert Coates whipping up a frenzy in the Russian repertoire he made his own; Clemens Krauss, incandescent in Strauss from Milan and London; Leo Blech's genial 'Surprise' Symphony of Haydn.

Senior composer-conductors include Fitelberg in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no.2 and Enescu in Schumann's Second Symphony. Then there are thrilling young podium tyros who were setting London musical life alight in the postwar years: Celibidache's electrifying and wayward Tchaikovsky, Martinon's exquisite Ravel, Coppola's majestic Schumann.

A note from the remastering engineer Andrew Hallifax explains the history behind this first-ever release of Handel choruses conducted by Malcolm Sargent. Mark Obert-Thorn explains his choice of treasures for this box and introduces the history of Decca and its revolutionary development of 'full frequency range recording' in the late 1940s. Peter Quantrill expands the historical perspective with notes on both Decca and each of the individual conductors in the box.

"There is much that reflects Furtwängler's great attention to dynamic relationships, his sense of architecture, and his ear for balance and color. He whips up quite a phenomenal bit of energy for the final coda." - Fanfare, July 2020 (Furtwängler - Brahms: Symphony No. 2)

"Mr. Riddle seems to get ample sonority and a good deal of variety out of the solo part, and the recording is clear and free from harshness." - Gramophone, February 1938 (Walton: Viola Concerto)

"[Harty] shows clearly how much of the work's success was due to his inspired advocacy. He brings out the vehemence and passion very starkly, but also finds an underlying rock-like strength." - Gramophone, December 1993 (Harty - Walton: Symphony no.1)

"It would be difficult to exaggerate the concentrated power of this music, which is superbly performed and recorded." - The Record Guide, 1955 (Van Beinum - Britten: Four Sea Interludes)

Contents:

CD 1
Anthony Bernard
Delius: Sea Drift (with Roy Henderson)
Walton: Overture ‘Portsmouth Point’
- New English Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

William Walton
Walton: Façade (with Edith Sitwell, Constant Lambert); Viola Concerto (with Frederick Riddle)
- London Symphony Orchestra

CD 2
Hamilton Harty
Walton: Symphony No. 1
Haydn: Symphony No. 95
Berlioz: Overture ‘Le Roi Lear’; Marche troyenne (Les Troyens)
- London Symphony Orchestra

CD 3
Hamilton Harty
Handel–Harty: Suite in Five Movements
- London Symphony Orchestra

Henry Wood
Purcell–Wood: Suite in Five Movements
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves; Overture ‘The Wasps’; Symphony no.2 ‘A London Symphony’
- Queen’s Hall Orchestra

CD 4
Henry Wood
Coates: London Suite; London Bridge – March
Elgar: Enigma Variations
- Queen’s Hall Orchestra

Willem Mengelberg
J.S. Bach: Concerto for Two Violins (with Louis Zimmermann, Ferdinand Helman)
Gluck: Overture ‘Alceste’
- Concertgebouworkest

Albert Coates
Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain; Gopak (Sorochintsy Fair)
- London Symphony Orchestra

CD 5
Albert Coates
Rimsky-Korsakov: Snegurochka – Suite
- National Symphony Orchestra
Rimsky-Korsakov: Le Coq d’or – Suite
- London Symphony Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no.6 ‘Pathétique’; Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture
- National Symphony Orchestra

CD 6
Victor de Sabata
Beethoven: Symphony no.3 ‘Eroica’
Berlioz: Overture ‘Le Carnaval romain’
Sibelius: Valse triste
Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries (Die Walküre)
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 7
Victor de Sabata
Sibelius: En saga
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

Roger Désormière
Bizet: Ouverture ‘Patrie’; Jeux d’enfants – Petite Suite
Chabrier: Habanera
Debussy: Marche écossaise
- National Symphony Orchestra
Opera Arias – Gounod, Offenbach, Thomas, Proch, Charpentier (with Janine Micheau)
- Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire

CD 8
Grzegorz Fitelberg
Wagner: Overture ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no.2 (with Eileen Joyce)
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 9
Grzegorz Fitelberg
Borodin: Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor)
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tale of Tsar Saltan – Suite
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

Wilhelm Furtwängler
Brahms: Symphony no.2
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 10
Carlo Zecchi
Rossini: Overture ‘La Scala di Seta’
Pizzetti: La Pisanelle – Suite
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.4 (with Clara Haskil)
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

Piero Coppola
Grieg: Symphonic Dances nos. 1, 2 & 4
- London Symphony Orchestra

CD 11
Piero Coppola
Schumann: Symphony no.1
- National Symphony Orchestra

George Enescu
Schumann: Symphony no.2
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 12
Ernest Ansermet
Debussy: Petite Suite
- Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Debussy: La Mer
Ravel: Alborada del gracioso (Miroirs)
- Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Ravel: Shéhérazade (with Suzanne Danco); La Valse
- Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire

CD 13
Clemens Krauss
Beethoven: Overture ‘Fidelio’
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
- London Symphony Orchestra
Strauss: Tod und Verklärung
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
- Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala

Paul van Kempen
Wagner: Overtures, ‘Tannhäuser’ & ‘Der fliegende Holländer’

CD 14
Malcolm Sargent
Handel: Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Semele, Alexander’s Feast, Solomon, Serse – excerpts; Zadok the Priest (with Kathleen Ferrier, Richard Lewis, Trevor Anthony)
- Royal Choral Society
- London Symphony Orchestra

CD 15
Malcolm Sargent
Handel–Harty: Music for the Royal Fireworks – Suite
- National Symphony Orchestra
Holst: The Perfect Fool – ballet music
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

Eduard van Beinum
Elgar: Overture ‘Cockaigne’
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
Britten: Four Sea Interludes & Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
- Concertgebouworkest
Arnold: Overture ‘Beckus the Dandipratt’
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 16
Eduard van Beinum
Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (with Eugenia Zareska)
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
Bruckner: Symphony no.7
- Concertgebouworkest

CD 17
Hans Knappertsbusch
Wagner: Overture ‘Rienzi’; Tannhäuser – Overture & Venusberg Music; Lohengrin – Prelude to Act III; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Prelude to Act III, Dance of the Apprentices, March of the Guild
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
Wagner: Lohengrin – Prelude to Act I
- Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Prelude to Act I
- Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

CD 18
Erich Kleiber
Handel: Andante larghetto (Berenice)
Mozart: Symphony no.40
Beethoven: Symphony no.6 ‘Pastoral’
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 19
Erich Kleiber
Josef Strauss: Sphärenklänge
Johann Strauss II: Overture ‘Der Zigeunerbaron’
Dvořák: Overture ‘Carnaval’
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

Jean Martinon
Tchaikovsky: Da, čas nastal! … Prostite vï, kholmï, polya rodnïye (The Maid of Orléans) (with Eugenia Zareska)
Chabrier: Suite Pastorale
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 20
Leo Blech
Humperdinck: Prelude ‘Hänsel und Gretel’
Haydn: Symphony no.94 ‘Surprise’
- Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Sergiu Celibidache
Mozart: Symphony no.25
- London Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 21
Sergiu Celibidache
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no.5; The Nutcracker – Suite
- London Philharmonic Orchestra