Remember Collins Classics? :-)

[otterhouse]

I've wrote a small article about Collins Classics and a playlist of some favorite recordings:

http://classicalspotify.blogspot.nl/2015/01/collins-classics-on-spotify.html

I can still remember that a Dutch warehouse had these records for 10 guilders each (full price was 52 guilders those days) and I was sò thrilled to afford these CD's... :-)

Curious what you think of the CD's. The Mozart CD with Vasary is my favorite, and trio Zingara, Duke quartet are some fond memories too...

Rolf, Netherlands

[aeolium]

There's a list of Collins Classics recordings that are still available (though download only) here:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/ll/Collins%2BClassics/medium-All

Interesting that Tamas Vasary appears as a conductor on a number of recordings, e.g. Mendelssohn symphonies and Mozart wind concertos. There look to be some good items there, e.g. the Barshai/Philharmonia Prokofiev symphonies 1&5.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Weren't some of them reissued by Naxos?

[Parry1912]

Yes, I think they were. Some Britten recordings with Stuart Bedford come to mind.

[vinteuil]

... three marvellous Collins CDs of Pièces de Clavecin from the Bauyn Manuscript, Jane Chapman on a gorgeous 1614 Ruckers harpsichord : 'Beau Génie', 'Divers Styles dans l' Eloquence', 'La Belle Manière de Toucher' - works by Louis Couperin, Froberger, Frescobaldi, Chambonnières, Pinel, d' Anglebert, Mezangeot, Luigi Rossi, du Mont, Hardel, Monnard, Gautier, Richard, la Barre...

[Rolmill]

There were some very nice English song recordings (Quilter, Lehmann, Holst, Vaughan Williams etc), some or all of which I think were reissued on Naxos.

I also still have Collins CDs of Wagner overtures (Simonov), Bizet L'Arlesienne (Haydon Clarke), Schubert partsongs (BBC Singers/Glover - very good) and R Strauss choral music (BBC Singers/Cleobury - also pretty good). Probably several others I can't bring to mind right now.

[gurnemanz]

I like the Zingara Beethoven Trios which I picked up very cheap at the time. I got a nice Vanburgh String Quartet Schubert/Haydn disc after seeing them live.

Also a recommendable Purcell disc now resurfaced on the Sixteen's own Coro label

[jayne lee wilson]

Best thing they ever did was the series of Max Davies' Orchestral Music, happily revived on Naxos since... but there was also some first-rate Birtwistle, the Antiphonies/Nomos/Imaginary Landscape (Boulez/Macgregor) never recorded elsewhere IIRC, and Earth Dances, the Prom/BBCSO with Eotvos...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Best thing they ever did was the series of Max Davies' Orchestral Music, happily revived on Naxos since... but there was also some first-rate Birtwistle, the Antiphonies/Nomos/Imaginary Landscape (Boulez/Macgregor) never recorded elsewhere IIRC, and Earth Dances, the Prom/BBCSO with Eotvos...

Antiphonies was conducted by Michael Gielen, Nomos and An Imaginary Landscape by Paul Daniel - the UK premiere of Antiphonies was conducted by Boulez (I was there - and somewhere I have a cassette of that broadcast performance).

Earth Dances was in the initial batch of CD singles devoted to contemporary British Music, one of the highlights of the label.

[Jonathan]

I enjoyed their Moszkowski Piano music with Seta Tanyel (now on Helios) and also the Scharwenka Piano Works (and piano concertos). Might give one of these a spin later...

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes, I think they were. Some Britten recordings with Stuart Bedford come to mind.

Yes.

This



was re-released as this:



For some reason I own the latter having also owned the former. Not sure why. Either to save space (the Naxos edition is a single-CD box, the Collins was a box-set); or I lent the Collins edition to someone and never got it back!

[Petrushka]

Best thing they ever did was the series of Max Davies' Orchestral Music, happily revived on Naxos since... but there was also some first-rate Birtwistle, the Antiphonies/Nomos/Imaginary Landscape (Boulez/Macgregor) never recorded elsewhere IIRC, and Earth Dances, the Prom/BBCSO with Eotvos...

Yes indeed. I have some of those Maxwell Davies CDs and Naxos has done a great service in restoring them to circulation.

I was present at the Earth Dances, BBCSO/Eotvos performance at the 1991 Proms. I remember I'd spent a very hot day in Portsmouth (HMS Victory, Mary Rose) and raced back to the Albert Hall and dashed into the Arena just as the conductor stepped on stage. Those were the days.

Maxim Shostakovich also recorded some of his father's music with the LSO and I felt it a pity it never became a complete cycle.

[Beef Oven!]

Yes indeed. I have some of those Maxwell Davies CDs and Naxos has done a great service in restoring them to circulation.

I was present at the Earth Dances, BBCSO/Eotvos performance at the 1991 Proms. I remember I'd spent a very hot day in Portsmouth (HMS Victory, Mary Rose) and raced back to the Albert Hall and dashed into the Arena just as the conductor stepped on stage. Those were the days.

Maxim Shostakovich also recorded some of his father's music with the LSO and I felt it a pity it never became a complete cycle.

Yep, I had all those Collins releases, back in the day. A lot of our CDs overlap, it seems.

One Collins Classics that was a favourite of mine was this Strauss disc. Spectacular sound quality and great performances.

[Dave2002]

I really was completely unaware of Jacek Kaspszyk - http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...yk&prev=search

Sounds as though we should check him out.

[VodkaDilc]

I really was completely unaware of Jacek Kaspszyk - http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...yk&prev=search

Sounds as though we should check him out.

I've got an excellent recording of Rachmaninov 2 with the Philharmonia and Kaspszyk.