December 2017 Catalogue Issue 19 Prices valid until Friday 26 January 2018 0115 982 7500 Fresco - The Twelfth Night scene from Elmelunde Kirke, Denmark [email protected] Your Account Number: {MM:Account Number} {MM:Postcode} {MM:Address4} {MM:Address3} {MM:Address2} {MM:Address1} {MM:Name} Please note that Europadisc will close for Christmas at 3pm on Friday 22 December 2017 and reopen at 9am on1 Tuesday 2 January 2018 Welcome! Dear Customer, Maybe it’s an age thing, but it really doesn’t seem that long since Christmas last rolled around. We are now firmly in the middle of our annual ‘busy period’: November and December is very much ‘make or break’ time for retail, and our order levels literally double compared to the rest of the year. Please forgive us if your order takes an extra day or two to process - we will be working around the clock to keep things running as smoothly as possible! As most record labels issue their ‘priority’ titles well in advance of Christmas, we have already seen the bulk of this year’s top releases and December consequently looks a little thin on the ground. There is however one final cherry on the cake that we are particularly excited about: Erato’s eagerly awaited issue of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, performed complete and uncut in Strasbourg earlier this year. We don’t often get to see a new recording of Les Troyens due to its immense scale, but Erato have pulled out all the stops here, enticing us with a stellar cast that includes Joyce DiDonato and Michael Spyres, wonderful orchestral playing from the Orchestre philharmonique du Strasbourg, all overseen by Berlioz expert and conductor, John Nelson. We have already been enjoying an advance copy and it most certainly doesn’t disappoint. It may even be a contender for the level of success we saw with Pappano’s Aida two years ago…! Other new titles we would like to point out include the fifth volume of Music from the Eton Choirbook on Avie (an excellent series so far); the latest issue in Naïve’s Vivaldi Edition featuring the opera ‘Dorilla in Tempe’; a set of five releases from Australian Eloquence covering Simon Preston’s legendary organ recordings for Argo; and an interesting selection of British Violin Concertos from Naxos (works by Patterson, Leighton and Jacob). BIS, Pentatone, ECM New Series and Melodiya form the core of our new special offers - all labels with superb catalogues and enticing discounts. We also have a selection of 2CD sets from Australian Eloquence reduced, plus a range of titles from Sony, including boxsets in their Classical Masters series and a listing of just over 50 DVDs. And don’t forget the other offers still running! The Autumn DVD and Blu-ray Sale has been going particularly well and remains available until we close for Christmas, plus we have titles from Warner/Erato, Decca/DG, Chandos, Brilliant Classics and much more. See the back page for full details. Finally, please allow us to thank you for your custom throughout 2017. The loyalty we see from many of you is sincerely appreciated. Please note that we will be closed between Christmas and New Year (details on the front cover), but will respond to any queries upon our return. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year! Best regards from, The Europadisc Team DISC OF THE MONTH Berlioz - Les Troyens £26.95 Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Orchestre or pay just philharmonique de Strasbourg, John Nelson £21.95 Erato 9029 576220 (4CD + DVD) if your order value This new Erato recording of the complete, uncut score of Les Troyens is drawn from two exceeds £50* concert performances that took place over the Easter weekend in April 2017 in the city * to qualify for the special price, your order value must exceed a of Strasbourg in eastern France. A magnificent cast of singers, predominantly total of £50 excluding this Francophone, assembled under the baton of John Nelson, an acknowledged master of recording and before any Berlioz’s music who has conducted Les Troyens more frequently than anyone else over applicable carriage charges. Offer available while stocks last. a period of more than 40 years; he made his name with the piece when he led performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1974 and enjoyed great acclaim for a production at the Frankfurt Opera shortly before the Strasbourg concerts. The cast includes Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Cassandre, Joyce DiDonato as Didon and Michael Spyres as Enée. A bonus DVD includes highlights from the live concert held on 15 April 2017. “Colin Davis’s studio recording of Berlioz’s Virgilian epic (Philips/Decca) has long held pole position, unsurpassed even by his later LSO Live version. This set, recorded live in Strasbourg in April, is so much more idiomatically cast than either. For DiDonato, Didon marks a watershed: she has done nothing finer on disc. This is singing in the Janet Baker/Lorraine Hunt Lieberson class, but I doubt either of those great Didons rose to the emotional extremes of suicidal despair that the American mezzo does here.” The Sunday Times, 19 November 2017 2 PRIORITY NEW RELEASES DG and Decca Veni Domine Victor de Sabata Advent and Christmas at Recordings on DG and the Sistine Chapel Decca - Beethoven, Bartoli (one track), Sistine Brahms, Mozart, Strauss, Chapel Choir, Palombella Verdi, Wagner etc £12.50 £29.95 DG 479 7524 DG 479 8196 (4CD) Also available Decca 579 0054 Andre Rieu Amore – new album CD + DVD Johann Strauss Orchestra;Rieu £11.95 Decca 579 7137 Christmas with Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir £12.50 Classic FM 670 4753 The Nation’s Favourite Carols Terfel;Davidson;Griffiths;City of London Choir;RPO;Wetton £12.50 Avie The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and director Stephen Darlington continue their exploration of the Eton Choirbook, the The Gate of Glory extraordinarily vast and diverse collection of English sacred music Music from the Eton from the early Renaissance, with a fifth volume in their critically acclaimed series. As with previous volumes, The Gate of Glory Choirbook vol.5 includes a world premiere recording - Walter Lambe’s Gaude flore Choir of Christ Church virginali - alongside works by Hugo Kellyk, Robert Fayrfax, Robert Cathedral, Oxford, Hacomplaynt and John Browne, the pre-eminent composer of the Darlington Eton Choirbook. The diversity of styles on this album is particularly striking, ranging from the astonishing balance of harmony and £12.50 counterpoint in Browne’s O regina mundi, to the elegance and AV 2376 simplicity of Fayrfax’s setting of the Magnificat. BIS all Hybrid SACDs at £9.71 each (complete catalogue now reduced) BIS 2151 Bach, JS Musikalisches Opfer Bach Collegium Japan;Suzuki BIS 2216 Aho Saxophone Concerto and Quintet Paulsson;Lapland CO;Storgards BIS 2259 Franck Violin Sonata (arr flute); Faure Violin Son no.1 (arr flute); Prokofiev Flute Sonata Bezaly;Ashkenazy BIS 2282 Paganini 24 Caprices for solo violin Park BIS 2322 Riemuitkaamme! Let Us Rejoice! – A Finnish Christmas Helsinki Chamber Choir;Schweckendiek Naive A perfect example of the creativity and diversity of Vivaldi's musicmaking, the Vivaldi opera Dorilla in Tempe is an enchanting listen. From the pastoral and fairytale- like atmosphere of the story, to the prominent role of the choir (which sings the Dorilla in Tempe well-known 'Spring') and the insertion of several spectacular arias by fellow Basso, Malfi, de Liso, composers (thereby creating a 'pasticcio' opera, as was common at the time): Prina, I Barocchisti, everything combines to draw the listener in to the emotional twists and turns of Princess Dorilla in her valley of Tempe, Greece. As always in the Vivaldi Edition, Fasolis the recording brings together a high-level vocal cast, including Romina Basso, £24.95 Sonia Prina and Serena Malfi - this time under the baton of maestro Diego Fasolis. OP 30560 (2CD) 3 CHRISTMAS A selection of recent issues alongside some of our favourite recommendations many more available to browse online! Cat No Title Details Artists Price ELQ 4489802 A Christmas Festival 26 Favourite Carols Philip Jones Brass Ensemble £9.95 ELQ 4828564 Bach, JS Christmas at Westminster Abbey – 20 Carols Preston £9.95 HAVP 388 Carols around the Christmas Tree Carols and other music Ely Cathedral Choir;Trepte £10.50 SIGCD 512 Chilcott In Winter’s Arms – seasonal music by Bob Chilcott Choralis;Kuhrmann £12.50 CD 80687 Christmas Break A Relaxing Classical Mix Chertock;Kondonassis;Russell;Boston SO etc £6.95 233744 Christmas in the Vatican Palestrina, Bach, Corelli, Morales etc Coro della Cappella Sistina £11.50 BHCD 9607 Christmas Musicke 1400-1800 – performance from The York Waits and Deborah Catterall £9.25 SIGCD 497 Christmas Presence The King’s Singers live from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge £12.50 9029 576809 Christmas with the King’s Singers Carols and traditional favourites Te Kanawa;Hickox etc £7.95 CD 80538 Christmastime is Here Popular Christmas songs from Cincinnati Pops Kunzel etc £11.95 88985 481482 Domingo and Friends Celebrate Christmas in Vienna Carreras;Bennett;Ross;Warwick etc £10.95 ES 2064 Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Christmas Choral Music NDR Choir;Ahmann £12.50 AV 2122 I Saw Three Ships Christmas Music from Gloucester Cathedral – traditional and contemporary £12.50 9029 577021 In dulci jubilo Christmas with London Brass – carols and traditional favourites £7.95 622 0661 In dulci jubilo Christmas works by Buxtehude and friends Hybrid SACD Theatre of Voices;Hillier £12.95 MDG 3091932 L’inverno degli flauti Christmas Favourites – Bach, Saint-Saens etc