This year marks the 150th birthdays of two great French musical figures, Maurice Ravel and Pierre Monteux. Monteux conducted the premières of several of Ravel’s major works and was instrumental in promoting his music internationally, especially in the United States. Among his final recordings were a series made in London with the LSO for Decca in 1959 and 1961—remarkable performances considering he was in his eighties, albeit freshly signed to a 25-year contract with the orchestra!

By the time of this week's London recordings, Monteux had been closely associated with Ravel’s music for nearly half a century, having conducted the première of Daphnis et Chloé in 1912. A live performance of the ballet suites from New York, recorded just seven weeks before the complete London version, attests to the work’s enduring freshness in his hands. In 1961 Monteux added Rapsodie espagnole and Pavane pour une infante défunte to the mix. These vivid stereo recordings—revitalised here through careful XR remastering—still shimmer with vitality, testifying to both Ravel’s brilliance and Monteux’s unmatched authority in his music.

We also celebrate this week's 165th birthday of Spanish composer Albéniz, with a special 15% discount on his music all week at Pristine.

This week, Pristine returns to the pre-war orchestral recordings of Sir Adrian Boult and his BBC Symphony Orchestra. This latest release concentrates on Romantic and early modern era works, including overtures by Wagner, Humperdinck and Brahms, works by Saint-Saëns, Borodin and Tchaikovsky (including Boult’s only recording of the latter’s Serenade for Strings), and two Sibelius tone poems. Boult’s recording of Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 of Tristan und Isolde is one of the few from the era to use the composer’s own rarely-heard concert ending, which segues without pause into a shortened, adapted version of the Liebestod. 

Through it all, Boult’s energy, forward momentum and generally unfussy interpretations bring us closer to the original score in the same way as the conductor he so admired, Arturo Toscanini. 

We also celebrate Wagner's 212th birthday with an automatic 10% discount on all our recordings of his music all this week.

"The word that comes to mind to describe Firkušný’s playing here is "fresh.” He is poised, rhythmically alert and completely to the point. There is something absolutely dewy about these clean-sounding performances and the ultra-efficient, tasteful manner in which Firkušný makes his points." - New York Times, 1958

This release concentrates on Rudolf Firkušný's 1950s recordings of Debussy, with performances of four major sets - the Deux Arabesques, the Suite Bergamasque, Children's Corner and Estampes, as well as excerpts from the Préludes and Images, all remarkably refreshed in this new Pristine XR remaster.

We also celebrate the 125th birthday of conductor Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, with a 20% reduction on all his recordings at Pristine.