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10 June  2017

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New for June

Many music lovers miss the sound from vinyl pressings. Many others have yet to discover how pleasant the sound can be. Most of our albums are mastered from vinyl LP pressings and earlier recordings (before 1953) from 78 rpm discs. It is our ability to recreate, in the digital age, the sound from the disc era that many of our customers find most enjoyable.

Unlike modern digital recordings tracks in our albums do contain some distortion, and the occasional surface noises, but for many listeners these "defects" are soon forgotten.

 

Our albums are available from many download sites.

We highly recommend downloading from to Qobuz where you can download or stream in high quality, for the same price as iTunes medium quality.

Here are the top five best selling Beulah albums at Qobuz.

Qobuz top selling albums

New downloads


1ps10 the ballets of charles makerras

Coming soon

" The 1951 SULLIVAN concoction ballet Pineapple Poll, ... is especially delightful when performed by its begetter, Sir Charles Mackerras. Beulah have already reissued the Eastman Wind Ensemble recording of the suite but their new reissue is better still, especially when coupled as it is here with that other Mackerras confection, this time from VERDI, The Lady and the Fool. There’s a budget-price Classics for Pleasure coupling of both suites with Mackerras and the LPO, but the Beulah reissue on 1PS10 restores the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1962, ADD/stereo) and the Philharmonia (1955 ADD/mono), both with Mackerras. It’s due for release in March 2017.

" This definitive account of Pineapple Poll when first released and again when reissued took a whole LP, as did The Lady and the Fool in 1956. With more generous selections than on the CFP album – the complete Lady, not just the suite – Beulah give us over 97 minutes. The 1962 recording has come up as fresh as paint and the 1955 is very good for its age, clear if a trifle dry and with a touch of end-of-side insecurity in the Epilogue. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


3pd79 historic Brahms

Coming soon


2pdr26 the art of toscanini

Coming soon


1ps11 esssentially gershwin


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1ps12 the art of edvard grieg

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What the Critics Say


1ps9 the art of joseph haydn

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" Two classic performances here: the ‘Gypsy’ Trio, still sounding very well for its age, and a sample of Beecham’s Haydn from the second (stereo) set of the ‘London’ symphonies, still my go-to recordings despite the conductor’s wilful refusal to abandon old and corrupt editions of the scores.

"It’s hardly credible that the Trio recording is 90 years old: not only has it come up very well here – as good as any of the many transfers that I’ve heard – the performances retain their esteemed position. With Beecham’s Haydn enclosed in multi-CD boxes, this reissue of his ‘Clock’ Symphony is very welcome, one of the best of the series, but it’s likely to tempt you to obtain all twelve, still available as two Gemini twofer downloads from Warner, Nos. 93-98 in mono and 99-104 in stereo.

"The Piano Sonatas are not in that league; in fact, I didn’t recall their being released (on two mono LPs on the Delta label in 1963). What Sophie Svirsky-Stern lacks in technique she makes up for in a sense of involvement in the music and the recording, if a little thin, sounds fine – the lack of stereo spread is less of a problem with the solo instrument. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps1 the yeomen of the guard

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2ps1 the mikado

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" I’m simply going to draw attention to the reissue of these two recordings. G&S is just not my scene, I fear, but I know that connoisseurs will welcome the Beulah downloads of these classics. When this recording of Yeomen was first reissued by Beulah I mentioned that I did think that work and Mikado superior to the other Savoy operas, but only comparatively – DL Roundup September 2012/1. I did enjoy listening to the overtures and can report that the transfer is crystal clear though inevitably somewhat boxy. At £7.99 they are less expensive than alternative reissues and though they come without a libretto or notes, these are easily available online. As usual I recommend the Qobuz lossless transfers at the same price as the mp3 alternatives: Mikado is already available there. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps6 the art of david oistrakh volume 1

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2ps6 the art of david oistrakh volume 2

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3ps6 the art of david oistrakh volume 3

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"Some of these recordings are otherwise available but the Beulah reissues are very valuable. The Prokofiev Violin Concerto, for example, offers an alternative to that made with Lovro von Matačič around the same time (Warner) and the stereo remake, now on Alto. The recording sounds almost good enough for me to check that this wasn't the 1963 recording, formerly on Brilliant Classics; the quality is especially surprising in view of the date and the Melodiya provenance.

" The Tchaikovsky concerto has also come up sounding better than I ever remember: always a strong recommendation, it sounds as good as on the 2-CD DG Originals set which also offers the Beethoven Romances along with Bach and Brahms. The Heliodor reissue of this recording, which I owned, was rather muddy and no amount of care can quite remove that but it doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of a very fine performance. In fact all the transfers have been made with Beulah's usual care: my only reservation is that some of the material has appeared on an earlier Beulah release: Violin Greats (2PDR12). "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps3 music by bliss volume 1

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1ps3 music by bliss volume 2

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"Though there are other more recent recordings of all these works and even a Lyrita CD of Bliss Conducts Bliss in stereo, these generously filled Beulah reissues are very valuable. I don’t recall hearing the Warsaw Concerto-like Baraza before. The only other recording, on Naxos Film Music is better recorded than this 78-based transfer but this is the music from the horse’s mouth as it were.

" The Campoli recordings of works composed for him are especially valuable, in very decent transfers for their age, though you may have obtained them from earlier Beulah releases on CD (6PD10 – review) "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


2pdr24

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"I’m sorry that my tardiness means that I have missed the Christmas market with this one but there’s no reason not to enjoy Humperdinck’s music all year round. The story may be grim, though the composer toned down the Grimm brothers’ original where the father and step-mother deliberately abandon the children, and the ending is happy enough in true pantomime fashion. For most music lovers, especially those of a certain age, this Karajan recording remains paramount. I’ve already made the Handel/Beecham a Recording of the Month but this has to qualify too. I can’t better Alec Robertson’s comment from 1953 that this sounds as if it was ‘sung, played and … directed with love’.

" The EMI transfer remains available on two CDs from Warner Classics at mid price – review – and as a download but the Beulah reissue is less expensive. Less expensive still is the Past Classics version from emusic.com which I compared with the EMI in Download Roundup December 2011/2 but the Beulah transfer has been made with greater care and is comparable in quality with the EMI, a little shrill but more than tolerable. "

Brian Wilson's Recording of the Month at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps9 the art of Chopin

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" Though I’d turn first to Rubinstein in this concerto, unbelievably improved on CD over its LP incarnation, Askenase is not far behind. My only reservation is that Beulah had already released this recording on a very generous Great Piano Concertos programme (1PDR28 – review). That’s a logical coupling, with Mozart and Beethoven concertos, but so is the new release in the company of other classic Chopin recordings.

" The other items could hardly be better interpreted than by Rubinstein and the legendary Paderewski and the vintage sound of the latter, though clangorous, is tolerable: the hiss and fizz is almost completely absent with no tonal loss. Odd as it may now seem, Paderewski’s left-hand-before-right style may well be authentic for Chopin. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


5pd17 Van beinum conducts brahms

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" I recall reading a review of van Beinum’s Brahms – not these recordings, I think, but it applies to them – to the effect that he couldn’t put a foot wrong. It’s certainly true of his recording of the First Symphony: I’d be hard pressed, for example, to name a more affectionate account of the ‘big tune’ in the finale. The recording has come up well for its age, though it’s inevitably rather thin.

"This recording of the Violin Concerto ... at nearly 22 minutes this is one of those performances where the first movement sounds almost as slow as the real slow movement but most seem to like it so and it’s certainly not the worst offender. Listen to Heifetz and Reiner (RCA) and you may never wholly enjoy any other account but there’s no lack of passion in Grumiaux’s playing or the accompaniment throughout. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps5 O Rosa Bella Alfred Deller

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" Though modern period practice inevitably makes Deller’s approach sound somewhat dated, it was revelatory in its day and paved the way for today’s practitioners. As I wrote in a Download Roundup when some of these tracks were released separately in 2010 and 2013, Deller’s beautiful voice is always worth hearing and the recordings mostly wear their age lightly in the Beulah transfers. (The Messiah excerpts on tracks 17 and 18 are a rare exception). "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps2 the art of georg kulenkampff

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" These performances are available elsewhere, otherwise coupled: the Brahms with the other two sonatas, Beethoven and Mozart on Australian Eloquence, the Bruch on Opus Kura and the Sibelius on Andromeda. The Beulah coupling, however, gives us a broad range of his recordings in very decent transfers which largely belie their age. Kulenkampff died in 1948, so don’t expect too much – there’s even more of a trace of surface noise or rumble than usual from Beulah, especially in the Sibelius – but I especially enjoyed revisiting the performance of the Brahms, to the success of which Solti’s pianism also plays a considerable part. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


7PDR$ Beecham conducts ballet music

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" The unavailability of Love in Bath except as a download coupled on a budget twofer with Solomon makes the Beulah reissue of this delightful music, originally concocted from a wide range of Handel’s music as The Great Elopement, all the more welcome and the inclusion of the Delibes, another ballet which Beecham brings off superbly, clinches it...for me Love in Bath is too full of sheer delectation and delight to be criticised. As for Le Roi s’amuse, I fell in love with the music years ago when BBC2 used it as theme music for a dramatisation of Kenilworth. Beecham’s is the most complete recording of the music and easily the best. "

Brian Wilson's REISSUE OF THE MONTH at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


5pdr17 Barbirolli symphonies vol 5 franck symphony in d vaughan williams sinfonia antartica

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" Sir John Barbirolli’s Antartica appeared on HMV ALP1102 mere months before Sir Adrian Boult’s now much better known Decca recording; they shared Margaret Ritchie in the soprano role. Though the Boult is the one which has become a classic – in many ways preferable to more recent recordings, even Boult’s own – the Barbirolli stayed at full price in the catalogue well into the stereo era: it was still advertised as such in 1966 and it was until recently available in a Warner British Composers set (now download only). Like Barbirolli’s Eighth (4PDR17, with Elgar Symphony No.2 – DL News 2016/6), this deserves to be heard by every VW enthusiast and the recording has come up well for its age, though not quite as well as the Decca Boult. The Beulah transfer is good for its age, a trifle dry but no more so than the Warner reissue, streamed via Qobuz.

Barbirolli recorded the Franck Symphony with the New York Philharmonic in the days of 78s and that remains available on Guild but his Czech Philharmonic version is rarer. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it: the performance has a vitality that sometimes challenges even the classic Beecham (Warner, download only) and Munch (RCA and Sony, download only or 86-CD set) recordings but the Supraphon recording seems to have been problematic, even for Beulah who have made much older Supraphons sound very acceptable. I suspect that the original LP was a ‘swinger’, with the central hole not quite accurately placed, or slightly warped. It’s not a gross problem but the pitch is just sufficiently off to be the musical equivalent of that slightly rough tooth that your tongue keeps getting attracted to. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1pdr36

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" A well-filled RPO/Beecham album brings reissues of Overtures: to BEETHOVEN’s Ruins of Athens, BERLIOZ’ Le Corsaire and Le Carnaval Romain, BRAHMS’ Academic Festival, MENDELSSOHN’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, ROSSINI’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio and La Gazza Laddra, SUPPÉ’s Poet and Peasant, BOCCHERINI’s Overture in D and MÉHUL’s Timoléon. Carnaval Romain and the last two were recorded in 1953/4 in mono, the rest in stereo in 1959/60. It’s very convenient and enjoyable to have them collected by Beulah in such good transfers. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1ps8 Aafje haynis sings brahms handel and bach

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"The Brahms is beautifully sung and accompanied but the recording sounds much older than 1958. I checked and it was indeed recorded in February 1958 and issued later that year on a 10” LP. The fault clearly lies with the original recording, not with Beulah’s transfer. The VSO and Gillesberger may not have been in the top league but they offer mainly stylish accompaniment in the other items. At the time Heynis was compared with Kathleen Ferrier but I prefer her voice to Ferrier’s and she is much better recorded than Ferrier. The rest of the Beulah recording is better than the Brahms: Philips quality had improved immeasurably in three short years. Recommended for all but the Brahms. "

Brian Wilson at MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL where you can read the full review


1pdr39

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"I can’t resist giving Beulah the accolade twice this month – see Handel above. I’ve been hoping for some time that they would reissue their recording of the Enigma Variations to replace the earlier release on 1BX181 – DL Roundup February 2012/2). It was a Recording of the Year and I see no reason not to stand by my very firm recommendation in its new guise.

"The Brahms is one of two versions which Monteux recorded around the same time. Originally on RCA, this is preferable to his LSO Philips recording made shortly afterwards. Monteux’s more relaxed and caressing account makes a fascinating adjunct to Klemperer’s rugged recording of around the same time, also recently reissued by Beulah. Even if you bought the original Beulah reissue of the Elgar, the modest price of the new download is worth paying for the Brahms. Both recordings are available on Eloquence but differently coupled, adding to the value of the Beulah release. The transfer is very good, with a touch of brightness on the upper strings reflecting the Decca sound of the time."

Brian Wilson's RECORDING OF THE MONTH at Music Web International