CRQ Editions

I’ve undertaken many remastering projects for CRQ Editions, an offshoot of the magazine Classical Recordings Quarterly, which has now sadly ceased publication. The label released almost 400 CDs in quarterly batches, some of which are now available as downloads at bandcamp. The issues below are no longer available at the CRQ Editions website, but may be available on bandcamp in due course. The clickable header takes you to a full track listing for each issue.

CRQ CD076 (1 CD) Percy Pitt conducts, Volume 1: French, German and Austrian repertoire – operatic selections by Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Thomas, Delibes, Wagner, Mendelssohn and Suppé.

CRQ CD095 (1 CD) Percy Pitt conducts. Volume 2: Italian repertoire – operatic overtures and selections by Rossini, Drigo, Boccherini, Wolf-Ferrari, Verdi and Leoncavallo.

CRQ CD104 (1 CD) Percy Pitt conducts, Volume 3: Russian, Italian, Irish and English repertoire – works by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Puccini, Balfe, Coleridge-Taylor and Sullivan.

CRQ CD120 (1 CD) Lorenzo Molajoli conducts the Milan Symphony Orchestra in Respighi’s Fontane di Roma and orchestral works by Cimarosa, Bellini, Rossini, Mascagni, Gounod, Fucik and Tchaikovksy.

CRQ CD131-132 (2 CD) Percy Pitt conducts, Volume 4: the vocal recordings for HMV – this includes all except two of the singers with whom Pitt recorded, and also includes examples of Pitt as piano accompanist. The first CD is devoted  to international stars and Wagner, and the second to singers from the British Empire and the USA. Also included is the only example of Pitt as a concerto conductor, leading the Air from Goldmark’s Violin Concerto with Francis MacMillen plus several purely orchestral items. The singers featured are Luisa Tetrazzini, Maria Gay, Emmy Destinn, Louise Kirkby-Lunn, John McCormack, Mario Sammarco, Titta Ruffo, Graziella Pareto, Fernand Ansseau, Marie-Louise Edvina, Dmitri Smirnov, Feodor Chaliapin, Minnie Saltzmann-Stevens, Peter Cornelius, Clarence Whitehill, Robert Radford, Florence Austral, Tudor Davies, Walter Hyde, Miriam Licette, Nora d’Argel, William Samuell, Jeanne Brola, Eveline Matthews, John Harrison, Phyllis Lett, Flora Woodman, Olga Haley, Stella Power, Rosina Buckman and Edna Thornton.

CRQ CD144 (1 CD) Eugene Goossens conducts Gramophone Premières – Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; Delius: Brigg Fair; Stravinsky: Petrushka; Rimsky-Korsakov: Dubinushka; Scriabin: Rêverie Op.24; Grainger: Molly on the Shore – Irish Reel; Goossens: Tam O’Shanter – Scherzo.

CRQ CD153 (1 CD) Eugene Goossens conducts, Volume 2: the Columbia and Edison Bell recordings – Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre; Goossens: Four Conceits, Op. 20 (first recording); Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser: Overtures; Wolf-Ferrari: Il Segreto di Susanna: Overture; Sibelius: Scènes Historiques: Festivo; Delibes: Le Roi l’a dit: Overture ; Coppélia: 4 extracts; Planquette: Paul Jones (Surcouf): Selection; Offenbach: La Périchole: Selection; Auber: Les Diamants de la Couronne: Overture; Le Cheval de Bronze: Overture.

CRQ CD171-172 (2 CD) The Virtuoso String Quartet: pioneers of chamber music on record
Franck: Quartet in D*; Debussy: Quartet in G minor, Op. 10; Tchaikovsky; Quartet in D, Op. 11*; Beethoven: Quartet No. 12 in E flat, Op. 127, plus music for string quartet by Mendelssohn, Gossec, Grainger, Glazunov, Dittersdorf and Haydn (*=first recording) / Virtuoso String Quartet (Marjorie Hayward, Edwin Virgo, violins; Raymond Jeremy, viola; Cedric Sharpe, cello).

CRQ CD182-183 (2 CDs) Alick Maclean conducts light music, Vol. 1
A very generous selection of the acoustic recordings conducted by Alick Maclean (1872-1936) as well as his only electrical recording. Maclean was a key figure in English musical life both as an operatic composer and as the conductor of the Spa Orchestra at Scarborough, North Yorkhsire, during its heyday. Included are works by Coleridge-Taylor, German, Sullivan, Jones, Quilter, Verdi, Puccini,Leoncavallo, Charpentier, Bizet, Massenet, Rosse and Grieg. Relax and enjoy the view!

CRQ CD192 Marjorie Hayward (violin) and Una Bourne (piano): The violin sonata recordings for HMV, 1919-1925
Mozart: Violin Sonata in B flat major K378; Grieg: Violin Sonata No.3 in C minor Op.45 (both recorded by HMV in 1925); Beethoven: Violin Sonata in A major Op.47 “Kreutzer”; Franck: Violin Sonata (both abridged and recorded by HMV in 1919). Bonus: Noel Johnson: Intermezzo (Marcella); Brahms: Hungarian Dance No.5 (both with orchestra, recorded by Zonophone in 1919)
CRQ CD193 Alick Maclean conducts light music, Vol. 2 (HMV 1918-1920)
Following on from the successful release last quarter of Volume I of Alick Maclean’s complete light music recordings, Volume II continues the set, with a highly attractive programme. This ranges from popular French items by Gounod and Offenbach through several works by Eric Coates to shorter pieces by Haydn Wood, Percy Fletcher and the pianist Arthur de Greef, and ends with a rousing account of the Bacchanale from Glazunov’s ballet score ‘The Seasons’.
CRQ CD210-211 (2 CDs) ‘By Spa and Seaside’ – a survey of English municipal orchestras, their conductors andrepertoires, 1913-1952
Orchestral works by Adam, Arensky, Auber, Brooke, Cherubini, Delibes, Gennin, German, Gounod, Grieg, Köhler, Leoncavallo, Liszt, Mascagni, Mendelssohn, Rimsky-Korsakov, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, Weber
This issue brings together recordings by English municipal orchestras from Bournemouth, Eastbourne, Harrogate, Hastings and Margate, playing under their regular conductors (Amers, Bath, Birch, Cameron, Clifford Sr., Godfrey, Bainbridge Robinson, Schwarz) in an extraordinarily wide range of repertoire recorded during the first half of the last century – from Auber to Weber by way of most of the popular names in nineteenth century music. A must for collectors of the unusual.
An extraordinary collection of some of the finest early concerto recordings (including the first ever complete recordings of the Beethoven Violin Concerto and Liszt Hungarian Fantasia), in performances which still stand the test of time. Both Arthur de Greef and Isolde Menges were musicians of the highest calibre, while the concerto accompaniments and orchestral items well demonstrate that there was more to Landon Ronald’s conducting than is generally thought.
An important set bringing together all the known published recordings of the English composer Sir Edward German (1862-1936) conducting his own works, including his popular comic opera Merrie England (1918),together with the abridged 1931 recording of Merrie England, supervised by German and conducted by Clarence Raybould. Other repertoire – all conducted by German – includes excerpts from his numerous suites and incidental music as well as patriotic songs, recorded between 1916 and 1919, and further incidental music and the late tone poem The Willow Song, all recorded in 1920 and 1923. An essential set for all lovers of English music and comic opera. Produced with assistance from Alan Sanders and Jolyon Hudson.
CRQ Editions CRQ CD296-297 (2 CDs) Albert Coates – the rare Columbia recordings (1919-1921), Beethoven’s Ninth (1923) and other treasures 
A two CD tribute to the exciting Anglo-Russian conductor Albert Coates, one of the great pioneers of symphonic music and opera on record. The repertoire includes his extraordinary 1923 account of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the ‘Choral’, which must be one of the most exciting on record, as well as his historic 1920 recording of ‘The Poem of Ecstasy’ by Scriabin, of whom he was a contemporary in Russia before the First World War. A must for collectors of rare recordings.

Richard Strauss: Don Juan (1922)*; Tod und Verklärung (1923)*; Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1921)*; Salome (1924)* (extracts, with Göta Ljungberg: Salome; Tudor Davies: Narraboth, Herodes; Nellie Walker: Page; George Baker and Peter Dawson: Jochanaan; Edward Halland: Soldier); Choral music: George Gottfried Wagner (formerly attrib: J. S. Bach) – Blessing, glory and wisdom†; Bax – Mater ora filium‡; Purcell – Soul of the World‡; Sterndale Bennett – God is a spirit†; Sullivan – O gladsome light† (all 1925); Wagner: Lohengrin: The Swan Chorus (1925)**; the Bridal Chorus (1925)***; Rienzi: Overture (1921)*; Siegfried Idyll (1922)*; ‘Faust’ Overture (1928)****; ‘Die Feen’ Overture (1932)****
*Symphony Orchestra, **Walter Widdop; Chorus; Symphony Orchestra, ***Chorus, Symphony Orchestra, ****London Symphony Orchestra, † Chorus of the British National Opera Company, ‡ Leeds Festival Chorus / Albert Coates, conductor
The second volume in our popular reissues of the rarer recordings of the great Anglo-Russian conductor Albert Coates. A substantial programme of early recordings of music by Richard Strauss is matched by rare choral music as well as numerous works by Wagner – all repertoire in which Coates, a Nikisch pupil, excelled. Another must for collectors of rare recordings.
J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 1: Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1 -24 / Maurice Cole, piano (from the original Classics Club LPs published in 1961)
One of the most ambitious undertakings of Marcel Rodd, the director of Classics Club and Saga Records, was the publication in 1961of a complete recording of Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues played by the veteran British pianist Maurice Cole on six LPs. The result, which appears never to have been re-released on CD, fully justified Rodd’s initiative and was hailed by
The Gramophone for its ‘unfailing musicality, control of part playing, complete accuracy, admirably firm rhythm, and an avoidance of all posturing and pretentiousness.’ Now almost sixty years later we re-release the first volume of this significant undertaking.
Wagner: Die Walküre: The Ride of the Valkyries (1926); Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks), Op. 28 (1927-1928); Liszt: Les préludes (1928); Rimsky-Korsakov: Le Coq d’Or: Introduction; Bridal Cortège (1929); Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol (1929); Stravinsky: Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale) – Excerpts (1930); Prokofiev: Le Pas d’Acier (The Steel Step) – Ballet Suite (1932) / London Symphony Orchestra / Albert Coates, conductor. From the original HMV 78rpm recordings.
This magnificent collection of 78rpm electric recordings with Albert Coates leading the London Symphony Orchestra, made by HMV between 1926 and 1932, shows both conductor and orchestra in top form. The repertoire ranges from popular items for the period by Liszt, Wagner and
Richard Strauss to less well known Russian repertoire by Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Coates was a master in both these schools and it shows!
J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier: Book 2: Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1 -24; Italian Concerto in F major BWV 971; Overture in the French Style in B minor BWV 831. Maurice Cole, piano (from the original Classics Club LPs published in 1961 and 1964)
Following on from the successful release on CD of Book 1 of Bach’s 48 played by Maurice Cole, we now complete the cycle with Cole’s parallel recording of Book 2, as well as two further major keyboard works by Bach, the latter recorded in stereo. As previously Cole’s deep musical insight into these works is revelatory. One of Saga’s most significant productions.