These three early symphonies join the series of ASMF/Marriner recordings of all the 'named' symphonies of Haydn. They are delightfully lightweight with unusual prominence given to the woodwind, and they receive here wholly enjoyable 'chamber-music' style performances of great style and precision. The recorded balance has ideal spread and depth, the harpsichord being just in evidence. The sum of its many musical and technical virtues makes this CD compulsive listening through every one of its 13 movements.

Les petits riens (French for "The Little Nothings") is a ballet in one act and three tableaux by Jean-Georges Noverre, with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and other unknown composers, first performed at the Academie Royale de Musique in Paris on 11 June 1778.

William Walton first foundsuccess in the early 1920s, when he set to music a cycle of abstract poems by Edith Sitwell, whom he was the protégé in his early career. A very inventive score, quite modernist, written for wind sextet, percussion and cello, in which the poems are recited and not sung. Though the suites are popular and often recorded, the original version is quite rare! Featuring as narrators, two great figures of British acting: Fenella Fielding (known for her distinctive voice and numerous recordings of audio books) and Michael Flanders.

A collection of orchestral showpieces with captivating, sparkling sound conducted by Marriner, who is most familiar with how to make the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields sound brilliant. Flight of the Bumblebee, Dance of Time, William Tell Overture, and more. Recorded between 1982 and 1992.

Originally recorded in 1977, this splendid re-release per of Haydn’s sacred masterpiece in its original fully orchestral version was never released as a CD or in digital, making it one of the highlights of our Marriner centenary jubilee!

The amazing soprano Lucia Popp largely owes her success to her unforgettable roles in the grand German Romantic repertoire by Richard Strauus & Richard Wagner. She was also known to be a brilliant performer of lighter lyrical works, with which such composers as Franz Lehár, Johann Strauss or Carl Zeller triumphed at the Theater an der Wien or the Wiener Staatsoper, ultimately entertaining the Austrian high society to a great degree. This exquisite collection of Viennese bonbons is accompanied by Sir Neville Marriner, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus featured in choral excerpts from The Merry Widow, Giuditta or Casanova.

As a specialist of Baroque and classical eras, the albums Neville Marriner dedicated to modern music are quite rare among his discography, making them all the more interesting! This 1978 recording highlights two Genevan composers, the greatest Swiss figures of their generation. Ernest Bloch (famous for his hit for cello and orchestra Schelomo) composed a beautiful and lively neo-classical Concerto grosso for piano and strings, as for Frank Martin, one of his most celebrated compositions is the Petite Symphonie concertante and its unusual distribution – a double string orchestra accompanied by a piano, a harp and a harpsichord. Featuring Osian Ellis, Francis Grier, Philip Ledger, and Simon Preston.

This premiering album by Neville Marriner includes modern, witty instrumental arrangements of the most famous arias and scenes from Verdi and Puccini’s operatic masterpieces: Nessun dorma, La donna è mobile… Don’t miss the moving chant of the ondes Martenot in Madama Butterfly or the voluble cimbalom in the Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore!

Warner Classics is continuing Sir Neville Marriner’s centenary celebrations, and with it comes a wonderful re-release in the form of the irresistible collection of Rossini overtures, from Marriner's very first staged opera La cambiale di matrimonio to the famous William Tell and The Barber of Seville.

For this wonderful recital finally making is digital debut, Kathleen Battle made a beautiful selection of Handel arias excerpted from its most famous operas (Alcina, Giulio Cesare in Egitto), oratorios (Solomon, Messiah) and masques (Acis and Galatea). It is witfully accompanied by Neville Marriner’s Academy, who provides an ideal backdrop in which Battle’s voice can express all its charm and virtuosity. This album is definitely a highlight of our Neville Marriner centenary retrospective!

This is a summit meeting in these Mozart late piano concertos between two specialists of the Classical era!

This recording of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s two sacred masterpieces is one of the only forays Neville Marriner ever made into French baroque. Full of elegance and refinement, this rendition features great vocal soloists such as Ann Murray, Daw Upshaw or John Aler.

This is not strictly a compilation of what the British would term "light music," for there is music of substantial weight on these two discs: e.g., Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad, and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, but for the most part, Marriner and his charges offer less weighty fare that is familiar to many classical music-lovers and certainly dear to the heart of Anglophiles like this writer. From Vaughan Williams's perennial favorites, Fantasia on Greensleeves and the English Folk Song Suite, and George Butterworth's nigh-ubiquitous The Banks of Green Willow to less familiar fare like Delius's Serenade (composed to honor the 70th birthday of Frederick Delius) and the suite from Elgar's incomplete opera The Spanish Lady, this compilation of recordings–originally made in 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1979–embodies the spirit of England and does so faultlessly. This is a well chosen and exemplarily executed collection of English orchestral miniatures proffered by a conductor and orchestra whose names have become synonymous with the repertoire.

This recording of one of Beethoven's most melodious scores has been a favorite of mine since it first appeared in vinyl many years ago. It has long been superseded in popularity perhaps even critical acclaim by Kremer's later, grander, more conventional effort with Harnoncourt conducting on Teldec. Philips, to my knowledge, never saw fit to re-issue it on CD; it is now beind done so, under license by Arkiv, though preserving the Philips artwork but not the notes. The sound retains the warmth and clarity of the original, bright early-digital recording.