The works which give this issue its title give an indication of just how popular the operas were in the mid-nineteenth century…

The story of Ailsa Dixon is, sadly, not an unusual one. A composer of great promise, who happened to be a woman, had to be content with a scant number of performances during her most fertile period of composition…

There is (of course) the dreaded acoustic of the Barbican Concert Hall to contend with, but especially in No 5 I felt the engineers had done very well in presenting the music clearly and atmospherically…

A beautifully recorded disc, and an intriguing programme, with some superb playing…

Why do birds sing? – Because They Have Songs.’ Edward Cowie takes that answer from an African text as the title for the fourth in his series of compositions inspired by birdsong…

Well – in a word, this is superb. You only need to listen to the opening of the ballet to hear timpani thwacks which, were you playing the recording on an LP, would have the stylus jumping out of the groove…