CRQ Editions: Spring 2024

CRQ Editions is a specialist label that publishes unusual recordings — available for download via Bandcamp — DVDs and discographies, all devoted to great musicians.

We are proud to announce below the latest releases of CRQ Editions.


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New downloads — CRQ 500/600 series

Maria Callas: The Paris Opera Debut 19 12 1958: arias from Norma, Il Trovatore, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Tosca: Act 2, complete with Tito Gobbi and Albert Lance, Georges Sebastian conductor.
The legendary Paris debut of 1958, in which Callas completely conquered France.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 588
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Sir Eugene Goossens conducts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Vol. 3: Eugene Goossens: Symphony No. 1; Alfred Hill: Green Water; John Antill: Corroboree Suite, original recordings 1947, 1952 and 1950.
Authoritative recordings by Goossens and the Sydney Orchestra of important Australian repertoire.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 589
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Hans Swarowsky conducts French Romantic Symphonies: Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3 ‘Organ’ (1886), Franck; Symphony (1888).
Two magnificent late-romantic symphonies by Saint-Saens and Franck, interpreted with complete understanding by Hans Swarowsky, the teacher of Mehta, Abbado, Sinopoli and Mariss Jansons and many others, a true master musician.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 590
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Josef Krips: The Final Performance: Mozart Requiem: Lucia Popp, Margarita Lilowa, Anton Dermota, Walter Berry, Vienna Singverein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Live Musikverein, Vienna, 13 12 1973.
An extremely powerful reading of the Mozart Requiem, the last public performance to be conducted by the legendary Viennese maestro, Josef Krips, before his untimely death in 1974.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 591
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (condensed). Fritz Reiner conducting the Robert Shaw Chorale and the RCA Orchestra, with Patrice Munsel, Regina Resnik, Paula Lechner, Risë Stevens, Jan Peerce, James Melton, Robert Merrill, Hugh Thompson and Johnny Silver, studio recording by RCA-Victor in 1951.
A potted version of Strauss’s immortal operetta, featuring a galaxy of Met stars of the period singing under Reiner’s infectious direction.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 592
Christmas Special: free to download - individual tracks may be downloaded separately.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski Conducts Live, Vol. 2: Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 (Alexis Weissenberg), Bruckner: Symphony No. 9, Minnesota Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 2 December 1975.
The distinguished Polish conductor Skrowaczewski leads the Minnesota Orchestra in two memorable readings of Brahms and Bruckner in New York.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 593
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Richard Strauss: Die Liebe der Danae (complete), Kurt Eichhorn conducting the Bavarian State Opera live in London, 19 September 1953.
The first production of Strauss’s penultimate opera to be given in England, with the legendary Leonie Rysanek in the title role.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 594
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Clemens Krauss: The Greatest Rarities. Smetana: Vltava (1944), Respighi: The Fountains of Rome (1945), Mancinelli: Flight (1945), Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, extracts (1951).
A cornucopia of rarities conducted by the great Austrian maestro Clemens Krauss (reprint of CRQ CD 355, withdrawn 2019).
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 595
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Reader’s Digest Treasury of Great Music Vol. 5: Rene Leibowitz conducts Grieg, Mendelssohn, Wagner.
Leibowitz provides full-strength accompaniment to Earl Wild in the Grieg Piano Concerto and to Hyman Bress in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, and conducts Wagner’s majestic Overture to ‘The Mastersingers’ with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 596
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Alain Vanzo Sings Puccini: La Bohème and Madama Butterfly – extended extracts, the Orphée recordings of 1960/1961.
The great French lyric tenor Alain Vanzo stars in these generous extracts from two of Puccini’s most popular operas, ably supported by Renée Doria, Lyne Cumia, René Bianco and Robert Massard, Erasmo Ghiglia conducting.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 597
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Leopold Stokowski Conducts Beethoven Live in London, 1974: Coriolan Overture, Symphonies Nos. 8 and 3 ‘Eroica’, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, London, 10 February 1974.
Stokowski on blistering form in this exciting all-Beethoven programme live from London (reprint of CRQ CD 212, withdrawn 2019).
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 598
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Issay Dobrowen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra Vol. 1: Wagner: Die Meistersinger, Overture; Berlioz: Le Carnival Romain, Overture; Borodin: Prince Igor: Overture and Polovtsi March; Wagner: Tannhauser: Entry of the Guests, Act 2; Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod; Grieg: Symphonic Dance in G; Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale.
A wide-ranging survey of recordings made by the Russian-born maestro Issay Dobrowen with the Philharmonia Orchesra for EMI between 1947 and 1952, fully demonstrating his dynamism as a conductor and the excellent playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 599
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Anton Nanut conducts: Dvorak: Carnival Overture; Brahms: Violin Concerto; Mahler: Symphony No. 4, Dejan Bravnicar, violin, Max Emanuel Cencic, boy soprano, Radio Ljublana Symphony Orchestra, Slovenia.
A generous programme of recordings by the Slovenian maestro Anton Nanut, displaying a fine grasp of late-romantic music that looks back to the era of Mahler himself. 
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 600
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Emil Gilels: the post-war Moscow Concerto recordings: Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra / Samosud); Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1; Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2 (both with USSR State Symphony Orchestra / Kondrashin).
Gilels at his most exciting and virtuosic in three of the greatest war-horses of the piano concerto repertoire, with excellent support from Samosud and Kondrashin (reprint of CRQ CD 215, withdrawn 2019).
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 601
£9 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

New downloads are added regularly to CRQ Edition’s Bandcamp website so please do monitor it — https://crqeditions.bandcamp.com


DVD-ROM and DVD releases

NEW! The Stokowski Concert Collection: Leopold Stokowski introduces and conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in music by Purcell, J. S. Bach, Bax and Enescu. A BBC transmission from its Maida Vale Studios of 07 May 1954.
A fascinating document of Leopold Stokowski both conducting and talking about music that was clearly significant for him. Stokowski is as charismatic as ever. The BBC Symphony Orchestra of 1954 plays exceptionally well for him. 42 minutes in length. (Released by courtesy of Edward Johnson.)
CRQ DVD 44
1 DVD £15 including postage

NEW! Hans Swarowsky Accompanies…Blumental, Frugoni, Gitlis, Gulda, Holler, Horszowski, Kann, Kyriakou, Matthews, Mrazek, Novaes, Pressler, Wanausek, Wollmann, Wührer
This DVD-ROM brings together the equivalent of over 25 long-playing records in mp3 form in which Hans Swarowsky conducts the accompaniment of numerous concerto recordings. It provides a valuable conspectus of the many soloists who worked for labels such as Vox, Concert Hall, Music Treasures of the World and Vanguard during the 1950s and 1960s. A fascinating survey, it includes concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, De Falla, Franck, Grieg, Haydn, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Schumann, Scriabin and Weber. Throughout Swarowsky’s conducting is stylish and supportive.
CRQ CD-ROM 43
1 DVD-ROM and electronic booklet. £18 including postage
Direct Digital Download £15 (link will be emailed to you)

Lorin Maazel: The Concert Hall recordings
Between 1967 and 1972 the Concert Hall Record Club or Musical Masterpieces Society as it was known in Europe released a small  but representative repertoire conducted by Lorin Maazel. These recordings have only been spasmodically reissued, and some have never appeared on CD at all. This CD-ROM brings together all these recordings in mp3 format. The repertoire consists of: Haydn: Symphonies 92 ‘Oxford’ and 103 ‘Drumroll’; Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 25 and 29; Bruckner: Symphony No. 3; Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Heather Harper, soprano); Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty – extended extracts; Stravinsky: The Firebird, complete. The orchestra for all of the recordings is the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, of which Maazel was chief conductor between 1964 and 1975, except the Stravinsky Firebird where it is the Orchestra National, the premiere radio orchestra in France, which Maazel led from 1977 to 1991.
CRQ CD-ROM 42
1 CD-ROM and electronic booklet. £18 including postage
Direct Digital Download £15 (link will be emailed to you)

The Metropolitan Opera Gala of April 22 1972 for Sir Rudolf Bing
Even by the Metropolitan Opera’s exalted standards the 1972 Gala for Sir Rudolf Bing was a major event. This two and a half hour DVD of extended extracts presents a roll-call of the cream of the international opera world in 1972. It is an essential part of Met history. The singers featured include: Roberta Peter and Sherill Milnes; Teresa Stratas, Anna Moffo, Martina Arroyo, Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti, Gail Robinson and Cornell MacNeil, Fernando Corena and Ezio Flagello, Montserrat Caballé and Placido Domingo, Grace Bumbry, Regine Crespin, Mario Sereni, Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill, Leontyne Price, Regina Resnik, James McCracken, Sándor Kónya, Pilar Lorengar, Leonie Rysanek and Jon Vickers, Teresa Zylis-Gara and Franco Corelli, and Birgit Nilsson. The conductors are James Levine, Richard Bonynge, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Kurt Adler, Max Rudolf and Karl Böhm.
CRQ DVD 41
1 DVD £15 including postage

The Metropolitan Opera Record Club – The Complete Collection
The Metropolitan Opera Record Club was founded in 1955 in association with the Book of the Month Club, and operated for approximately two years. During this time nineteen operas were recorded, all repertoire favourites and featuring contract singers, conductors, and the orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera. Some operas were abridged to fit on to a single long-playing record, while others were left more or less intact. In some cases the operas were sung in English. What becomes clear from listening to these fascinating recordings is the strength, size and quality of the Met Company at this time. This CD-ROM presents the complete collection of recordings in mp3 format, together with supporting documentation. 
CRQ CD-ROM 40
1 DVD-ROM and electronic booklet. £18 including postage
Direct Digital Download £15 (link will be emailed to you)

Verdi: Otello. BBC TV 1969
Otello: Richard Cassilly; Desdemona: Teresa Stratas; Iago: Peter Glossop; Cassio: David Hillman; Lodovico: Don Garrard; Montano: Demis Wicks; Emiliaq: Joyce Blackham; Rodrigo: Alan Mayall; Herald: Neilson Taylor. Ambrosian Opera Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Charles Mackerras, conductor. A BBC TV production, director: Basil Coleman, producer: Cedric Messina, first broadcast in 1969.
This exciting TV production of ‘Otello’ represents the peak of the BBC’s approach of the 1960s and 1970s to opera on TV – which frequently involved singers and orchestra in different studios. Charles Mackerras leads a very strong cast, singing in English, in a vocally and orchestrally thrilling performance, while Basil Coleman directs a convincing and dramatic interpretation of Verdi’s masterpiece. Excellent colour image, time counter in top left hand corner throughout.
CRQ DVD 39
1 DVD £15 including postage

Mahler: Symphony No. 9. Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra,Georgia / Djansug Kakhidze, conductor.
The Georgian conductor Djansug Kakhidze died in 2002, and is now largely forgotten outside his home country of Georgia. Yet during his lifetime he was one of the most exciting musicians active in Central Europe, and a key figure in the growth of music and music education in his home country. Recorded live at the Tbilisi Centre for Music and Culture which he helped to create, with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, which he founded in 1993, this account of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony presents a deeply felt interpretation of an intensity rarely encountered in the West. 
CRQ DVD 38
1 DVD £15 including postage

Previous DVD, DVD-ROM and CD-ROM releases

Books and Articles

NEW! DECCA  CLASSICAL by Philip Stuart, revised and updated to 2024
Philip Stuart’s monumental discography of Decca’s output of classical recordings is a deserved classic of the genre. It contains a vast amount of discographical information in remarkable detail, as well as much valuable introductory written text. At over 1,500 pages in length it is an essential document for any serious collector of classical music recordings.
Classical Recordings Quarterly Editions CRQ BK035

NEW! FIVE KAPELLMEISTERS: KEILBERTH, KONWITSCHNY, VAN KEMPEN, SCHERCHEN, SWAROWSKY by John Hunt
The recording careers of five of the most interesting conductors of the last century are here chronicled in depth by John Hunt. These five seperate discographies contain much hard-to-find information. Invaluable.
Classical Recordings Quarterly Editions CRQ BK034

A discographical journey through Wagner’s mastersingers, compiled by John Hunt
A fascinating study of the recordings of Wagner’s great opera The Mastersingers of Nuremburg by master discographer John Hunt. Despite being granted only a small number of studio recordings, Wagner’s Mastersingers is the subject of a large number of in-house and off-air recordings, reflecting its great popularity. Under John Hunt’s expert guidance, admirers of this masterwork can now explore its recorded history in depth with the aid of this unique publication. 
Classical Recordings Quarterly Editions CRQ BK033

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchestra of the German Opera, Berlin): recordings 1918-2021 – a discography by John Hunt
A detailed discography of one of Germany’s busiest opera orchestras, which provides in addition a full conspectus of the activities of the German record industry during the twentieth century and beyond. 
Classical Recordings Quarterly Editions CRQ BK032

André Previn (1930-2019) – A (partial) Discography compiled by Philip Stuart
A detailed discography of the recordings of André Previn, from his first recording made in 1951 to his last, of 2012. Philip Stuart’s detailed research reveals a recording career full of variety and interest. Updated December 2023
Classical Recordings Quarterly Editions CRQ BK031

The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra on the air 1923-1950, compiled by John Michel
A one hundred page plus survey of the broadcasts of one of America’s finest orchestras, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, from the Orchestra’s first broadcast in 1923 right up to the dawn of the Antal Dorati era in 1950. Profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs, advertisements and press announcements and stories, as well as a linking text, this is a fascinating chronicle of the development of the broadcasting of orchestral music in the USA through the lens of a major orchestra.
Classical Recordings Quarterly Editions CRQ BK030

Previous Books and Articles

Recent releases

Sir Thomas Beecham: the first recordings for Columbia-UK: short pieces by Mozart, Borodin, Massenet, R. Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky and Mendelssohn, recorded during 1915 and 1916. Beecham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, conductor.
Beecham in his enthusiastic youth.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 571
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Hermann Scherchen conducts: Reinhold Gliere’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Ilia Mourometz’, with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, recorded in 1952
A truly epic work lovingly realised.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 572
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately


The Spectacular World of Classic Film Scores – The Sampler plus Fanfares. Charles Gerhardt conducts the National Symphony Orchestra.
Highlights from some of the greatest Hollywood film scores ever composed.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 573
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Carlos Kleiber: The Chicago Debut 12 10 1978: Weber: Der Freischutz Overture, Schubert: Symphony No. 3, Beethoven: Symphony No. 5. Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Kleiber, conductor.
The US debut of a great conductor.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 574
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

Reader's Digest Treasury of Great Music Vol 4 Jascha Horenstein conducts Wagner and Vol. 7 Josef Krips conducts Haydn and Mozart, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Great masters in action.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 575
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately

In Memoriam Bernard Keefe 1925-2023: Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony and Liszt Orpheus, Trinity College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Keefe, conductor, live 1986 London
A major figure in London’s post-war musical life.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 576
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.


Lovro von Matacic in Prague: Beethoven Symphony No. 3 Eroica and Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 Pathetique, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Lovro von Matacic, conductor.
Classic recordings from the Croatian maestro.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 577
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.


Rediscovering Maurice Cole, Vol. 1: Schumann: Symphonic Studies and Fantasie, Franck: Prelude, Choral and Fugue. Vol 2: Shorter pieces by Brahms and Beethoven. Maurice Cole, piano.
A major British pianist rediscovered.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 578 & CRQ 579
£4 per volume – individual tracks may be purchased separately.


Homage to Renata Scotto: Verdi: Rigoletto - Gavazzeni, Florence 1960, the legendary Ricordi Edition, Vols 1 and 2.
One of the greatest recordings of Rigoletto ever made, in which Scotto is joined by tenor Alfredo Kraus and baritone Ettore Bastianini in a galvanic reading by conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, aided by fine Mercury recorded sound.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 580 & CRQ 581
£4 per volume – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Eric Coates conducts Eric Coates on Decca: The Three Elizabeths Suite, Four Centuries Suite; The Three Bears Phantasy; The Three Men Suite; Dance of the Orange Blossoms. New Symphony Orchestra of London, Eric Coates, conductor
Post-war recordings by Decca show Coates at his finest as both composer and conductor.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 582
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Dimitri Mitropoulos conducts the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra Live on Radio: 1942: Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas Overture; Mussorgsky: Khovanschina Act 1 Prelude; Dukas: Sorcerer’s Apprentice; Tchaikovsky: Andante Cantabile. 1943: Sinigaglia: Overture: Le Baruffe Chiozotte; Ravel: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales; Roy Harris: Dance Tunes from Symphony No. 4; Dvorak: Scherzo capriccioso. Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra / Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor.
The MSO on top form under Mitropoulos in rare radio recordings from 1942 and 1943.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 583 & CRQ 584
£4 per volume – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Sir John Pritchard conducts Charles Ives: Symphony No. 4 and Richard Strauss (ed. Pritchard): Suite from Capriccio. Felicity Lott, soprano / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Live London 1985 and 1989. 
Rare repertoire from two BBC Symphony Orchestra concerts with Sir John Pritchard conducting.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 585
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

Makers of the Philharmonia, Vol 4: Vocal recordings conducted by Vilem Tausky, Warwick Braithwaite, Josef Krips, Walter Susskind, Anatole Fistoulari, and Alceo Galliera.
A selection of some of the finest vocal recordings featuring sopranos and influential conductors made by EMI between 1946 and 1950 with the Philharmonia Orchestra. A key element in the Orchestra’s early years.
Download from Bandcamp CRQ 586
£8 – individual tracks may be purchased separately.

New downloads are added regularly to CRQ Edition’s Bandcamp website so please do monitor it — https://crqeditions.bandcamp.com


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