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"The Beulah
record label has always been one of the most idiosyncratic, and
therefore perhaps most interesting, of reissue marques. While the basic
character of Beulah remains the same as in its Compact Disc days, the
range of its present catalogue, driven now by the ease of downloading,
has been extended in remarkable fashion. Browsing the Beulah catalogue
is now rather like being in a 78rpm record shop: there are plenty of
recordings of short pieces available to whet your appetite for either
repertoire or artist, while at the same time there are numerous full
length works available if you wish to consolidate your collection with,
for instance, major symphonies. All of Beulah's transfers, as might be
expected of a distinguished reissue label, are of very high quality."
David Patmore writing in Classical
Recordings Quarterly
"I’m grateful to Beulah for turning out so many very fine transfers,
with no loss of the music but none of the surface noise. LP sound
without the hassle. " Brian
Wilson at Music Web Inernational
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Haitink retires after 65 years
conducting
The Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink first raised a baton
with the Netherlands radio orchestra in 1954. He became chief conductor
of the Concertgebouw in 1961, followed by similar positions with the
London Philharmonic, Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House, Dresden
Staatskapelle and the Chicago Symphony.
He announced early in 2019 "Listen I’m 90. And when I
say I’m taking a sabbatical, it’s because I don’t want to say, I’m
stopping. I don’t feel like all those official goodbyes, but the fact
is that I will no longer conduct.“
Music critic Norman Lebrecht writes "For 65 years he has
been the hardest-working and most reliable member of his vocation,
unfailingly well-prepared, frequently inspirational. He will be
universally missed."
On August 20 he conducted for the last time in
Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. He has been a regular conductor at the Proms
and at his last concert in the Royal Albert Hall on September 3rd he
conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
On September 6 he gave his final concert at the Lucerne
Festival, a city which is now his home.
Haitink will be remembered for bringing the music Mahler
and Bruckner to a wide audience through his concerts and recordings.
To mark his retirement Beulah has released four albums
recordings made when he was in his thirties and newly appointed to his
post with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
New for November
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
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We highly
recommend downloading from  where you can download or stream in high quality,
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the
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What the Critics Say
"The pièce de résistance here is the Zarębski
Quintet.
The composer was a distinguished pupil of Liszt; the romantic influence
is clear, but the quintet is not derivative in style. Overall, it’s a
most impressive piece which doesn’t outstay its 37 minutes. There are
recent recordings from the re-formed Warsaw Quintet and the Szymanowski
Quartet with Jonathan Plowright(Hyperion CDA67905, with Żeleński: Piano
Quartet in c minor, Op.61).
"I’m not sure of the date of the recording by the
original Warsaw Quartet, as reissued on Beulah, while obviously not the
equal of the Hyperion, is much more than adequate. The performance
gives the music a little more time to breathe than the Hyperion and the
playing is excellent: Szpilman was a fine pianist and the Warsaw
Quartet included such luminaries as Bronsilaw Gimpel.
"The Mewton-Wood Chopin, released by Nixa in 1953,
was highly regarded in its day, and its reissue is an important
reminder of the delicate beauty of that performance. The recording is
what you would expect for its date –not nearly as firm as the (live)
Zarębski recording, but perfectly tolerable, with a little
allowance;the piano sound is much better than that of the orchestra.
If you have Stefan Askenase’s Chopin Second Piano Concerto (Beulah
1PS59), this version of No.1 would be the ideal match."
Brian Wilson at Musicweb
International
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