In this, Chandos' 25th anniversary year, we are releasing our first true DVD, L'amfiparnaso (The Twin Peaks of Parnassus), performed by I Fagiolini (CHDVD 5029). Written in 1597, it is a classic commedia dell'arte, rich in both humour and pathos; qualities fully brought out by I Fagiolini under Robert Hollingworth with its sparkling narration by Simon Callow. What especially distinguishes this work is the musical invention, which is of an astonishingly high standard, and this performance - the first full re-creation of this work - with its sharp visual characterisations, is ideally suited to the DVD medium.

One series on Chandos which always gets rave reviews is Matthias Bamert's 'Contemporaries of Mozart' series, the latest of which is devoted to symphonies Josef Myslivecek. This is exhilarating music. Each symphony possesses effervescent qualities, especially in the vital outer movements which flank slow movements of great elegance and charm - all wonderfully melodic and unfailingly inventive. The London Mozart Players are on their best form and the sound is both rich and detailed (CHAN 10203).

Three further discs released this month are all part of important and much-collected projects:

The Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu's exotic (and sometimes hypnotic!) music gives the listener plenty of opportunity to wallow in sumptuous sounds. His latest disc with the BBC Philharmonic under Sachio Fujioka (the composer's most famous interpreter) includes his striking orchestral work The Age of Birds, his Cello Concerto and, another typically original work, Chikap (CHAN 10202).

The third and final volume of Anthony Beaumont's Zemlinsky survey is released this month and includes the wonderful Symphony in B flat major. This forty-five minute work, very much in the Brahms tradition, is superbly orchestrated, memorable music. It is coupled with most attractive orchestral works which display this composer's rich and colourful sound-world, all wrapped up in typically full Chandos sound (CHAN 10204).

Chandos' monumental Grainger Edition is now up to Volume 19. This latest instalment features some more of his witty and inventive piano works (volume three in fact) performed by Penelope Thwaites, a leading authority on this composer. (CHAN 10205)

There's a superb Mozart Requiem, with the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge and the ECO under George Guest, with a fine array of soloists (Yvonne Kenny, Sarah Walker, William Kendal and David Wilson-Johnson) on the mid-price Chandos Classics label. (CHAN 10208X)

On the same label, Volume 2 of Järvi's famous Richard Strauss survey (with the Scottish National Orchestera) appears, which includes his famous Also sprach Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegel, alongside the rarer Macbeth and Symphonia domestica tone-poems, plus a very fine Don Quixote to boot! (CHAN 10206(2)X)

On the bargain Collect label, two light and frothy issues:

First, a 2-CD set of Viennese operetta sung by Marilyn Hill Smith - an expert in this field - which includes many delicious rarities, and she receives excellent support from the Ambrosian Singers and the Chandos Concert Orchestra. (CHAN 6689(2))

A favourite disc of mine is saved until last, 'The Strauss Family in London', which, as the title suggests, comprises compositions with a strong London or British connection. With numbers such as Greeting Waltz on English Airs, Memory of Covent Garden, Old England for Ever Polka, March of the Royal House Guards, etc., this is a disc as much for Anglophiles as well as for fans of the 'Waltz King'. The playing of the London Symphony Orchestra is the icing on the cake on this CD and John Georgiadis is as superb as ever in this repertoire. A must at bargain price! (CHAN 6691)

Paul Westcott
Press Officer