Melba Recordings

"... a label of fragrant distinction"

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News from Melba Recordings

Go behind the scenes for insights on our recordings, our artists and our future plans. Follow our artists' schedules and share the excitement of their journeys.

What the critics say

Monday, 23 January 2012 - 9:00pm

Melba wins ‘Best of 2011’ accolade

Hailed as “one of the great discoveries of the year”, Elan, our world-premiere recording of ballet music from operas by Saint-Saëns, has been voted one of the “Best Recordings of 2011” by The Classical Review.

The site also paid tribute to “Australian powerhouse partnership in the making, Orchestra Victoria and Guillaume Tourniaire”, and “the remarkable clarity that one has come to expect of the enterprising Melbourne-based Melba Recordings”.

Our second release championing the forgotten music of Saint-Saëns with Guillaume Tourniaire conducting Orchestra Victoria (following Hélène in 2008) has been receiving outstanding reviews and five-star accolades from critics around the world since its release last year.

Elan is our seventh recording with Orchestra Victoria which has been earning unanimous acclaim for performances built, said SACD.net, on “a combination of supreme elegance and winning verve”, and that created for Limelight magazine “a tapestry of the most delicate beauty and fluidity”. Leading American classical review magazine Fanfare declared it “a winner” and “a disc of rarely heard and lovely music, exquisitely performed and recorded”, while one French critic revelled in its “fireworks of colour and atmosphere; it is joyous, sparkling, dramatic and solemn all at the same time”.

Guillaume Tourniaire’s conducting also attracted much attention for being “highly-charged” (Audiophile Audition) and “imbuing this lost music with great energy, love and lifeforce” (New Classics).

And Melba drew plaudits, too, Classique News describing the disc as “an audacious program and a beautiful artistic achievement”, while theclassicalreview.com concluded: “Simply put, this is another remarkable find from an increasingly essential label”.

Click below for more information on ELAN.  Read the reviews, purchase the CD or high-quality downloads.

ELAN