I started these at the weekend. I couldn’t find any music specifically for Easter; the best I could do was Haydn’s Te Deum (paired with the Nelson Mass) recorded by the English Concert. Recorded in August 1986, this must be one of the most recent recordings we have on LP.
This batch was mostly minor works by major composers, or more important works which we have other recordings of. So Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and Variations from the Op. 55 Suite (LPO and Del Mar) and Mozart divertimenti with the ECO and Jesús López-Cobos (I would guess this was one of his earliest recordings, on the long-gone Rediffusion Royale label). Dvorak’s Symphony no. 5, with the Philharmonia and Andrew Davis, the latter sporting a very 70’s haircut and beard on the sleeve. More Tchaikovsky (I was looking for a pairing for some orphaned music of his that was too short on its own for a CD): the Sleeping Beauty Suite. The Amadeus Quartet playing ‘Death and the Maiden’ and Schubert’s Quartettsatz; this last is a standard filler. And finally: Rudolf Serkin with three famous Beethoven piano sonatas.