Decca’s John Culshaw was the most influential recording producer of the 20th century: the man who masterminded the Solti Ring and Britten’s War Requiem. Released for the centenary of his birth in May 1924, this set rewinds to the very start of Culshaw’s career as a Decca producer in 1948, and features long-lost artists and restores to the catalogue many recordings which have not been on CD or reissued since their original LPs. Highlights include Copland playing Copland; the first ever studio recording of Barber's Adagio for Strings; the 1951 & 1953 Bayreuth recordings; a lost tape of Clifford Curzon; and the first international release of Georg Solti’s 1954 Brahms’ German Requiem. 12 CDs newly transferred at 24bit/192kHz from original sources. 52-page booklet, richly illustrated with rare archival photographs, 6,500 word essay by Decca Classics Label Director and GRAMMY Award-winning producer Dominic Fyfe, who has curated this set.