Lise Davidsen / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder BEETHOVEN - WAGNER - VERDI

 

BEETHOVEN - WAGNER - VERDI

 

Jacob Kellermann JOAQUÍN RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez

 

CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 11 'The Year 1905'

 

SYMPHONY No. 11 "THE YEAR 1905"

 

Inbal Segev / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Marin Alsop ANNA CLYNE Dance EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto

DANCE - CELLO CONCERTO

Nicola Benedetti / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski ELGAR Violin Concerto

VIOLIN CONCERTO

George Li TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 LISZT Solo Piano Works

George Li gained international attention in 2015 when he won the silver medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Now he has recorded one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest and best-loved works, the Piano Concerto No 1 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vasily Petrenko. The New York Times has called him a “real revelation” in the work. It is complemented by three solo pieces by Liszt, a composer who featured on his debut Warner Classics recital, judged “a winner” by International Piano magazine.

Michael Fabiano / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Enrique Mazzola VERDI - DONIZETTI

American star tenor Michael Fabiano presents a spectacular set of scenes taken from late Donizetti and middle Verdi operas, revealing the strong ties between these two composers. The album documents a paradigmatic shift in Italian opera, from the beautiful lines and crispness of belcanto to a richer, more dramatic musical universe. The historical line stretches from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Poliuto and Maria di Rohan to mature Verdi operas such as Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera and Don Carlos. In many cases, Fabiano has selected original, rarely-heard versions, including the thunderous ‘Qual sangue sparsi’ from the original St. Petersburg edition of La forza del destino.

Together, these arias and scenes constitute a world full of heartfelt tenderness and fire-laden drama. After numerous successes on the opera stage, this is Michael Fabiano’s debut album on PENTATONE.

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Vladimir Jurowski RACHMANINOFF The Isle of the Dead - Symphony No. 1

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London on 3 October 2014 (The Isle of the Dead) and 14 December 2016 (Symphony No. 1).

“Jurowski drove The Isle of the Dead forward... drawing exceptional intensity from the LPO.” - The Guardian, 2014

The performance of The Isle of the Dead was widely critically acclaimed. Bachtrack noted Vladimir Jurowski’s “hypnotic” conducting, noting particularly that “the clarity and control he exercised in [The Isle of the Dead] were very fine. He drew a sonorous cello sound, later matched by lower woodwinds, and the harp and pizzicato strings... brought an eerie chill to the Festival Hall.”

Rachmaninoff’s youthful Symphony No. 1 is not frequently performed or recorded. This is the first time it has been released on the label.

This is the second recording of The Isle of the Dead on the LPO’s own label. It was recorded live as part of the opening concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s highly praised 2014-15 season Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, which explored the life and works of the composer.

Symphony No. 1 was also recorded live in concert. The Financial Times described the performance as “a fascinating experience” and Colin Anderson, in Classical Source, noted “The LPO was in superb form.”

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Kurt Masur BEETHOVEN Symphonies 3 & 5

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London on 24 November 2004 (Symphony No. 3) and 27 November 2004 (Symphony No. 5).

This recording features former Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Kurt Masur, who conducted more than 150 performances in London and internationally during his tenure.

Masur inaugurated the launch of the LPO’s own label in 2005 with live performances of Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5.

Kurt Masur was renowned for conducting Beethoven with insight and cohesion; these concert performances were conducted from memory. He sadly passed away in December 2015; this captivating pair of concert recordings from 2004 pays tribute to his musical legacy.

The concert performances of these symphonies were praised at the time. The Daily Telegraph said of the Fifth Symphony “it was the joyous conclusion of the Fifth, with all Beethoven’s guns blazing, that left the packed audience in a euphoric mood… Masur shaped the whole symphonic drama... with the hands of a master.” - The Daily Telegraph

ACCARDO PLAYS PAGANINI - COMPLETE RECORDINGS

6CDs presenting Salvatore Accardo's legendary Paganini cycle for Deutsche Grammophon, including the complete violin concertos recorded with Charles Dutoit and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Noted for his exquisite, beautiful playing and a technical wizardry carried off with disarming nonchalance, Accardo is most readily associated with Paganini – though technical wizardry for its own sake holds little fascination for him: "Of course for young violinists it is always a challenge to be able to play the 24 Caprices, but as I got older I understood that what was important in his music was its almost operatic qualities."

Christian Svarfvar BRUCH - STENHAMMAR

Christian Svarfvar has emerged as one of Scandinavia's most sought after concert violinists. His 2013 debut album on Sterling Records was praised by the Financial Times who insisted, ''we must hear more from him.'' Svarfar has worked with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated on chamber projects with contemporary composers including Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, Howard Shore and Anders Hillborg. On his first album for Rubicon, Svarfar features one of the best loved of all 19th century concertos, Max Bruch's evergreen Violin Concerto No.1. Wilhelm Stenhammar's warmly romantic Violin Sonata and Sentimental Romances complete the recording.

Ray Chen THE GOLDEN AGE

Recognized as a musician of “phenomenal talent” by The Washington Post, Chen has handpicked a selection of works for his new album which celebrates the ‘golden age’ of the violin – not only in terms of repertoire, but also in performance style and ingenuity. The centrepiece is Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto which was recorded in August last year with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Robert Trevino.

The album opens with a piece for string quartet which has already garnered over 50,000 hits on Chen’s YouTube channel. Titled, “A New Satiesfaction”, it features “Gymnopédie No.1” by Erik Satie with an allusion to Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”. Performed by Chen and his Made in Berlin quartet, the arrangement of “A New Satiesfaction” is done by the group’s cellist, Stephan Koncz. The other violinist in the quartet is Noah Bendix-Balgley while Amihai Grosz plays viola. All of Chen’s collaborators in the group are members of the Berlin Philharmonic and they recorded together in the city last November.

The album also features compositions and arrangements by such legendary violinists as Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz, which Chen performs with pianist Julien Quentin. Among them are Kreisler’s “Syncopation and Schön Rosmarin” and Cyril Scott’s “Lotus Land”, plus Heifetz’s transcriptions of “Estrellita” by Manuel Ponce and George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Stephan Koncz has also arranged Debussy’s Clair de lune and the traditional Australian favourite “Waltzing Matilda” (Ray hails from Australia and Taiwan).

Chen teased The Golden Age with a custom-built computer game: http://umusic.digital/goldenviolin/. “This album acknowledges the various styles of the past, but also retains one important philosophy: as long as we keep inspiring and producing, perhaps what we create now will one day be deemed worthy of being named a golden age,” says Chen.

Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today. He has performed with many of the world’s leading musicians in concert halls across the globe and he has also amassed a huge online following (including more than 2 million fans on SoundCloud) through quirky, self-made videos and engaging social media posts.

David Aaron Carpenter / London Philharmonic Orchestra MOTHERLAND

For his second Warner Classics album, David Aaron Carpenter - "a star violist" in the words of the Los Angeles Times - brings together concertos by Dvořák, Bartók, Walton and a dance cycle by contemporary composer Alexey Shor. Carpenter identifies a connecting theme of "a longing for the homeland … a reverence for native musical folk tunes and language." He is accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under three distinguished conductors: Kazushi Ono, Vladimir Jurowski and David Parry.

Leticia Moreno / Andrés Orozco-Estrada / London Philharmonic Orchestra PIAZZOLLA

Piazzolla is a journey through the musical universe of one of the most genuine and fascinating composers of the twentieth century. 

Together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada and his quintet (Remy van Kesteren, Pablo Mainetti, José Gallardo and Janne Saksala), Moreno explores Piazzolla's endless sound possibilities and offers a vital and renewed vision of his most emblematic works. 

Piazzolla is the third album by the violinist for Deutsche Grammophon; a recording that pays homage to the composer on the 25th anniversary of his death and a project that Moreno will perform live in the best concert halls in Europe, the United States and Asia during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. 

The studio album was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios (London) and Meistersaal (Berlin). Forthcoming concert highlights include the premiere of J. López-Aurora’s Violin Concerto with Houston Symphony as well as a tour with St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov in Rimini.

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Neeme Järvi DVORÁK Stabat Mater

Dvorák's Stabat Mater, Op. 58, was finished in 1880, wrenched out over several years after the death of the composer's daughter. It is a sizable setting that has been largely overlooked in favor of Dvorák's later works, but increasing interest in Romantic-era choral music has brought new performances. It has few specifically Czech elements, gaining its interest partly from its combination of a rather formal quality with strong personal feeling. This reading, conducted by Estonia's Neeme Järvi, is hard to beat. Start with the live engineering from the London Philharmonic Orchestra's new Royal Festival Hall, getting clarity from very large forces. Continue with the soloists: the Verdian sound of soprano Janice Watson is a standout; the thick, intense mezzo Dagmar Pecková may not be to everyone's taste (you can sample it in the "Inflammatus," track 9), but is absolutely distinctive. Järvi deserves his share of the credit as well, with perfect balances in which the soloists are never buried in complex choral-orchestral textures, and fine control over the big climaxes. The London Philharmonic shines in Dvorák's extensive sections of wind writing. But the ones who really carry the performance are the members of London Philharmonic Choir, who maintain perfect blend, pitch, and momentum at double-forte dynamic levels in the magnificent opening "Stabat mater dolorosa" and in the Handelian final fugue on "Amen": even the chords that have the choral singers going at full throttle are shaped and crisp. Exciting, a fine introduction to a neglected Romantic masterpieces, and altogether highly recommended. (James Manheim)

Dvorak - Stabat Mater.pdf

Vanesa Benelli Mosell RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 - Corelli Variations

Following the success of her first two albums, which established Vanessa Benelli Mosell as a successful classical artist (pupil of Stockhausen and devotee to the development of classical music), her third album with Decca focusses on mainstream repertoire.

Accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Kirill Karabits, this album presents Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2, considered one of the most popular pieces for piano. Featured in several films (including The Seven Year Itch), it appears very often in concert programmes worldwide.

The concerto is coupled with one of Rachmaninov’s most popular pieces for solo piano, Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42, which traditionally combines strong virtuosic playing with deep thinking. (Presto Classical)

Andrey Boreyko / London Philharmonic Orchestra HENRYK GÓRECKI Symphony No. 4

The recording was made during the 2014 world premiere performance at Royal Festival Hall with co-commissioner London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrey Boreyko. The piece, which pays homage to Górecki’s fellow Polish composer Alexsander Tansman, was incomplete at the time of Górecki’s 2010 death and thus missed its previously scheduled premiere. However the score had precise indications for orchestration, which Górecki’s son Mikolaj, also a composer, used to complete it. The Daily Telegraph said the piece "caps Górecki's reputation as an orchestral composer, but it also contains some surprises. The music … features some brutal juxtapositions of massively powerful music with slow, intimate passages for solo instruments, including prominent parts for piano and organ."

Symphony No. 4 will be released individually and as part of Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective, a seven-disc box set containing all Nonesuch recordings of Górecki works—Lerchenmusik; Symphony No. 3; String Quartets Nos. 1, 2, and 3; Miserere; Kleines Requiem für eine Polka; Harpsichord Concerto; and Good Night.

Born in 1933, Henryk Górecki spent most of his life in southern Poland. He was a leading composer of the Polish avant-garde in the 1950s and later reached a worldwide audience in the 1990s thanks to the success of his Symphony No. 3. The work was composed in 1976, and was at that time shocking in its tonality and simplicity, but it was with the release of the 1992 Nonesuch recording of the piece, featuring Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta, that it attracted international attention, selling more than a million copies and climbing to the top of the classical music charts in both the US and the UK. On the unexpected popularity of the piece, the composer remarked, "Perhaps people find something they need in this piece of music ... somehow I hit the right note, something they were missing. Something somewhere had been lost to them. I feel that I instinctively knew what they needed."

The London Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham. Since then, its principal conductors have included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, and Kurt Masur. In 2007, Vladimir Jurowski became the Orchestra’s principal conductor. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened in 1951, becoming resident orchestra in 1992. It also has residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. The Orchestra frequently tours abroad: highlights of the 2014–15 season included appearances across Europe, including Iceland, and tours to the USA (West and East Coasts), Canada, and China. The Orchestra broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and has recorded soundtracks for numerous films including The Lord of the Rings. In 2005 it began releasing live, studio, and archive recordings on its own CD label.

Symphony No. 4 received its US premiere in January of this year, by co-commissioner Los Angeles Philharmonic, and was performed in February by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw (which is home to the piece’s third co-commissioner, the ZaterdagMatinee concert series). This recording was supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music program. (Nonesuch)

 

London Philharmonic Orchestra RAVI SHANKAR Symphony

This is one of those CDs you almost feel lucky to have in existence, as it preserves a moment in time and a work that may be a game-changer for future composers wishing to coalesce Western and Indian music. Ravi Shankar, one of the world’s music legends—partly for the right reasons, and partly for the wrong reasons—composed this work in which he united his two lifelong passions, Western classical music (his early idols included Enescu, Toscanini, Heifetz, Paderewski, Casals, Kreisler, and Chaliapin) and Indian ragas. What’s significant about this work is that he waited until he was 90 years old to write it.
One might think that an Eastern classical musician schooled in a different discipline would have difficulty, at 90 or any age, in fusing the two types of music, but Shankar has always been able to understand and intellectualize the differences between them. He has known for decades that the Western ear is attuned to harmony, modulation, and counterpoint, thus when he gave his sitar concerts—even way back in the 1960s—he patiently explained the differences to his Western audiences before playing.
This recording is the actual premiere, given at London’s Royal Festival Hall in July 2010. The demanding and highly virtuosic sitar solos are played by his daughter, Anoushka, who by contrast with her father had celebrated her 29th birthday less than a month earlier.
“This was conceived entirely for the Western symphony orchestra, so I had to eliminate the traditional Indian instruments but transfer some of their spirit onto the Western instruments,” Shankar told BBC radio on the day of the premiere. “I wrote it in Indian notation, which David Murphy, who is a student of mine and a wonderful conductor, has interpreted very well.” (Lynn René Bayley)

Miloš Karadaglić / London Philharmonic Orchestra ARANJUEZ

For his third album on Mercury Classics/Deutsche Grammophon, international chart-topping classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić takes the world-famous Concierto de Aranjuez as the starting point for a journey across the Spanish landscape, paying tribute to the great composers and musicians who placed the modern classical guitar firmly on the international stage.

The Concierto de Aranjuez was written by Joaquín Rodrigo for the Spanish guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza and very soon became not just the most famous Spanish guitar concerto but also the most famous guitar concerto of all time; its ravishing slow movement was taken up and arranged by musicians of all genres, from Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Jim Hall to Herb Alpert, from Frank Sinatra to José Carreras. And now, Miloš has produced a standalone new interpretation of Aranjuez; the definitive version for our time.

Miloš sees the work as “the holy grail of the guitar repertoire and an endless source of inspiration. The first and last movements sparkle with energy and rhythm. They paint the landscape of nature, happiness and love. The legendary second movement takes us to a different reality, where emotions overflow and a string becomes a voice.”

For the recording of the new album Aranjuez, Miloš was joined by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Miloš recalls that “Yannick’s energy is infectious and our collaboration was the most electric experience. When we met before the recording sessions to run through the music together, he taught me things I shall always be grateful for. For example, he asked me to rethink my approach to Rodrigo’s notorious scale passages. He suggested that, instead of focusing on each note, I should think of them as gestures – taking each one in a different direction as if they were brushstrokes. At that moment I relaxed completely; I had found the final piece of a puzzle, a piece I had been looking for all along.”

Aranjuez is a celebration of the most popular Spanish works for guitar and orchestra, which includes Rodrigo’s Fantasía para un gentilhombre, and it explores the birth and recognition of the modern guitar in the 20th century. “The guitar as we know it today emerged only at the end of the 19th century, after centuries of various transformations. The Spanish guitar maker Antonio de Torres constructed an instrument larger in size and tone than its predecessors, and that marked the beginning of a new age. The guitar was ready to leave the elegant aristocratic salon for the concert platform…”

For Miloš it has been a long journey from Montenegro, where he was born and at eight started playing the guitar. Now a household name, he has become among his generation one of the most successful champions of his instrument. London, where he now lives, played a decisive role in his career, particularly during his years as a student at the Royal Academy of Music.

Janine Jansen PROKOFIEV

Janine Jansen is the most subtle of interpreters, and always a sensitive partner. In the Second Violin Concerto, she keeps sentiment at bay, holding back for a sense of mystery in the first movement's counter subject, and capturing an icy purity in the Concerto's central song. She responds cannily to Prokofiev's pared-back orchestral forces. This is not the usual patchwork of ideas, but an argument that Vladimir Jurowski keeps urgently on the move with the LPO soloists . . . Jansen's colleagues in the companion pieces are her equals, too. Boris Brovtsyn marches her otherworldly poise in the first and third movements of the Sonata for two violins. In Prokofiev's dark, masterful Violin Sonata No. 1, the moments of headlong attack are . . . fully realised by pianist Itamar Golan. (David Nice, BBC Music Magazine)

This splendidly recorded performance of the Second Concerto accentuates its stark and sudden contrasts -- the first movement's swings of mood and texture, the Andante's pairing of romantic melody with mechanical accompaniment . . . Jansen's playing, notable for its confident manner and wide expressive nuance . . . persuades us of the validity of her view of the concerto . . . In the Sonata for two violins, Jansen and Brovtsyn employ a wide range of tone colour, matching each other in expansiveness and virtuosity. In the quicker movements they allow the tempo to slow down for quieter passages . . . For me, the highlight of the disc is the Violin Sonata, surely one of Prokofiev's greatest works. Its sombre power is fully revealed in Jansen and Golan's account, from the first movement's anguished double-stopping, brittle pizzicato and icy scale passages, through the ferocious combat and sweet regret of the two middle movements, to the finale's manic energy and intensity.(Duncan Bruce, Gramophone) 

. . . her silvery tone and searching musicianship ensure maximum intelligence and beauty . . . simple, unaffected magic . . . [Concerto]: splendidly played by a soloist in happy harness with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski, a conductor who understands Prokofiev's changing moods better than most . . . equally gripping accounts of the Sonata for Two Violins of 1932 and the dark and worried Sonata for Violin and Piano . . . Itamar Golan (piano) and Boris Brovtsyn (violin) play with Jansen as if joined at the hip. Whether the music's fiery or delicate, this superb disc, gorgeously recorded, should give lasting pleasure. (Geoff Brown, The Times)