CD Catalogue Live, studio & archive recordings
lpo.org.uk
RECENT RELEASES
‘Everything about the dewy dawn of this Mahler One is perfect … The point and spirit of the finale are dazzling, the tempo changes masterly throughout.’ BBC Music Magazine on Mahler Symphony No. 1 (Vladimir Jurowski)
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LPO-0073
‘Yannick Nézet-Séguin perfectly captures the yearning for lost youth and resigned acceptance of mortality that pervades Mahler’s masterpiece.’ The Sunday Times on Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
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INTRODUCTION TO THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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KURT MASUR
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ADDITIONAL RELEASES
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BOX SETS
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EARLY SIR THOMAS BEECHAM RECORDINGS
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MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
p47 INDEX BY COMPOSER How to buy CDs on the London Philharmonic Orchestra label are available from retailers throughout the world. The recordings can also be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and classicsonline.com. Listen and buy
Click on ‘Listen and buy’ to go straight to the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s online shop. CDs may also be purchased from the Orchestra’s Box Office: +44 (0)20 7840 4242 Monday–Friday, 10am–5pm GMT
CONTENTS
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The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s great symphony orchestras
The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after its first public performance following its founding by Sir Thomas Beecham. It has recorded and broadcast regularly ever since: enjoying relationships with major record labels, broadcasting live on national and international radio and television both at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, recording soundtracks for some of the world’s most successful films including The Lord of The Rings trilogy, and now making new and archive recordings available on its own CD label, established in 2005. The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own-label CDs are unique: amongst them are previously unavailable archive recordings, specially made studio recordings, live concert recordings and world-premiere performances. Repertoire encompasses music from baroque to the present day; music for the concert hall, music for the opera house, and music for children.
Recent releases STRAUSS Don Juan / Ein Heldenleben Bernard Haitink ‘Both performances show Haitink on fiery, unbuttoned form.’ Gramophone
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14 Vladimir Jurowski ‘This is by far the most stunning Shostakovich disc I have heard this year.’ BBC Music Magazine
POULENC & SAINT-SAËNS Organ Concerto / Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Yannick Nézet-Séguin ‘A blistering performance.’ Financial Times 5
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-0043
BRAHMS SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 AND 2
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LPO-0075
BRAHMS SYMPHONIES NOS. 3 AND 4
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
‘You don’t know what it’s like always to hear that giant marching along behind me’, Brahms once wrote about Beethoven. Brahms took 21 years to complete his First Symphony, struggling under the weight of expectation as the worthy successor to Beethoven, renowned for his mastery of the symphony. Though this may have hindered Brahms’s speed, the result was worth waiting for – and the influence of Beethoven within this heroic work is undeniable. His Second Symphony was completed in just a few months and the overall mood is one of pastoral lyricism.
Brahms was well into his forties by the time he completed a symphony – but by the time he reached his third, he’d hit his stride. Sweeping string melodies and autumnal colours interwoven with his recurring musical motto of ‘free but joyful’ create one of the composer’s most personal works. In his fourth and final symphony, Brahms looked back to his idols Bach and Beethoven for inspiration, creating a masterpiece whose extraordinary passacaglia finale – based on a Bach cantata – seems to sum up the composer’s symphonic mastery.
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-LP906
BRAHMS THE COMPLETE SYMPHONIES: 4-LP BOX SET
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LPO-0037
BRITTEN DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN & VIOLA VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF FRANK BRIDGE LES ILLUMINATIONS
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sally Matthews soprano Pieter Schoeman violin, Alexander Zemtsov viola
A 4-LP vinyl box set of Brahms’s complete four symphonies conducted by its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski. These recordings – of live LPO concerts at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall between 2008 and 2011 – have previously been released as two separate LPO Label CDs (LPO-0043 and LPO-0075), but are brought together in one package for the first time in this exclusive box set, which will be a must-have for lovers of Brahms, Jurowski fans and vinyl enthusiasts alike.
Written just before his published Opus 1, the Double Concerto for Violin and Viola was never performed during Britten’s lifetime, but already demonstrates his mature style. The memorable way that the string orchestra depicts different characteristics of Britten’s composition teacher in the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge led it to become Britten’s first popular classic. Les Illuminations sets Rimbaud’s poetry in vividly realised musical images, making it the crowning masterpiece of Britten’s early years. 7
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-0051
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HAYDN THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF OUR SAVIOUR ON THE CROSS
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HOLST THE PLANETS
Vladimir Jurowski conductor, Lisa Milne soprano Ruxandra Donose mezzo soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor, Christopher Maltman baritone, London Philharmonic Choir
Vladimir Jurowski conductor London Philharmonic Choir
This series of seven Easter meditations includes some of Haydn’s most intense and inventive music, evoking the struggle of Christ’s final hours and the solemnity of the church’s Holy Week services. This live performance of The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross juxtaposes Haydn’s original instrumental movements with their later choral versions, offering a multi-layered experience of the work.
Few composers have achieved such success with a single work as Holst with The Planets. Each movement expresses the planet’s supposed astrological character, and the colourful orchestration and memorable melodies ensured its immediate and ongoing popularity. It’s hard to believe now that it was a groundbreaking work – a huge, multi-movement piece that finally fades into ethereal silence as wordless voices disappear into outer space.
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HONEGGER PASTORALE D’ÉTÉ SYMPHONY NO. 4; UNE CANTATE DE NOËL
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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-0070
MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 1 (including ‘Blumine’ movement)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Christopher Maltman baritone London Philharmonic Choir, New London Children’s Choir
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Today the Swiss-born composer Arthur Honegger is often remembered as a member of ‘Les Six’ – that embodiment of 1920s Parisian modernism. But far from rejecting late Romantic expression, Honegger embraced it. In these live concert recordings, Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in three of Honegger’s most lyrical works.
Mahler’s First Symphony: the opening chapter of his spiritual autobiography. And the music itself seems to awaken – emerging from hushed strings and woodwind cuckoos into its stride, marching forth, stamping towards an eerie realisation of a nursery rhyme and arriving at a final, blazing affirmation of confidence. Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in this live 2010 concert performance including the Symphony’s original second movement, ‘Blumine’. 9
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-0054
MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 2 ‘RESURRECTION’
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RACHMANINOV THE ISLE OF THE DEAD; SYMPHONIC DANCES
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Adriana Kučerová soprano, Christianne Stotijn mezzo soprano London Philharmonic Choir
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
‘Is it all an empty dream, or has this life of ours, and our death, a meaning?’ So begs the question at the start of Mahler’s Second Symphony. Over five movements Mahler grapples with both metaphysical and spiritual uncertainty before evangelically concluding ‘An overwhelming love lightens our being. We know, and are’.
These live recordings capture some of the first fruits of Vladimir Jurowski’s celebrated relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, an ensemble through which he has championed the music of Rachmaninov both at the Royal Festival Hall and at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. These accounts of two contrasting but equally gripping works from Rachmaninov’s pen mirror the vigour and immediacy of Jurowski’s relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; they are quite simply unmissable.
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LPO-0053
SHOSTAKOVICH PIANO CONCERTO NOS. 1 & 2 PIANO QUINTET IN G MINOR
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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-0080
SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONIES NOS. 6 & 14
Vladimir Jurowski conductor, Martin Helmchen piano Pieter Schoeman, Vesselin Gellev violin, Alexander Zemtsov viola Kristina Blaumane cello, Paul Beniston trumpet
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano, Sergei Leiferkus baritone
Shostakovich’s energetic piano concertos feature striking and attractive themes, with sudden changes of mood between the burlesque and haunting, perfectly captured in these live recordings with pianist Martin Helmchen. The Piano Quintet displays perhaps an even greater range of styles within a work of unusual purity written under the looming shadow of war, played here by Principals of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony has often been overlooked between the famous heroic testimony of the Fifth and the overwhelming wartime statements of the Seventh and the Eighth. However it is a profoundly personal work, juxtaposing deeply felt sorrow in the slow first movement with hollow cheer in the latter two. The Fourteenth is even less traditional in conception, a haunting and affecting song-cycle for two voices and chamber orchestra on poems by several authors unified by the theme of death. 11
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
Currently only available as part of the 75th Anniversary Box Set Volume 3, see page 35 LPO-0028
SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO. 14
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LPO-0039
TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NOS. 1 AND 6
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano, Sergei Leiferkus baritone
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Hailed by the Financial Times as ‘a festival in all but name’, Vladimir Jurowski’s concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2005 to 2007 at Queen Elizabeth Hall launched explorations of repertoire and stylistic playing that were to win acclaim and awards. Amidst a penetrative survey of all manner of Shostakovich scores came the Fourteenth Symphony, the composer’s chilling and teasing grapple with the inevitability of death.
Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony, entitled ‘Winter Daydreams’, is seductively atmospheric with crisp orchestrations giving the impression of a winter landscape. The Sixth Symphony, ‘Pathétique’, is a passionate work whose tragic finale gained significance with Tchaikovsky’s sudden death just days after he conducted its first performance in St Petersburg.
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TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NOS. 4 AND 5
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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LPO-0009
TCHAIKOVSKY MANFRED SYMPHONY
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Throughout his life, Tchaikovsky was preoccupied with the idea of Fate, describing it as ‘that fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness’. This dark force haunts both the Fourth and Fifth symphonies, which each juxtapose some of Tchaikovsky’s most beautiful and graceful melodies with music of intense power and dark despair. Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski continues his journey through the composer’s six symphonies, leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra in these live concert recordings.
Standing outside Tchaikovsky’s catalogue of symphonies, Manfred resides deservedly in the niche that its lack of number has provided. This is a symphony of extreme drama from a composer who never shied away from self expression, Byron’s luscious and erotic subject matter proving the perfect material for music which is unique, intense and dazzling. Vladimir Jurowski delves into the very heart of the score in this live performance – throwing fresh but faithful light on a much-loved work. 13
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
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VAUGHAN WILLIAMS THE FIRST NOWELL BACH CANTATA 63; MENDELSSOHN VOM HIMMEL HOCH
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VAUGHAN WILLIAMS SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 * 8
Vladimir Jurowski conductor, Lisa Milne soprano Ruxandra Donose mezzo soprano, Andrew Staples tenor Christopher Maltman baritone, London Philharmonic Choir
Ryan Wigglesworth conductor (Symphony No. 4) Vladimir Jurowski conductor (Symphony No. 8)
The festival of Christmas is rich in music for worship and for concert performance, much of it rooted in seasonal hymns or traditional melodies. This recording of festive choral music includes one of Bach’s richly scored cantatas and Mendelssohn’s Christmas song Vom Himmel hoch which was inspired by his admiration for the music of Bach. Vaughan Williams’s nativity play The First Nowell incorporates arrangements of many traditional English carols.
Vaughan Williams is often regarded as a ‘pastoral’ composer – modal, melodic and inspired by folksong – so at the premiere of the Fourth Symphony in 1935, its sense of elemental rage and desolation took many by surprise. Yet fellow British composer William Walton admired the work greatly, speaking of it as ‘the greatest symphony since Beethoven’. The Eighth Symphony is much more light-hearted and joyous in mood. At the same time, it is full of invention, especially the composer’s experiments in orchestral colour and exotic combinations of percussion instruments.
LPO-0078
ZEMLINSKY A FLORENTINE TRAGEDY; SIX MAETERLINCK SONGS
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KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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LPO-0085
BEETHOVEN EGMONT OVERTURE; SYMPHONY NO. 6 ‘PASTORAL’
Vladimir Jurowski conductor, Petra Lang mezzo soprano Heike Wessels mezzo soprano, Sergey Skorokhodov tenor Albert Dohmen baritone
Klaus Tennstedt conductor
Entranced and inspired by Oscar Wilde’s dark, death-ridden play, Alexander Zemlinsky conjured up his most colourful orchestral canvas in the one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy. Set in 16th-century Florence, the opera tells of jealousy, betrayal and ultimately murder. Conductor Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra provide a rich and lavish backdrop for this gripping tale of passion and revenge, which is followed by Zemlinsky’s haunting, sensuous Six Maeterlinck Songs.
‘No one can love the countryside as much as I do,’ Beethoven once said, ‘for surely woods, trees and rocks produce the echo which man desires to hear.’ But nature was not just a balm for the senses; for Beethoven it was evidence of the Creator’s hand. In his Sixth Symphony, Beethoven created a magnificent orchestral landscape in which the atmosphere of the countryside pervades every bar.
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BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 9 ‘CHORAL’
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KLAUS TENNSTEDT
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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LPO-0068
BRAHMS SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 & 3
Klaus Tennstedt conductor, Lucia Popp soprano, Ann Murray mezzo soprano Anthony Rolfe Johnson tenor, René Pape bass, London Philharmonic Choir
Klaus Tennstedt conductor
In one of his last concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra before his retirement from public performance, Klaus Tennstedt turned to Beethoven’s unequivocal proclamation of human love and brotherhood: the Ninth Symphony. As the conductor struggled with illness, every one of his late concerts in London became an event, as if any could be his last. Tennstedt’s singularly grand and lengthy view of Beethoven’s music was unique; that, and the acute atmosphere of his last London appearances, shines through in this performance.
Renowned for his interpretations of the German Romantic repertoire, Tennstedt once said he loved the LPO so much because ‘it is a romantic orchestra’. Here he conducts the Orchestra in live concert performances of Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3, recorded at Royal Festival Hall in October 1992 and April 1983 respectively. A BBC recording (Symphony No. 3)
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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LPO-0014
BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO. 4
LPO-0030
BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO. 7
Klaus Tennstedt conductor
Klaus Tennstedt conductor
Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony unfolds and cascades like a mighty ocean. In this stirring performance recorded for broadcast by the BBC in 1989 at the Royal Festival Hall, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s former Principal Conductor Klaus Tennstedt finds extraordinary momentum and depth in Bruckner’s powerful orchestral waters, drawing a fervent and impassioned performance from one of the world’s great romantic orchestras.
The Seventh Symphony brought Bruckner to international attention, and has all the characteristic traits of a Bruckner symphony: expansive with spacious and colourful orchestral textures. In this 1984 BBC recording, Klaus Tennstedt draws on the committed forces of the London Philharmonic Orchestra to deliver a powerful and passionate performance.
A BBC recording
A BBC recording
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LPO-0032
BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO. 8
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LPO-0008
HAYDN THE CREATION
Klaus Tennstedt conductor
Klaus Tennstedt conductor Lucia Popp soprano, Anthony Rolfe Johnson tenor, Benjamin Luxon baritone London Philharmonic Choir
Bruckner’s majestic Symphony No. 8 overflows with lavish themes and rich sonorities, representing the composer at his grandest, whilst the Symphony’s occasional title ‘Apocalyptic’ alludes to an underlying tone of solemnity. In this live BBC recording dating back to 1981, we hear the Nowak edition of the work in a triumphant interpretation by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Haydn composed this supreme choral masterpiece late in his career. The libretto, translated from English and sung in German, is based on the biblical story and on Milton’s Paradise Lost. In ambition and scale The Creation was without precedent in Haydn’s output and the thrill of the first light, the gentle humour of the musical representation of the animals, the brilliance of the choruses and the sheer exuberance of Haydn’s concept are vividly brought to life in this recording by Klaus Tennstedt. A BBC recording
A BBC recording
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KLAUS TENNSTEDT
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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LPO-0012
MAHLER SONGS OF A WAYFARER; SYMPHONY NO. 1 Klaus Tennstedt conductor Thomas Hampson baritone
Klaus Tennstedt cemented the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s celebrated relationship with the music of Gustav Mahler, concurrently creating a distinguished conductor-orchestra partnership. With Thomas Hampson by his side, Tennstedt here conjures memorable and vivid performances of works by his most cherished composer captured live in concerts from 1985 and 1991. A BBC recording
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KLAUS TENNSTEDT
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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LPO-0044
MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 2 ‘RESURRECTION’ Klaus Tennstedt conductor Yvonne Kenny soprano, Jard Van Nes mezzo soprano
Although illness had forced him to relinquish the Principal Conductorship of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1987, Klaus Tennstedt returned a number of times in the following years as Conductor Laureate. In February 1989 he conducted two performances of Mahler’s mighty ‘Resurrection’ Symphony at Royal Festival Hall in London. The concerts acquired legendary status; those present talked of an incredible interpretation shot through with emotion, conviction, musical depth and tangible atmosphere, captured here in this live recording. 19
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MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 6 Klaus Tennstedt conductor
Mahler once remarked to Sibelius ‘a symphony must be like the world, it must embrace everything.’ His Sixth Symphony is a salient and personal statement, containing musical depictions of his wife and children. It reaches a tragic conclusion in the Finale representing ‘the hero, on whom fall three blows of fate, the last of which fells him as a tree is felled.’ Klaus Tennstedt’s interpretations of Mahler during his celebrated partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra bear testimony to the way Mahler composed his life. 20
KURT MASUR
KLAUS TENNSTEDT
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LPO-0052
MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 8 Klaus Tennstedt conductor Júlia Várady, Jane Eaglen, Susan Bullock soprano, Trudeliese Schmidt, Jadwiga Rappé alto, Kenneth Riegel tenor, Eike Wilm Schulte baritone, Hans Sotin bass London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus
Mahler wrote his Eighth Symphony in the summer of 1906, a time that Mahler’s wife Alma remembered as their ‘last summer of peace and beauty and content’. Uniting the text of the hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus with the final scene of Goethe’s Faust, Mahler created the gigantic musical edifice that came to be known as the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ conducted here by one of the 20th century’s greatest Mahler interpreters, Klaus Tennstedt. A BBC recording
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LPO-0003
WAGNER ORCHESTRAL EXCERPTS FROM WAGNER OPERAS Klaus Tennstedt conductor
KURT MASUR
KURT MASUR
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Rienzi; Götterdämmerung Die Walküre; Tannhäuser
Wagner’s celebrated output for the opera house resulted not only in some staggering stage works, but also in unparalleled orchestral achievements. His operatic overtures, preludes and interludes have acquired a status as stand-alone concert works in their own right. Klaus Tennstedt was totally dedicated to the London Philharmonic Orchestra – a dedication which was reciprocated by the Orchestra’s musicians, staff and audiences, and which pervades these live performances from 1992.
BRITTEN WAR REQUIEM Kurt Masur conductor Christine Brewer soprano, Anthony Dean Griffey tenor, Gerald Finley baritone
Benjamin Britten’s great artistic statement of pacifism is a modern classic: an unprecedented treatment of the Latin texts of the Requiem set alongside acerbic and often overtly contradictory verse by Wilfred Owen. Captured in a live performance on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, conducted by known peace activist, the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor Kurt Masur, this account of Britten’s extraordinary masterpiece is indispensible. 21
LPO-0029
SCHUBERT SYMPHONY NO. 8 ‘UNFINISHED’ JANÁČEK GLAGOLITIC MASS
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ADDITIONAL RELEASES
KURT MASUR
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LPO-0001
SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 AND 5
Kurt Masur conductor Zdena Kloubová soprano, Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano, Pavol Breslick tenor, Gustáv Beláček bass, David Goode organ, Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno
Kurt Masur conductor
After the tantalizing pregnancy of the ‘Unfinished’ symphony, Janáček’s declamatory Glagolitic Mass responds to Schubert’s open-endedness with a resounding sense of conclusion and assurance. Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2004 BBC Proms, these performances under the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor Kurt Masur capture both the atmosphere of the Proms season and the essence of the works. A BBC recording
Shostakovich’s Symphonies 1 and 5 stand as milestones in what is probably the most important symphonic canon of the 20th century. In live recordings Kurt Masur and the London Philharmonic Orchestra survey the First Symphony, which established the composer as a skilful symphonist, and the Fifth, which confirmed his status as one of the greatest artistic talents of his time.
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LPO-0063
THAMES DIAMOND JUBILEE PAGEANT – THE OFFICIAL CD – David Parry conductor
Featuring Walton Orb & Sceptre Arnold Padstow Lifeboat Coates The Dam Busters Theme Elgar Nimrod from Enigma Variations Wood Rule Britannia; Holst Jupiter from The Planets
Celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 2012 with the programme of music the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant flotilla on 3 June 2012. The selection of music by British and Commonwealth composers relates either to monarchy, royal events and ceremonial occasions or to familiar landmarks along the Thames. It includes works by Elgar, Holst, Walton, Coates, Gilbert and Sullivan, as well as the James Bond and Chariots of Fire themes.
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LPO-0074
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ADDITIONAL RELEASES
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JULIAN ANDERSON: FANTASIAS; THE CRAZED MOON; THE DISCOVERY OF HEAVEN Vladimir Jurowski; Ryan Wigglesworth conductors
British composer Julian Anderson has been described by The Times as ‘a composer to cherish’ and by the Evening Standard as ‘one of the finest composers of his generation’. He has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence since 2010. This is the first album of his works performed by the Orchestra, and includes the Sky Arts Award-winning premiere performance of The Discovery of Heaven.
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VERNON HANDLEY conducts ARNOLD Vernon Handley CBE conductor
Beckus the Dandipratt The Inn of the Sixth Happiness Flourish for a 21st Birthday Symphony No. 6; Philharmonic Concerto
Malcolm Arnold is one of the most fascinating characters to have emerged from the creative core of the London Philharmonic Orchestra – leaving his post as the ensemble’s Principal Trumpet in 1953 as his career as a composer began its ascendency. Arnold’s remarkable and varied output is seasoned with scores dedicated to the Orchestra and its player; this collection conducted by the composer’s champion Vernon Handley offers a glance at Arnold the cinematic artist, Arnold the jocular humorist and Arnold the profound symphonist. 24
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LPO-0061
BEETHOVEN MISSA SOLEMNIS Christoph Eschenbach conductor Anne Schwanewilms soprano, Annette Jahns mezzo soprano, Nikolai Schukoff tenor, Dietrich Henschel baritone, London Philharmonic Choir
Beethoven had little liking for organised religion, but he was deeply spiritual, believing in God as an all-powerful, loving Father. The awesome, sublime Missa Solemnis is one of his supreme achievements, which he headed ‘From the heart – may it in turn go to the heart!’ In this live concert recording, the fervour of Beethoven’s vision is powerfully realised by conductor Christoph Eschenbach with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.
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LPO-0077
BEETHOVEN MISSA SOLEMNIS
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LPO-0045
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BRAHMS A GERMAN REQUIEM
Sir Georg Solti conductor Helen Donath soprano, Doris Soffel mezzo soprano, Siegfried Jerusalem tenor, Hans Sotin bass, Edinburgh Festival Chorus
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Elizabeth Watts soprano, Stephane Degout baritone London Philharmonic Choir
From 1819 to 1823, Beethoven was stirred by a renewed creative energy. Over these four years he sketched his Missa Solemnis, the work he himself came to admire above all others. Here the composer of utter conviction seems to surpass himself with a musical glimpse of the heavenly. This captivating performance, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under its then Principal Conductor Sir Georg Solti, was recorded live at the BBC Proms in 1982. A BBC recording
Appointed as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor after just one appearance with the ensemble, Yannick NézetSéguin came to London in April 2009 to conduct Brahms’s profound German Requiem. He presided over a performance of rare reflection and inevitability at the Royal Festival Hall that prompted an extraordinary silence from a capacity audience. In the young Canadian’s hands, Brahms’s uplifting choral masterpiece is marked by astutely judged tempi, delivered with the utmost care, captured live on this recording. 25
LPO-0084
BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO. 3
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LPO-0049
BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO. 6
Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor
Christoph Eschenbach conductor
Internationally renowned Bruckner specialist Stanisław Skrowaczewski leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a live recording of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3. From its opening expectant hush via its central Adagio movement (composed in memory of Bruckner’s mother) to its Austrain folk dance-influenced final movement, this Symphony displays both the key influence of Wagner on Bruckner, and the composer’s structural flair, which earned his symphonies the description ‘cathedrals of sound’.
Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony is a work of graceful unity, containing some of the loveliest music he ever wrote. After a disappointing public reaction to his third symphony, his fourth and fifth symphonies had yet to be heard, but his need to compose was too strong to ignore. This vibrant performance was recorded live at London’s Royal Festival Hall by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
LPO-0071
BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO. 7
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LPO-0056
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BUSONI DOKTOR FAUST
Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor
Sir Adrian Boult conductor Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Richard Lewis, Ian Wallace Heather Harper, John Cameron, London Philharmonic Choir
‘To me, Bruckner is one of the greatest composers,’ says conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski. ‘He is another Mozart: his music is magical ... its message speaks about the infinite, transcendental cosmos, God, timelessness, love and tragedy.’ The opening melody of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony apparently came to the composer in a dream: a friend from Bruckner’s younger days played the theme on a viola, with the words: ‘This will bring you success.’ If this is true it was prophetic: the work was one of the greatest successes of the composer’s career.
Busoni’s opera Doktor Faust is unquestionably one of the experimental operatic masterpieces of the 20th century. The composer wrote his own libretto and worked on the composition for nearly two decades, although it remained unfinished on his death in 1924. Completed the following year by Busoni’s pupil, Philipp Jarnach, this 1959 BBC broadcast is of a shortened concert version created by Sir Adrian Boult, and features a superb cast of soloists including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Heather Harper and Richard Lewis. 27
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DVOŘÁK REQUIEM
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LPO-0062
DVOŘÁK STABAT MATER
Neeme Järvi conductor Lisa Milne soprano, Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano, Peter Auty tenor Peter Rose bass London Philharmonic Choir
Neeme Järvi conductor Janice Watson soprano, Dagmar Pecková mezzo-soprano, Peter Auty tenor Peter Rose bass London Philharmonic Choir
Never performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before, and rarely heard in concert at all, the Requiem by Antonín Dvořák captured on this CD from a live concert seems a near-forgotten masterpiece. Dvořák scholar Gervase Hughes cites this work for four soloists, chorus and orchestra as one of the composer’s finest sacred creations, ‘a deeply moving expression of faith on the part of a composer whose religious conviction never wavered’. It’s a conviction stamped through the composer’s illuminating, fervent score.
Dvořák’s Stabat Mater was a work brought about by personal tragedy of almost incomprehensible proportions, after the composer lost all three of his then living children. A setting of the mediaeval Latin prayer to the bereaved mother of the crucified Christ, it was to become both a work of mourning and a work of healing. The shifts of mood from grief and near despair to hope and faith run throughout the work, before the glory and solace of the final Amen. Neeme Järvi conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in this live concert recording.
LPO-0055
DVOŘÁK SYMPHONY NO. 8; SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS
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LPO-0046
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ELGAR SEA PICTURES; SYMPHONY NO. 1
Sir Charles Mackerras conductor
Vernon Handley CBE conductor Dame Janet Baker contralto
Sir Charles Mackerras and the London Philharmonic Orchestra share a musical heritage spanning 45 years. This 1992 live recording of Dvořák’s Symphonic Variations and Symphony No. 8 from pays tribute to a partnership that exuded a joy and vivacity in music-making that lives on in the memory of the Orchestra and its audience and can now be discovered and cherished anew.
Vernon Handley’s feeling for English music was second to none, and his rapport with Elgar’s music in particular is clear in these performances given to mark the 50th anniversary of Elgar’s death. Sea Pictures evokes contrasting images of the sea from five poems sung here by Dame Janet Baker, a peerless interpreter of the work. The First Symphony is one of Elgar’s finest works for orchestra – hailed after its premiere as ‘the greatest symphony of modern times’. 29
LPO-0002
ELGAR INTRODUCTION AND ALLEGRO ENIGMA VARIATIONS; BRITTEN OUR HUNTING FATHERS Bernard Haitink conductor Heather Harper soprano As Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1967–79, Bernard Haitink presided over some of the Orchestra’s most memorable and acclaimed performances. Live accounts of British music from the pens of Elgar and Britten, recorded at the Royal Albert and Royal Festival Halls, capture the fervour of this special relationship – one of the greatest in London’s musical history. ‘An intense live performance of Our Hunting Fathers, with Heather Harper indefatigably characterful, plus an incisive, emotional Enigma Variations.’ BBC Music Magazine
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LPO-0041
JOHN IRELAND 70TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT A London Overture Sir Adrian Boult conductor Piano Concerto in E flat major Eileen Joyce piano The Forgotten Rite Redvers Llewellyn baritone These things shall be Luton Choral Society John Ireland drew musical inspiration from his English heritage, its poets and landscapes. He became a celebrated composer during the first half of the 20th century, championed by conductors such as Sir Adrian Boult. Boult conducted the premiere of These things shall be in 1937, encouraged Ireland to expand his Comedy Overture from a brass band work into the orchestral A London Overture and popularised the Piano Concerto played here by celebrated Australian pianist Eileen Joyce. Boult programmed this Promenade concert in 1949 to mark Ireland’s 70th birthday.
LPO-0035
MARIN ALSOP conducts MACMILLAN, ADÈS AND HIGDON
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LPO-0033
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MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 5
Marin Alsop conductor Colin Currie percussion
Jaap van Zweden conductor
These live recordings of three modern classics reflect the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s commitment to contemporary composers. The first two are breakthrough works from 1990 by British composers Thomas Adès and James MacMillan, the third a spectacular concerto by Jennifer Higdon, one of America’s most successful composers. Marin Alsop and Colin Currie give impassioned performances revealing the full range of emotions contained in the music
Gustav Mahler composed his Fifth Symphony in the summers of 1901 and 1902 whilst staying at the Wörthersee in the Austrian Alps, and the influence of nature around him is unquestionable, particularly in the third movement. Elsewhere, Mahler’s personal life is reflected in the themes of death, marital love and exuberant joy. Jaap van Zweden is a renowned interpreter of Mahler; in this live performance recorded in January 2008, he conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in an outstanding, energetic reading of this powerful work 31
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LPO-0073
MAHLER DAS LIED VON DER ERDE
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LPO-0023
MCCABE CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA*; THE CHAGALL WINDOWS; ARNOLD PHILHARMONIC CONCERTO
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Toby Spence tenor
Sir Georg Solti*, Bernard Haitink conductors
In Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), Mahler married together for the first time the lyricism of the song-cycle and the formal ambition of the symphony. With texts based on seven Chinese poems reflecting on themes of life and death, it contains some of the composer’s most bittersweet music – joyful exuberance one moment, anguished heartbreak the next. Mahler described Das Lied von der Erde as ‘probably the most personal composition I have created thus far’.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has enjoyed relationships with some of the most distinguished composers since it was founded in 1932. None were closer to the ensemble than Malcolm Arnold, who began his musical career from within its very ranks. A mutual and productive respect between the Orchestra and John McCabe has grown from their first collaborations in 1972; the composer’s own description of the Orchestra’s musicians as ‘courteous colleagues of great musical insight’ exemplifies a vigorous and moving partnership. A BBC recording 32
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LPO-0083
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MESSIAEN DES CANYONS AUX ÉTOILES Christoph Eschenbach conductor Tzimon Barto piano John Ryan horn
Andrew Barclay xylorimba Erika Öhman glockenspiel
Messiaen’s unusual instrumentation, inventive scoring and use of birdsong as a source of musical material in Des canyons aux étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) evoke the beauty of a magnificent landscape and celebrate the marvels of Creation itself. A commission by an American philanthropist in 1970 allowed Olivier Messiaen to explore one of North America’s wildest and most elemental landscapes: Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Looking beyond the depths of the canyons, Messiaen’s work reaches higher to ‘the beauties of the physical sky and the spiritual sky.’ 33
LPO-0076
ORFF CARMINA BURANA Hans Graf conductor Sarah Tynan soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor
Rodion Pogossov baritone London Philharmonic Choir Trinity Boys Choir
Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is an infectious and brilliantly orchestrated work, combining gloriously bawdy vulgarity and moments of touching beauty. The inspiration for the work struck Orff in 1935 when he encountered a vivid set of medieval poems charting the outlandish pursuits of hedonistic students and monks. Written purely for entertainment in vernacular Latin, medieval French and German, the satirical texts poked fun at what they saw as a hypocritical church, before indulging in erotic fantasy and pondering ideas of fate and fortune.
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LPO-0081
POULENC ORGAN CONCERTO SAINT-SAËNS SYMPHONY NO. 3 (ORGAN)
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LPO-0036
RACHMANINOV SYMPHONY NO. 3 BAX TINTAGEL
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor James O’Donnell organ
Osmo Vänskä conductor
Poulenc’s Organ Concerto is an extraordinary mixture of high drama and tongue-in-cheek music, interspersed with beautiful reflective episodes. Scored for just strings and timpani accompaniment, it nevertheless packs a dramatic and emotional punch. By contrast, Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony uses the instrument as just a part of a full orchestral palette in a work of mouthwatering clarity and narrative depth.Both works were recorded during the Pull Out All The Stops festival launching the refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ, complete for the first time since 2005.
Osmo Vänskä conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in thrilling live recordings of works by Bax and Rachmaninov, two composers renowned for their sweeping romanticism. As his tone poem unfolds, Bax’s music evokes legendary images of Tintagel whilst also reflecting a passionate love affair. Similarly, Rachmaninov’s third and most expressive symphony is a work of intense lyricism, unified by a melancholic and emotional melody.
LPO-0059
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RAVEL DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ
LPO-0060
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RAVI SHANKAR SYMPHONY
Bernard Haitink conductor London Philharmonic Choir John Alldis Choir
David Murphy conductor Anoushka Shankar sitar
Maurice Ravel, a notorious perfectionist, considered his 1912 ballet score Daphnis et Chloé his most important work, describing it as a ‘choreographic symphony’. Based on a pastoral drama by the Greek poet Longus, the story tells of the love between a goatherd and a shepherdess. In this live 1979 recording, Bernard Haitink conjures a sensuous and atmospheric performance from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and John Alldis Choir. A BBC recording
Legendary composer and sitarist Ravi Shankar was one of India’s most highly esteemed musical ambassadors, renowned for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. 2010 saw the premiere of his ambitious fusion work, his first symphony conceived for a Western symphony orchestra, which translates the aural sensibilities and soundworlds of Indian music into a Western structural framework. In this live recording of the work’s premiere, David Murphy conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Shankar’s daughter Anoushka on sitar. 35
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LPO-0069
SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO. 8
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LPO-0034
SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO. 10
Gennady Rozhdestvensky conductor
Bernard Haitink conductor
Composed during the Second World War, Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is a powerful work that juxtaposes music of unremitting bleakness and moments of shattering brutality, ending in a tentative expression of optimism. Today it stands not only as a chilling reminder of some of the darkest days of the 20th century, but also as a reminder of Shostakovich’s acute musical imagination and craftsmanship. Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in this live 1983 concert recording from Royal Festival Hall. A BBC recording
Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony was first performed shortly after Stalin’s death in 1953. This was the first of his works to be completed without the restraints of strict communist artistic control hanging over him. A dark and tragic tone is projected throughout the Symphony and the distinct contrasts create a dramatic and intense work. Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall during the 1986 BBC Proms, Bernard Haitink and the London Philharmonic Orchestra give a compelling account of this monumental symphony. A BBC recording
LPO-0005
SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NOS. 2 AND 7
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LPO-0065
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SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NOS. 5 AND 6; THE SWAN OF TUONELA
Paavo Berglund conductor
Paavo Berglund conductor
Founder of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Thomas Beecham began building the Orchestra’s long association with the music of Sibelius from the day it was born. Three-quarters of a century later, the composer’s compatriot and champion Paavo Berglund extends his authoritative discography of Sibelius’s music with the Second and Seventh Symphonies; the resulting performances are full of searing excitement, warmth and power.
Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund, who passed away in January 2012, was one of the last remaining conductors with a direct personal connection to Sibelius. With the Second and Seventh Symphonies already released on the LPO Label, Berglund’s Sibelius legacy is further cemented in these live concert recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in which he vividly captures the natural flight of the Fifth Symphony and the freefall journey of the Sixth. 37
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LPO-0057
SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO. 5; POHJOLA’S DAUGHTER LUTOSŁAWSKI CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor
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LPO-0079
STRAUSS DON JUAN; EIN HELDENLEBEN Bernard Haitink conductor
This recording is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music grant programme
Sibelius himself said that ‘other composers mix cocktails – I offer cold, pure water’. His music undoubtedly evokes the physical and spiritual essence of his native Finland like no other. On this live concert recording from London’s Royal Festival Hall, Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Sibelius’s colourful tone-poem Pohjola’s Daughter and the breathtaking Fifth Symphony with its stirring final ‘Swan Hymn’, alongside Lutosławski’s scintillating, folklore-inspired Concerto for Orchestra of 1954. 38
Richard Strauss was only 25 years old when his tone-poem Don Juan was premiered in 1889, and it was this vivid depiction of a young man’s relentless pursuit that launched the composer’s reputation as master of the genre. Composed ten years later, Ein Heldenleben recounts another life of conquest and passion, this time based on that of the composer himself. Both works exhibit the glorious orchestral colours and exhilarating energy that were to become the composer’s most admired hallmarks. This recording is dedicated to the memory of Nicholas Busch.
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LPO-0007
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE: SCHERZOID EVENING SONGS; WHEN I WOKE; YET ANOTHER SET TO
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LPO-0031
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE: TWICE THROUGH THE HEART THE TORN FIELDS; HIDDEN LOVE SONG
Jonathan Nott, Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop conductors Gerald Finley baritone Christian Lindberg trombone
Marin Alsop conductor Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano, Gerald Finley baritone Martin Robertson soprano saxophone
British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, one of the most acclaimed and widely performed composers of his generation, was appointed Composer in Residence of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005. His works skilfully blend classical and jazz idioms, modernism and tradition. These four performances were admired and enjoyed by critics, audiences and musicians and have an electrifying quality which is captured on these live recordings – not only premiere recordings, but in two cases live recordings of world premieres.
Three works by the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence Mark-Anthony Turnage offer strikingly different glimpses of the human interface: a chilling first-person account of marital murder, a touchingly titled musical gift and an acerbic view of the destruction of war. Works of acute craft and insight are captured here with vivid drama in performance under Marin Alsop.
39
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LPO-0066
MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE MAMBO, BLUES & TARANTELLA; RIFFS & REFRAINS; TEXAN TENEBRAE; ON OPENED GROUND; LULLABY FOR HANS
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LPO-0072
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS SYMPHONIES NOS. 5 & 7 (SINFONIA ANTARTICA)
Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Markus Stenz conductors Christian Tetzlaff violin, Michael Collins clarinet Lawrence Power viola
Bernard Haitink conductor Sheila Armstrong soprano
British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage is widely admired for his distinctive blending of jazz and contemporary classical traditions, high energy and elegiac lyricism. Turnage was the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence from 2005–10 and this is the third volume of his music to be released on the LPO Label. It features five works recorded for the first time, including the world premiere peformance of his violin concerto Mambo, Blues and Tarantella with soloist Christian Tetzlaff.
Ralph Vaughan Williams lived through two world wars and a time as turbulent as any in British history. Yet although his Fifth Symphony was largely composed during the Second World War, it includes some of his most tranquil music, its pastoral serenity set vividly against the backdrop of war-torn Europe. The Seventh Symphony, Sinfonia antartica, began life as Vaughan Williams’s score for the film Scott of the Antarctic, whose themes of human endeavour, stoicism and courage hugely moved and inspired the composer. A BBC recording
LPO-0048
VERDI REQUIEM
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LPO-0086
ADDITIONAL RELEASES
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THE GENIUS OF FILM MUSIC HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS 1960S TO 1980S
Jesús López-Cobos conductor Margaret Price soprano, Livia Budai mezzo-soprano Giuseppe Giacomini tenor, Robert Lloyd bass
John Mauceri conductor
The dramatic intensity of Verdi’s Requiem reflects the composer’s operatic expertise, and expresses the powerful emotions of the sacred texts. His inspiration for the work was his high regard for two fellow Italian artists, composer Gioachino Rossini and patriotic author Alessandro Manzoni, and it became an overnight sensation at its premiere in Milan. This recording comes from a concert recorded live at Royal Festival Hall in 1983, during López-Cobos’s tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A BBC recording
The decades of epic Hollywood film making from the 1960s to 1980s produced some of the most iconic film music scores of the 20th century. In this live recording charting the development of the ‘Hollywood sound’, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and film music expert John Mauceri present music from Psycho, Star Trek, Lawrence of Arabia and the first release of the orchestral score to Cleopatra, amongst others.
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BOX SETS
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LPO-0011
THE POST-WAR REVIVAL Eduard van Beinum conductor
Arnold Beckus the Dandipratt Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 1 Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn Elgar The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 2
Eduard van Beinum followed in the footsteps of Sir Thomas Beecham in 1949, becoming only the second musician to hold the Principal Conductorship of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This disc – extending a limited catalogue of issued van Beinum recordings – demonstrates something of the conductor’s eclecticism, enthusiasm for British music and ability to draw from his mid-century London Philharmonic Orchestra performances of the highest quality. 42
LPO-0097 (4 CDs)
75TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET, VOLUME 1: 1932–1957 Sir Thomas Beecham
Sir Adrian Boult
Eduard van Beinum
Anatole Fistoulari
LPO-0006 See page 39 LPO-0011 See page 33
LPO-0021 See page 36 LPO-0022 See page 36
The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after its first public performance following its founding by Sir Thomas Beecham. Recognised and renowned as one of the world’s great orchestras, it has recorded and broadcast regularly ever since. This set of four discs presents a vivid chronicle in music of the Orchestra’s first 25 years, its first four Principal Conductors, and its valuable contribution to the early days of the record industry.
BOX SETS
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LPO-0098 (4 CDs)
75TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET, VOLUME 2: 1958–1982
LPO-0099 (4 CDs)
75TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET, VOLUME 3: 1983–2007
Sir John Pritchard
Bernard Haitink
Klaus Tennstedt
Kurt Masur
Sir Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti & Bernard Haitink
Franz Welser-Möst
Vladimir Jurowski
LPO-0024 See page 37 LPO-0025 See page 37
LPO-0002 See page 25
LPO-0026 See page 13
LPO-0023 See page 27
LPO-0027 See page 38
As the record industry found its feet in the middle of the 20th century, so the London Philharmonic Orchestra came of age – establishing itself as an undeniable powerhouse on the worldwide orchestral scene and attracting the great conductors and soloists of the time. One celebrated conductor-orchestra relationship followed another; the three heard in this set brought forth new artistic standards, new compositional fruits and a new global following for the ensemble.
LPO-0001 See page 19 LPO-0028 See page 10
Klaus Tennstedt brought the London Philharmonic Orchestra a major recording contract with EMI and concert engagements in Japan and the Far East; Franz Welser-Möst followed with further enhancement of the Orchestra’s strengths as a highly skilled instrument of accompaniment; and Kurt Masur presided over interpretations of the great masterworks with the authority of an elder statesman of conducting. Seventy-five years on from the Orchestra’s founding, Vladimir Jurowski became Masur’s successor – truly an orchestral conductor for the 21st century. 43
Currently only available as part of the 75th Anniversary Box Set Volume 1, see page 36
LPO-0021
LPO-0022
SIR ADRIAN BOULT CONDUCTS THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
44
KHACHATURIAN VIOLIN CONCERTO; PIANO CONCERTO
Sir Adrian Boult conductor Jean Pougnet violin
Anatole Fistoulari conductor Ruggiero Ricci violin Moura Lympany piano
Sir Adrian Boult’s years as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra were some of the most fruitful in the Orchestra’s history: the ensemble made unprecedented trips abroad and was increasingly active in the recording studio, whilst Boult himself found great reward and happiness in his leadership of the ensemble. Such pioneering spirit and collective dedication pervade these vivid recordings from the 1940s and 1950s that capture the essence of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s years under Boult.
Aram Khachaturian’s is a musical voice that straddled stylistic, political and expressive boundaries. Here two masterpieces meet: the concertos for violin and piano, works of colour and invention, space and power, conducted by the composer’s champion and contemporary Anatole Fistoulari. Matching Fistoulari’s feeling for Khachaturian’s music is his attachment to the London Philharmonic Orchestra – an ensemble which he conducted well beyond his brief tenure as its mid-war Principal Conductor and with which his musicality shines in these vivid works.
HISTORIC RECORDINGS
BOX SETS
Currently only available as part of the 75th Anniversary Box Set Volume 1, see page 36
Currently only available as part of the 75th Anniversary Box Set Volume 2, see page 36
LPO-0024
LPO-0025
BRITTEN SERENADE FOR TENOR, HORN AND STRINGS VIOLIN CONCERTO Sir John Pritchard conductor Ian Partridge tenor Nicholas Busch horn Rodney Friend violin Sir John Pritchard – one of only three holders of both the Principal Conductorship of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Music Directorship of Glyndebourne to date – felt an innate personal and artistic connection with the work of Benjamin Britten. Pritchard’s celebrated recordings realise this admiration with the help of first class artists: Rodney Friend, the orchestral leader Pritchard himself appointed; Ian Partridge, one of the great lyric tenors of all time; and Nicholas Busch, longstanding Principal Horn of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
BOX SETS
MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
Currently only available as part of the 75th Anniversary Box Set Volume 2, see page 36
TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NO. 6 ‘PATHÉTIQUE STRAVINSKY THE FIREBIRD SUITE Sir Georg Solti conductor
Few 20th-century conductors made such a shattering impact on worldwide orchestral and operatic life as Sir Georg Solti. From Budapest to Chicago, Solti enthralled audiences and breathed new life into orchestral personnel. Arriving in London in 1961, he first cast his spell over the Royal Opera House, taking British citizenship in 1972 and becoming the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s eighth Principal Conductor seven years later. The resulting tenure was prolific, boisterous and not without controversy – all tangible in the intensity of the era’s performances. A BBC recording 45
SIR THOMAS BEECHAM
Currently only available as part of the 75th Anniversary Box Set Volume 3, see page 37 LPO-0027
FRANZ WELSER-MÖST CONDUCTS THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Strauss Capriccio (closing scene) Franz Welser-Möst conductor Mozart Requiem (excerpts); Mass in C minor (excerpts) Dame Felicity Lott soprano Schubert Stabat Mater Mozart-Chor Linz Bruckner Te Deum London Philharmonic Choir Precociously talented conductor Franz Welser-Möst became the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Music Director at just 30 years old, the youngest in its history. Welser-Möst’s outstanding strength, as his career has demonstrated since, is his reading of vocal music and its accompaniment. in these studio and concert recordings he is joined by distinguished soprano Dame Felicity Lott, who describes the conductor as ‘wonderfully sensitive to singers’ and whose partnership with him is reflected in performances that radiate warmth and delicacy.
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LPO-0040
THE FORMATIVE YEARS Sir Thomas Beecham conductor
Mozart Symphony No. 39; Symphony No. 41 Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring Rimsky-Korsakov Suite from the ‘Golden Cockerel’
Two of the most significant pioneering experiments in sound recording, stereophonic sound and recording on tape, involved the LPO and its founder Sir Thomas Beecham. At Beecham’s famous mono recording session of Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony in 1934, engineers experimented simultaneously with stereo sound and during a tour of Germany in 1936 part of one of the Orchestra’s concerts was recorded using the revolutionary invention of tape. The results of these landmark moments in the Orchestra’s history are restored here for the first time in full. 46
LPO-0006
THE FOUNDING YEARS Sir Thomas Beecham conductor Dora Labbette soprano Leeds Festival Chorus
Sibelius the Tempest: Incidental Music, Op.109 (excerpts) Mozart Mass in C minor (excerpts); Symphony No. 35 Handel Israel in Egypt (excerpts) Chabrier Rhadsody, España
These remarkable recordings by the London Philharmonic Orchestra of music by Sibelius, Mozart and Handel from the 1934 Leeds Festival are conducted by the legendary Sir Thomas Beecham, who had founded the Orchestra just two years earlier. Included in a varied collection of works typical of Beecham are the first ever recording of Sibelius’s The Tempest, and the splendid sounds of Mozart’s C minor Mass and Handel’s Israel in Egypt – excerpts of extraordinary power performed by the Orchestra and the Leeds Festival Chorus.
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MUSIC FOR CHILDREN
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LPO-0015
MUSICAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN David Parry conductor Chris Jarvis narrator Sam Oliver treble This disc of modern classics for children will huff, puff and bring the house down! Narrator Chris Jarvis and the London Philharmonic Orchestra bring to life a snowman, three pigs, two wolves and Little Red Riding Hood in fabulous music by Paul Patterson and Howard Blake. Chris Jarvis is a regular guest presenter at the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s FUNharmonics family concerts at London’s Southbank Centre.
London Philharmonic Orchestra Resident at Southbank Centre and Glyndebourne Festival Opera
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HRH The Duke of Kent Patron Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Pieter Schoeman Leader Magnus Lindberg Composer in Residence LPO-0067
MICHAEL MORPURGO: THE MOZART QUESTION Michael Morpurgo & Alison Reid narrators Nicholas Collon conductor Jack Liebeck violin Children’s author Michael Morpurgo narrates his book The Mozart Question, an eloquent and ultimately uplifting story charting a small boy’s discovery of his love for the violin, and of his parents’ traumatic past in a concentration camp during the Second World War. This CD weaves together the book’s narration with musical extracts to bring the story alive, featuring pieces by Beethoven, Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
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CDs on the London Philharmonic Orchestra label are available from retailers throughout the world. The recordings can also be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon and others. Click on ‘Listen and buy’ to go straight to the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s online shop. CDs may also be purchased from the Orchestra’s Box Office: +44 (0)20 7840 4242 Monday–Friday, 10am–5pm GMT
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Index by composer and page number Adès 30
Dvořák 27, 28
McCabe 32
Shostakovich 11, 12, 22, 35, 36
Anderson 23
Elgar 22, 29, 42
Mendelssohn 14
Sibelius 36, 37, 47
Arnold 22, 23, 32, 42
Handel 47
Messiaen 32
Stravinsky 44
Bach 14
Haydn 8, 18
Morpurgo 47
Strauss 38, 46
Bax 34
Higdon 30
Mozart 47
Tchaikovsky 12, 13, 44
Beethoven 15, 24, 42
Holst 8, 22
Orff 33
Turnage 38, 39
Blake 46
Honegger 9
Patterson 46
Vaughan Williams 14, 40
Brahms 6, 7, 16, 25, 42
Ireland 30
Poulenc 33
Verdi 40
Britten 7, 21, 29, 45
Janáček 21
Rachmaninov 10, 34
Wagner 20
Bruckner 16, 17, 25, 26, 46
Khachaturian 42
Ravel 34
Walton 22
Busoni 27
Lutosławski 37
Rimsky-Korsakov 45
Wood 22
Chabrier 47
MacMillan 30
Saint-Saëns 33
Zemlinsky 15
Coates 22
Mahler 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, 31, 42
Schubert 21, 46
Delius 45
Shankar 35 49
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