Creative collaboration is central to American composer Joel Puckett's career, a spirit that unites the three works on this recording. Each work represents a partnership between Puckett's vibrant creative imagination and a particular musician, or group of musicians. Puckett's new Trumpet Concerto (2024), his second for the instrument, was written for the distinguished jazz trumpeter Sean Jones. It's a homage of sorts to another American classic conceived for a great jazz musician, Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto, which was commissioned and premiered by Benny Goodman. The work is a personal response to Jones's artistry, showcasing his dazzling high register and individual articulations and inflections that are unique to his playing. The orchestral song cycle There Was a Child Went Forth was created for Grammy Award winning tenor Nicholas Phan. The music is accessible and inward, much like the verses by Walt Whitman. It's a work of celebration, composed in 2023 for the 225th anniversary of the United States President's Own Marine Band. Inspiration came from Phan's love of Whitman, and synergy from Whitman's written reviews of the Marine Band.' The album's title track Short Stories is a string quartet concerto, which has been widely performed since it's 2013 premiere. Principal players of the London Symphony Orchestra shine as the soloists, at times playing as individuals, at others as a unit with their orchestral colleagues providing a resplendent accompaniment.

The Nutcracker, first seen in 1892, recounts the magical Christmas Eve of young Clara. Her adventures in the company of an enchanted prince inspired Tchaikovsky to such spellbinding numbers as the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Waltz of the Flowers and a sparkling series of national dances. In describing himself in an interview as "a complete romantic", Andre Previn suggested just why his recordings of Tchaikovsky's three great ballet scores, made in the 1970s with the London Symphony Orchestra, have become classics of the catalogue. In their sweep, colour and surging emotion, they exemplify the spirit of late Romanticism, the musical aesthetic at the heart of Previn's repertoire. Over his 11 years as Principal Conductor of the LSO (1968-1979) he and his musicians became something of a media phenomenon, notably with their own series on BBC television, which helped to draw full houses for their concerts in London and on tour.

Financial Times' Disc of the Year; New York Times' CDs of the Year/ "Performance: * Recording: * 'Beuron, probably today's finest lyric tenor, gives the performance an essential idiomatic core in his narration... [Tenebrae are] dramatically alert and glowing as stained glass, the angelic messages skin-pricklingly ethereal." (BBC Music Magazine) "[Sir Colin's] revisitation of this truly classic score is utterly and totally compelling.' (International Record Review)

Grammy Nomination 2014; Gramophone Magazine's Editor's Choice; MusicWeb International's Recording of the Month: '[Davis'] last-ever Berlioz recording, demonstrates yet again his unique empathy with and understanding of Berlioz's music as well as his authority in conducting it.' Classical Source: 'Those two concerts in Saint Paul's were colossal events. I attended the first and have rarely been so moved by the magnificence of stately music superbly rendered... and captured here with remarkable fidelity.' The Arts Desk: 'This is an essential purchase - a first-rate reading of a religious work combining entertainment and spiritual uplift.'

a deeply felt, thoughtful and, where needed, highly dramatic interpretation of an indisputable masterpiece. (Gramophone) "orchestral textures were sensuously coloured, and the vast symphonic structure flawlessly paced and handled. The choral singing, thrilling in it's immediacy and clarity, can only be described as electrifying from start to finish" (The Guardian) "For Davis, Elgar is a European composer, and the links to Wagner are clear... Davis is the star: guiding shaping, enhancing the beauty and the flow." (The Times)

[BBC Music Magazine's Disc of the Month]: 'Right from the start, with those dark, dragging rhythms, there's a sense that something special is afoot here... Gergiev charts the whole labyrinthine course with thrilling assurance [whilst] the virtuosity and sensitivity of the L.S.O - is a continual exhilarating delight.' The Times]: "This is a terrific, gripping performance from Gergiev and the L.S.O of Mahler's Seventh, an edge-of-the-seat experience... Gergiev brings an almost palpable darkness, fear and mystery to the three central movements, giving an impression, in the central scherzo, of hot, tormenting laser lights darting in from all angles, and he imbues the outer movements with an almost frenzied momentum."

This recording of Elgar's 2nd Symphony has garnered lavish praise; Classic FM proclaimed it the most passionate and detailed account with the world-class playing of the LSO. BBC Radio 3 while nominating it the top budget choice, described it as being "Larger than life, but capturing every mood with humanity and tenderness". The Guardian and Sunday Times included it in their list of best releases of 2002 and the Penguin Guide chose to highlight the breathtaking gentleness, glorious brass and remarkable dynamic range.

This album has the best possible couplings for the inimitable New World Symphony "'Davis offers a story and a sense of conviction that place his performance in a wholly different league.' (BBC Music Magazine 5 stars) "Unmissable... Superb in all respects. Sound quality doesn't come any better than this whatever the price. Don't hesitate!" (Classic CD)

Gramophon magazine greeted both these recordings with rapturous reviews when first released; "Profoundly satisfying, the work of musicians who know the scores backwards, love playing them and know what not to do... Haitink and the LSO seem set to provide one of the top Beethoven cycles of the digital era"

Ahronovitch is direct and exciting and the title is well borne out by the performances. The recording is brilliant without being aggressively so, and has plenty of weight (with splendid brass sonorities in Night on the Bare Mountain) plus an effective ambience. The Sabre Dance has great energy and the Prokofiev March from Love for three oranges is nicely pointed, and it includes favourites such as the BBC TV Onedin Line theme - the Adagio from Spartacus. In short, this is excellent value and does much to recommend the L.S.O series."(Gramophone). (Tchaikovsky): "recording spectacular, and the balance truthful... fusillade of canon at the end of '1812' is impressively realistic" (Penguin Guide)

Yet again Sir Colin Davis demonstrates his supreme mastery as a Berlioz interpreter... especially fascinating is to compare this latest Harold en Italie with earlier versions - the biggest contrast is the extra tautness of Davis's interpretation, with speeds consistently faster... The textures are sparer, sharper and lighter - bringing extra incisiveness all round. One other benefit is that the magnificent Tabea Zimmermann, is balanced as part of the orchestra. The beauty of her tone, with it's nut-brown colours on the C-string, is never masked, but the balance allows pianissimi of a delicacy never achieved by the 1975 version. In the introduction there is a repeat marked 'pianissimo possibile' - just what you hear in magic tones. (Gramophone)

'Colin Davis leads a superb quartet of soloists and brings out all the humanity and tenderness of the music with his customary skill. The LSO Chorus responds brilliantly.' (Classic FM). 'Colin Davis who meets the work on it's own particular ground with such imagination and style in this version. The great fugal perorations are crisper under Davis - more Haydnesque, you might say.' (Gramophone). BBC Radio 3 CD of the Week. 'This has impressed everyone... a feeling of immediacy and drama tempered with vision and maturity.' (BBC). 'Feel the warmth of Finley's opening bass solo, marvel at the open throats of the LSO Chorus.' (The Times).

A natural inheritor of Scriabinesque exoticism, Szymanowski brings out the best in Scriabin's most imaginative interpreters, which is why Gergiev proves such a convincing interpreter... excellent playing from the LSO. Matsuev has his feet... firmly planted on terra firma... The gorgeous return to lushness in the second movement suggests an almost Ravelian sensibility... Matsuev and Gergiev turn the finale into Szymanowski's danse generale. (Gramophone). "Stabat Mater is beautiful and Gergiev has the full measure of it's 23 gorgeous minutes." (MusicWeb).

A superb performance with excellent sound makes this a benchmark recording and my top CD choice of the year. Shostakovich fans ignore this release at their peril ! (MusicWeb) "A searing new live account by Rostropovich, well-recorded and unmissable (he) has something unique to say about this work, transcending any doubts about his conducting... The finale is articulated with tremendous cut and thrust, the sheer heft of the strings mightily impressive... The brass project powerfully as they do in real life, the woodwind audibly composed of individual stylists, the strings sound virile. It's all here... Play loud or not at all." (Gramophone)

This is a grandly scaled, nobly contoured reading, by turns monumental and ferociously dramatic. With biting choral attack, searing, spitting strings and scything trumpets, the Dies irae has a terrifying intensity I have rarely heard equalled. The Rex tremendae, too, is overwhelming in it's desperate fervour and grimly sustained impetus, with the inexorable dotted rhythms hewn from granite... If you want a traditionally conceived budget-price Requiem, well sung, superbly played and vividly recorded, Davis's performance has much to commend it." (Gramophone)

Great hushes, mighty crescendos, time for every duplet and triplet to be grounded and yet to resonate with momentum. This was Bruckner's maximal minimalism at it's most majestic (The Times) "the LSO's principal horn (David Pyatt) here sets down a wonderful opening benchmark for what follows... Haitink's conducting is a master-class in the art of control while appearing to stand back and let everyone play their best... This version easily holds it's own with the best." (Classic FM magazine)

dark and intense Eroica, with urgent allegros... The LSO responds with bite and refinement. Excellent bargain (Penguin 3 stars) "Fiery, noble, and imposing was how I described Wyn Morris' earlier recording... and this remake has those qualities and even finer playing and modern recording. [I had dubbed Morris our Celtic Furtwangler, a phrase that later appeared in adverts!]... but the fact remains, Morris knows his Beethoven and conducts it (like Burton speaking Shakespeare) with an ardour and love of tonal splendour that is close to that old revered school of German interpretation: closer than anything we are likely to get nowadays" (Gramophone)