{"title":"BBC Symphony Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eFounded 1930. British orchestra.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMajor British broadcasting orchestra founded 1930; strong association with British repertoire including Vaughan Williams, also championing contemporary and lesser-known works. Catalog skews toward archival and historical recordings on SOMM and ICA Classics.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"benjamin-a-mind-of-winter-etc-benjamin-94664","title":"Benjamin: A Mind Of Winter, Etc \/ Benjamin, Elder, Et Al","description":"\u003cp\u003eGeorge Benjamin is a contemporary composer known best among small circles, but with a loyal international following. This recording contains five of his pieces, and they share a common style. Benjamin treats a composition as a landscape: a kind of blank, rolling panorama onto which he affixes musical ideas. His sound is very textured and evocative. 'Ringed by the Flat Horizon,' for example, portrays a storm that overtakes a vast open space. The music begins ominously and contains a variety of created sound effects along with rapid fire crescendos into huge orchestral crashes. 'A Mind In Winter' is contrarily a setting of \"The Snowman\" (a poem by Wallace Stevens), and yet is built upon the same sort of abstract picture-building and sweeping evocative gestures for the voice. Benjamin's vocabulary is developed from the modern schools of atonality, and his teacher Messiaen is a clear and strong influence on his work. For those attracted to the modern schools of classical composition, they will find a great many layers to be unveiled in this recording.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nimbus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44625610506474,"sku":"710357564321","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/305119.jpg?v=1786623042"},{"product_id":"night-tracks","title":"NIGHT TRACKS","description":"Featuring Celtic Heartbeat's Anuna, this album is a mix of classical, film music, and traditional Celtic folk music including works by Vaughan Williams, Verdi, Bach, Dvorak, Schubert, Copland, and others.","brand":"Teldec","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44711935312106,"sku":"095483470327","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4387388-3295062.jpg?v=1786675238"},{"product_id":"symphony-no-47","title":"SYMPHONY NO.2","description":"Classical Music","brand":"HYPERION","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44907969609962,"sku":"034571281902","price":18.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3734027_8edbf6d0-8079-4ea0-82fc-eb6b94945047.jpg?v=1786812020"},{"product_id":"vaughan-williams-a-sea-symphony-1","title":"VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: A SEA SYMPHONY","description":"Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform one of the mightiest of first symphonies ever written. Vaughan Williams's setting of Walt Whitman creates a very special sense of occasion. The coupling is Vaughan Williams's later, virtually unknown, setting of Whitman's 'Darest thou now, O soul' for chorus and strings.","brand":"HYPERION","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44907970527466,"sku":"034571282459","price":18.33,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3565189-2612261.jpg?v=1786811394"},{"product_id":"elgar-from-the-archives-vol-3","title":"Elgar from the Archives, Vol. 3","description":"The third volume in the series Elgar from the Archives from SOMM Recordings includes two historic recordings conducted by Sir Adrian Boult: the oratorio The Kingdom, Op. 51 and the ever-popular Variations on an Original Theme 'Enigma,' Op. 36. These variations form an interesting comparison to the two acoustic versions from the well-received Vol 1 in this series [ARIADNE 5046], one conducted by the composer in 1920, the other by Sir Henry Wood in 1924. Again, these recordings are remastered by audio engineer Lani Spahr, whose work on Elgar from the Archives Vol 1 James Jolly, Editor in Chief of Gramophone Magazine, described as \"astounding,\" adding that \"thanks to Siva Oke's SOMM label, Spahr has an outlet for his truly revelatory work.\"    Inspired by the remarks of one of his school teachers that the Apostles were poor men, young men, perhaps \"no cleverer than some of you here,\" Elgar conceived the idea of a work depicting the Apostles as ordinary men reacting to extraordinary events. He envisioned a trilogy of oratorios consisting of The Apostles, Op. 49, The Kingdom, and an unrealized work, The Last Judgement. He made initial sketches for The Kingdom as early as 1882, when he was still serving as organist at St George's Church in Worcester. Following an orchestral Prelude, which introduces the main musical themes and sets the mood of the work, the oratorio is in five parts, each played without a break: I. In the Upper Room; II. At the Beautiful Gate; III. Pentecost; IV. The Sign of Healing; and V. The Upper Room.    The Kingdom is written for four soloists, choir, and large orchestra-featuring, in this recording, Heather Harper, soprano (The Blessed Virgin); Helen Watts, contralto (Mary Magdalene); William Herbert, tenor (St. John); and Gordon Clinton, baritone (St. Peter), with the Croydon Philharmonic Society and BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. This programme on 29 May, 1957 at the Royal Festival Hall was part of the centenary celebrations for Elgar's birth. Boult admired The Kingdom above all the other major choral works of Elgar, and his complete understanding of and identification with the work is shown in his expert pacing and observation of dynamics.     On 29th February, 1940, about ten weeks before Nazi forces invaded The Netherlands, Boult conducted the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in a concert broadcast from Hilversum by the Dutch public broadcasting association. The program concluded with Elgar's Enigma Variations, the work that helped to establish Elgar's growing reputation internationally. In a programme note, Elgar wrote, \"This work, commenced in a spirit of humour \u0026amp; continued in deep seriousness, contains sketches of the composer's friends.\" This Dutch performance is one of Boult's finest interpretations of the work, and it has more than stood the test of it's 86 years.","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46005985083626,"sku":"758871504829","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4498180-3540833.jpg?v=1786632196"},{"product_id":"beethoven-brahms-wilhelm-backhaus-edition-early-recordings-1927-1939-881488230017","title":"Wilhelm Backhaus Edition - Early Recordings 1927-1939","description":"\u003cp\u003eEssentially, in the incredible ease and naturalness of his pianism, in the unassuming simplicity and absorption of the man, Backhaus was much the same artist and personality then. And he was far from unknown. Even before he won the Rubinstein Prize in 1905, Backhaus was internationally celebrated as a prodigious virtuoso. Backhaus never failed to win a succès d'estime among professional musicians. They always knew his qualities, always marveled at his instrumental perfection, his titanic mastery that scorned every complexity, his unsurpassed freedom and endurance. There was never a time when Backhaus could not toss off any or all of the Chopin études or the Brahms-Paganini variations with an imperturbable calm, an implacable security that left one open-mouthed. Not everyone, for only the pianists really knew what was happening before their eyes and ears, knew how to measure such achievement. There they all sat, in breathless astonishment and envy and despair. Backhaus was a shy, unaffected, recessive personality whose sensational capacities were so unsensationally projected that lay audiences remained totally unconscious of his fabulous accomplishments. (Gerhard Melchert)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Profil","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012457189610,"sku":"881488230017","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4169807-2941238.jpg?v=1786683444"},{"product_id":"malcolm-binns-a-90th-birthday-tribute","title":"Malcolm Binns - A 90th Birthday Tribute","description":"Malcolm Binns (born 29 January 1936) was for half a century one of the UK's most significant pianists. He retired aged 80, but let's not forget his hugely eclectic career which ranged from giving the UK premiere of Prokofiev's 4th Piano Concerto in 1961 (and UK broadcast premiere, included here) to being the first pianist to record the complete Beethoven piano sonatas on original instruments. For this celebration we focus on his early career with several uniquely preserved BBC concerto recordings from the pianist's own collection, including a Proms performance featuring two concertos with Sir Malcolm Sargent, a rare LP on the Concert Artist label featuring works by Rubinstein and Alkan which were premiere recordings at the time, and, from much later, two of his most acclaimed recordings from the no longer active Pearl label.","brand":"APR","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012525773034,"sku":"5024709174058","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4469870-3473522.jpg?v=1786661836"},{"product_id":"vaughan-williams-live-vol-1-748871501621","title":"Vaughan Williams Live Vol. 1 \/ Sargent, BBC Symphony \u0026 Royal Philharmonic Orchestras","description":"\u003cp\u003eSOMM RECORDINGS celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with definitive, newly remastered performances by Lani Spahr of his ever-popular The Wasps Overture and two symphonies – the startling Sixth and, in its world premiere performance, the valedictorian Ninth – with Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As Simon Heffer comments in his authoritative booklet notes, this major new release is notable for containing historical performances (from 1957, 1958 and 1964), for Spahr’s meticulous restorations, and for offering “a clear indication of the genius of” Sargent. From the 1957 BBC Proms, The Wasps Overture blends Ravelian influences with English folk songs to produce a vivaciously genial impression of RVW at his most distinctively infectious. Recorded in 1964 and again for the BBC Proms, the Sixth Symphony – a ‘war symphony’ in all but name – is, as Heffer notes, “rich in orchestral experiment, more innovative than perhaps any other work in the composer’s canon, and whose enigmas and mysteries still remain to be deciphered”. RVW’s final, Ninth Symphony, “a work of beauty and grandeur, and a magisterial signing off”, says Heffer, is heard here in splendidly remastered audio in its very first performance in April 1958, four months before the composer’s death, by Sargent and the RPO. SOMM’s previous Vaughan Williams recordings include Symphony No.5 and Dona Nobis Pacem with the BBCSO (SOMMCD 071), “a mandatory purchase for all lovers of Vaughan Williams’s music and, frankly, a priceless document” (MusicWeb International). And the “compelling” (International Piano) The Piano Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Mark Bebbington and Rebecca Omordia (SOMMCD 0164). Lani Spahr’s previous, universally acclaimed SOMM restorations include Elgar Rediscovered (SOMMCD 0167) and the four-album set Elgar Remastered (SOMMCD 261-4) hailed by Audiophilia as “a fascinating achievement which will have you wishing for more”.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012535177450,"sku":"748871501621","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4105804-2847973.jpg?v=1786633077"},{"product_id":"vaughan-williams-live-vol-3-london-so-2-cds-748871501928","title":"Vaughan Williams Live, Vol. 3 \/ London SO [2 CDs]","description":"\u003cp\u003eSomm Recordings celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with Vaughan Williams Live, Volume 3, featuring signature works conducted by the composer including the 1943 world premiere of his Fifth Symphony with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. All performances on this double-album set have been expertly restored and re-mastered by Lani Spahr.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012537405674,"sku":"748871501928","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4144581-2910976.jpg?v=1786637453"},{"product_id":"alban-berg-violin-concerto-three-pieces-for-orchestra-ehnes-davis-bbc-symphony-orchestra","title":"Berg: Violin Concerto \u0026 3 Pieces for Orchestra \/ Ehnes, Davis, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlban Berg's output proved tremendously influential in the development of music in the twentieth century. His natural ability to write lyrical melodic lines probably remained the most outstanding quality of his style. His Op. 1 Piano Sonata was the fulfilment of a task set by his teacher and peer Schoenberg to write non-vocal music. The \u003cem\u003ePassacaglia\u003c\/em\u003e, written between the sonata and World War I, was only completed in short-score, and may have been intended to form part of a larger work. Both pieces are recorded here in skillful orchestrations by Sir Andrew Davis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eThree Orchestral Pieces\u003c\/em\u003e were composed alongside his first great masterpiece, \u003cem\u003eWozzeck\u003c\/em\u003e, and could be seen as a tribute to his musical hero, Mahler. The Violin Concerto, from 1935, was commissioned by the American violinist Louis Krasner, but was inspired by the premature death (from polio) of Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler and the architect and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, hence the subtitle ‘to the memory of an angel’. It proved to be one of the composer’s final works as Berg died later that year as the result of an abscess from an insect sting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first track on this disc brings us Andrew Davis’s orchestration of Berg’s Piano Sonata. Berg wrote this accomplished piece when he was studying composition with Arnold Schoenberg. Originally meant to have had a slow movement and a finale, it ended up stand-alone. It is conceived in standard sonata-allegro form. The liner notes mention the structurally conventional fact of the repeated exposition. Harmonically, the work is very chromatic. It presents unstable key centres, whole-tone scales, with sometimes dense, often polyphonic, music. In its original incarnation, it demands a highly technical pianism. Andrew Davis explains that “its emotional and dramatic range is enormous”, and that this new orchestration needed to relate to “the sonorities of the era” – those of Mahler, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky and Schrecker. The result is a wonderful tapestry of sound. The mood varies from gentle to fervent, with a satisfyingly gentle conclusion. The organic nature of the sonata form seems to unfold continually, leading us on a magical, if sometimes disconcerting, journey. For my review, I listened several times to this hauntingly lovely re-creation of Berg’s early masterwork: it has suddenly become one of my favourite Berg pieces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Berg wrote the \u003cem\u003eThree Pieces\u003c\/em\u003e for orchestra during the opening stages of the First World War. They present a frightening musical image of the unfolding horrors. It has been pointed out that they have Schoenberg’s \u003cem\u003eFive Pieces\u003c\/em\u003e for orchestra as an inspiration. Yet, they sound nothing like the elder man’s work. In fact, Mahler is the stylistic arbiter. One commentator has suggested that it is Mahler’s Eleventh Symphony, in the same way that Brahms One is Beethoven’s 10\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e (or is it 11\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e?).\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The movingly beautiful Violin Concerto was the last major work that Berg composed, and one of his greatest. It was dedicated “to the memory of an angel”, the daughter of Gustav Mahler’s widow Alma and the architect Walter Gropius. Sadly, Manon died of polio at only eighteen. The work is a perfect balance of lyricism and drama. James Ehnes’s performance is magical. He tends towards optimism, which seems to bolster Berg’s contention that serial music could also be romantic. I was taken by his interpretation of this concerto and the integration of the various stylistic innovations such as the Bach chorale, the waltz-like theme and the Carinthian folk tune. The balance between the structural serialism and the more tonal moments is well managed here. There is a tenderness of tone that sings of affection but sometimes echoes despair, a tempestuous protest against life’s tragedy, and a sad, requiem-like epilogue.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Gavin Plumley’s booklet notes in English, German and French give a detailed introduction to all four works. “A note by the conductor” is a valuable extra: an essay-length appreciation of Berg’s music and an explanation of his approach to the two orchestrations. There are several photographs of the composer, the recording session, the violin soloist and the orchestra and conductor.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e This is a remarkable disc. I enjoyed the two transcribed works, which genuinely add to our appreciation and understanding of Alban Berg’s earlier achievement. The performance of the two works of genius – the Three Pieces for orchestra and the Violin Concerto – are revelatory in their sympathy and understanding. It is an album that all enthusiasts of the composer must own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- MusicWeb International (John France)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012552773866,"sku":"095115527023","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4129363-2918275.jpg?v=1786653947"},{"product_id":"andrian-boult-conducts-berg-stravinsky-vaughan-williams","title":"Adrian Boult conducts Berg, Stravinsky, \u0026 Vaughan Williams","description":"\u003cp\u003eSOMM RECORDINGS announces the first appearance on disc of three historic live recordings by Sir Adrian Boult to mark the 40th anniversary of the pre-eminent British conductor’s death, including his complete 1949 account of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, Stravinsky’s Capriccio (1948), and Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony (1965).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoult had led the UK premiere of Berg’s excoriating opera in 1934, although only Act II of that performance survives. This complete 1949 recording with the BBC Symphony, Heinrich Nillius as Wozzeck, and Suzanne Danco as Marie – only the second UK performance – adds to Boult’s and the opera’s stature on disc. Recorded live in London’s Royal Albert Hall, it is a remarkable document of an exhilarating performance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoult’s pioneering championing of ‘new’ music is also heard in his recording of Stravinsky’s Capriccio, with the BBC Symphony and the prodigiously gifted Australian Noel Mewton-Wood at the piano.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoult’s rare outing in 1965 with the Royal Opera House Orchestra saw him returning to a work he premiered 30 years earlier, Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony. Under Boult’s baton it is a stirring and startling statement of loss and grief.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA bonus track features a revealing discussion of his 19-year tenure at the head of the BBC Symphony by Boult with Bernard Keeffe for BBC Radio in 1965.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012555460842,"sku":"758871502429","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4389328-3299642.jpg?v=1786689803"},{"product_id":"holst-savitri-the-planets-the-perfect-fool-ballet-suite","title":"Holst: Savitri; The Planets; The Perfect Fool Ballet Suite","description":"SOMM Recordings is pleased to release this set of delightful never-before-released recordings of the music of Gustav Holst in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. Here are works of grand and intimate scale, for orchestral and chamber forces, with and without singers, offering a vivid sampling of his oeuvre in meticulous restorations of recorded live performances given in the 40s, 50s and 60s.    Chronologically, the earliest recordings are those on Disc 2, curated by Producer Lani Spahr. The live performances of The Perfect Fool suite and The Planets were recorded from New York's Radio City Studio in 1945 and Boston's Symphony Hall in 1946, respectively, with British conductors leading orchestras from \"across the pond\", where Holst had devoted much time in his later years conducting, lecturing and teaching.    The recordings on Disc 1 are in various ways the result of Imogen Holst's championing of her father's music. A composer in her own right, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist and festival administrator, it was in the last capacity, especially, that she came to work at Benjamin Britten's side on his annual Aldeburgh Festival, becoming co-artistic director in the season of 1956. This recording of Gustav Holst's chamber opera Savitri dates from that summer and comes from the collection of Music Preserved.    Nearly a decade later Imogen Holst, who by then was acclaimed for her founding and leadership of the Purcell Singers, a choir whose performances became a regular fixture at Aldeburgh, curated a series of broadcasts on BBC's Third Programme to feature works by her father and other composers. Some of the Gustav Holst pieces, like the Third Group of Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda and Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo for orchestra, were broadcast live from public performances at the Cheltenham Music Festival in July of 1965, Cheltenham incidentally being Gustav's birthplace. Others, like the 4 Songs for soprano and violin and The Evening-Watch for mixed chorus, must have been pre-recorded in closed sessions that summer for use later in Imogen's series of programmes. These two recordings were aired on 31 October 1965. All of the Cheltenham '65 recordings come from the collection of Stephen Crane of ARS Recorded Editions.    Disc 1 has been fastidiously polished by Restoration Engineer Paul Baily. His restoration of the recent Sir Adrian Boult Conducts (ARIADNE 5024-2) was honoured with the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Records Critics' Award) in the Historical Recordings category.    Restoration Engineer for Disc 2, Lani Spahr's previous SOMM releases include the lauded four-volume sets Vaughan Williams Live (ARIADNE 5016, 5018-20) and Elgar Remastered (SOMMCD 261-4), as well as two Gramophone Editor's Choice picks: Elgar from America Vol.3 (ARIADNE 5015-2) for \"superb audio restorations [bringing] performances fully to life\" and Bruckner from the Archives Vol.1 (ARIADNE 5025-2) for the \"high standards achieved here, where expert audio restoration and remastering is by Lani Spahr\".","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012560113898,"sku":"758871503020","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4357803-3205659.jpg?v=1786664606"},{"product_id":"vaughan-williams-symphonies-nos-5-6","title":"Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 5 \u0026 6 \/ Boult, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eSir Adrian Boult began his long association with the music of Vaughan Williams in 1918 when he conducted A London Symphony earning praise from the composer. Thereafter Boult gave many first performances of Vaughan Williams’s works including the 3rd, 4th and 6th symphonies and Job was dedicated to him. Boult also recorded all the symphonies extensively in the studio for Decca and EMI during the 1950s and late 1960s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pastoral 5th symphony (1938-43) is considered a masterpiece based on Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress which some critics have suggested was a vision of peace for a war-weary nation, whereas the angry 6th symphony (1944-47) bears the marks of the war years in the opposite extreme, a portrait of a world laid to waste by a nuclear holocaust. Boult’s performances here, caught live at London’s Royal Albert Hall Promenade Concerts in 1972 and 1975, have even more adrenaline and excitement compared to their studio equivalents. Anthony Payne (Daily Telegraph) described the 1975 Prom performance of Symphony No.5: “one of the most taut and concentrated interpretations I have ever heard of the work”. When it comes to Symphony No.6, Martin Cotton, the music critic and writer wrote: “what Boult achieves in the four linked movements of Symphony No.6 is a sense of overall direction, and as he did in Symphony No.5, a strong feeling for the structure and emotional depth of the work’.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012561850602,"sku":"5060244551640","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4075258-2821378.jpg?v=1786691549"},{"product_id":"pejacevic-piano-concerto-op-33-symphony-in-f-sharp-minor-op-41","title":"Pejačević: Piano Concerto, Symphony in F-Sharp \/ Donohoe, Oramo, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eCountess Mária Theodora (Dora) Paulina Pejačević was born in September 1885 in Budapest. Young Dora grew up with all the advantages of an aristocrat: a fairy-tale life of opulent palaces set in idyllic landscapes; privilege, comfort, leisure, and wealth. From an early age she defied convention and walked her own path, one that eventually led her to ‘despise’ the aristocracy. Her father, Count Teodor Pejačević, a lawyer, held several high posts, including that of Civil Governor of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia (1903 – 07). Her mother, Lilla Vay de Vaya, an ‘exceptionally beautiful’ Hungarian countess, was a gifted pianist and singer, and a fine amateur artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer parents arranged private lessons with teachers at the Music School of the Croatian Music Institute, at Zagreb, which lead to further instruction in Dresden and Munich. Dissatisfied with the ‘limits’ of her formal studies, Pejačević pursued her own intensive course of self-instruction in composition. Having taken her music education into her own hands, she set off to enrich and broaden her intellectual horizons, travelling to cultural centres in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. During these travels, she came to know the leading artists, poets, and intellectuals of the day. The Piano Concerto was her first orchestral composition, and the first piano concerto by any Croatian composer. She composed the Symphony in F sharp minor during the first world war, whilst also working as a volunteer nurse. For its first complete performance, in 1920, she revised the work, which is here recorded in this final version.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[The Piano Concerto] boasts attractive melodies, warmly lush orchestration and technically demanding piano writing. Peter Donohoe revels in its manifold opportunities for virtuosic display, but also brings poetry and requisite tenderness to the beautifully lyrical writing in the slow movement. The Symphony is even more impressive…Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, supported by Chandos’s customary warm engineering, clearly believe in the works and deliver an extremely compelling performance.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– BBC Music magazine (Erik Levi)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeter Donohoe’s barn-storming style suits the piano concerto and Sakari Oramo conducts as if these were repertoire works. The recording is rich and full, in the Chandos manner, even though I was listening in ordinary two channel stereo…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– MusicWeb International (Stephen Barber)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe beginning of Pejačević’s first—and only—symphony emerges like a Brahmsian cortege, garlanded with grand strokes and unusually expressive melodies that wouldn’t sound out of place in [Alexander] Borodin’s musical world. But it soon picks up the strange beauty of [Richard] Strauss’s unsettling textures and harmonies, along with his predilection for the cinematic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCroatian musicologist and Pejačević biographer Koraljka Kos characterizes her work during World War I as 'vigorous,' and borne 'perhaps out of the need to fence herself off from some of the awful reality she witnessed daily.' What she witnessed wasn’t at a remove; despite growing up in an aristocratic family, Pejačević rejected the leisure of her class in favor of work and, during the war, volunteered as a nurse in her village of Našice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e...For all of the threads of music history that come together in Pejačević’s works, their real attraction lies in [a] Caravaggio-esque chiaroscuro, written with an assertive hand but designed to evoke in the listener a sense of precariousness and dispossession. Brahms and Strauss wield power. Pejačević remonstrates it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e--Van Magazine (Olivia Giovetti)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012562047210,"sku":"095115529928","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4080208-2827828.jpg?v=1786693519"},{"product_id":"frankly-speaking-with-leopold-stokowski","title":"Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski","description":"SOMM recordings is delighted to release Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski, which gives rare insight into the legendary maestro through live recordings of a performance, a rehearsal, and an interview. The CD features Stokowski conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and soprano Gloria Lane in a performance of El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 September 1964; a rehearsal of El amor brujo and Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the War Memorial Opera House on 19 December 1952; and a Frankly Speaking BBC Home Service interview with Stokowski answering questions put to him by John Bowen, Reginald Jacques, and George Scott at the BBC Studios in London on 25 August 1959.    Leopold Stokowski's unorthodox seating arrangements, his flexibility regarding free individual string bowings, his emphasis on vibrato and tone, and his idiosyncratic baton-less conducting technique, were some of the practical elements that defined his popularity and his uniquely lush sound-coupled with allowing himself free reign to alter details of the musical text in his performances. Yet there remains a highly elusive element in the art of a great conductor. The rehearsal presented on this release provides a glimpse into Stokowski's creative process. One the one hand, he was fastidiously detailed and precisely demanding to the point of being draconian, but he also admired and encouraged an element of spontaneity, and even improvisation, within the framework of his extreme insistence on precision.    The performance of El amor brujo-one of Stokowski's favourite compositions-was recorded at a BBC Promenade concert, and provides a stellar example of the effect that he was able to achieve through his singular and charismatic approach to making music. The extended interview, heard here for the first time since it's original radio broadcast in 1959, illustrates the brilliant repartee, levity, and charm of which this extraordinary musician was capable.    Through the breadth of his public success-including his appearance in the film Fantasia and, even more significantly, his recordings as the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he led from 1912 to 1936-Leopold Stokowski reached a more wide-ranging audience than was typical for classical music in his day, and did much to debunk the perception that classical music is \"elitist.\" Together, Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra racked up international sales figures that were unprecedented for orchestral discs, attracted a far-reaching following, and captivated an audience that ranged from classical music newcomers to some of his most celebrated fellow musicians.","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012564177130,"sku":"758871503525","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4395533-3312300.jpg?v=1786658038"},{"product_id":"saint-saens-piano-concerto-no-2-liszt-piano-concerto-no-1-5060244551688","title":"Cherkassky plays Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Beethoven \u0026 More \/ Rattle, CBSO","description":"\u003cp\u003eShura Cherkassky was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1909 and died in London in 1995. He was initially taught by his mother who had played for Tchaikovsky, but when the family moved to the US in 1923, he studied with his long-time teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Hofmann, before auditioning for Rachmaninov. Prior to World War II, he had made his name in the US but from 1945 he extensively toured Europe and settled in London in 1961. The last of the great Romantic tradition of pianists, Cherkassky was described by Bryce Morrison as a ‘mercurial genius’, a unique personality, blessed with an incredible technique, who delighted in defying convention as no performance was identical. For a musician reluctant to visit the studio, live performances were the showcase for his stunning virtuosity and creativity caught on the wing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012564832490,"sku":"5060244551688","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4124193-2883101.jpg?v=1786649541"},{"product_id":"boult-s-elgar-the-forgotten-recordings","title":"Boult’s Elgar - The Forgotten Recordings","description":"The continuing collaboration of SOMM Recordings and Lani Spahr has produced another exciting release of long forgotten and neglected recordings, which highlight Sir Adrian Boult's life-long championing of the music of Edward Elgar. The label remains grateful, as ever, to Spahr for resurrecting these lost treasures and for his sterling work on sound restoration.    On 17 February, 1918, in wartime London, a twenty-eight year old Adrian Boult visited the home of Sir Edward Elgar to discuss details for a performance of In the South that Boult was to conduct for the first time at Queen's Hall the following evening. In 1944, in the midst of another war, Boult would again conduct the concert overture in a broadcast performance with the BBC Orchestra. SOMM Recordings is proud to include this performance on it's release, Boult's Elgar - The Forgotten Recordings.    Elgar had conducted the premiere performance of his Second Symphony at the Queen's Hall on 24 May 1911, and it was, by his own admission and according to Boult's description, \"really rather a flop.\" Overshadowed by the success of the First Symphony, the Second had been received with polite restraint. After Boult conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in his first performance of the symphony on 16 March, 1920, Elgar wrote to him, \"I send a word of thanks for your splendid conducting of the Sym: - I am most grateful to you for your affectionate care of it \u0026amp; feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands.\" And so it proved to be. Boult went on to perform the symphony more than seventy times, and it was largely thanks to his advocacy that audiences started to warm to the work.    This present recording of the Second Symphony from SOMM, published on CD for the first time, was made by the Scottish National Orchestra in September 1963, a few months before Sir Adrian turned 75. Nigel Simeone, author of Edward Elgar and Adrian Boult, characterizes in this recording \"an unerring sense of 'rightness' in his choice of speeds, a phenomenal grasp of the broad structures of each movement, and playing of unflinching sincerity and conviction.\"    Some of Boult's earliest conducting experience had been with choirs during his student years at Oxford. The second disc on this release includes BBC radio broadcasts from July 1967 of ten unaccompanied choral songs, composed by Elgar between 1907 and 1914, with Boult conducting the BBC Chorus.     This double CD also features three insightful interviews with Boult from the BBC. These include Sir Adrian talking with Elgar's daughter about the Enigma Variations and also his perceptions of working with Elgar on his 2nd Symphony and In the South.","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012564898026,"sku":"758871503723","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4397770-3315107.jpg?v=1786660782"},{"product_id":"shostakovich-symphonies-nos-4-11-5060244551695","title":"Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 \u0026 11 \/ Rozhdestvensky, Orchestras of the BBC","description":"\u003cp\u003eGennady Rozhdestvensky (1931-2018) was one of Russia’s greatest conductors along with Evgeny Mravinsky and Kirill Kondrashin. His close personal and musical relationship with Shostakovich began in the 1950s and continued until the composer’s death in 1975. Rozhdestvensky said at the time, ‘It would be difficult to overestimate the significance of my relations with Dmitri Shostakovich since he opened before me a musical universe like a gigantic magnifying glass reflecting our fragile world’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRozhdestvensky conducted the first western premiere of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.4 in Edinburgh in 1962 and after many subsequent performances internationally, it was also the inaugural piece in his tenure as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1979-81). Composed in 1936 but condemned by the Soviet authorities, it did not receive its first performance until 1961 in Moscow. The epic Symphony No.11, given a dramatic performance by the BBC Philharmonic in 1997, is based on revolutionary folksongs relating to the 1905 Russian Revolution, and received the Lenin Prize in 1958. Despite this, questions arose as to whether Shostakovich was denouncing the Soviet regime’s brutal treatment of its opponents in it, specifically the 1956 invasion of Hungary or the Tsarist tyranny and oppression of 1905, to which there are no conclusive answers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012565717226,"sku":"5060244551695","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4122984-2883090.jpg?v=1786635714"},{"product_id":"bliss-the-composer-conducts","title":"Bliss: The Composer Conducts","description":"Sir Arthur Bliss (1891 - 1975) was an excellent conductor of his own music, but he sadly made only a limited number of commercial recordings. SOMM celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bliss's death with a 2-CD set of important archive performances, all but two of which he didn't record commercially, making them of particular interest. These live performances, mostly recorded at the BBC Proms and not previously made available, are skilfully remastered by long-time SOMM collaborator and executive producer, Lani Spahr, whose recent 6-volume \"Bruckner from the Archives\" received no less than two Editor's Choices from Gramophone magazine.    At the invitation of Edward Elgar, Bliss wrote a new work for the Three Choirs Festival in 1920. He was inspired by a book on heraldry to compose a full-scale symphony incorporating symbolic meanings associated with primary colours. Hence, the four movements of A Colour Symphony are Purple, Red, Blue, and Green. The performance issued here is with Bliss conducting his 70th birthday concert at the Proms in 1961.    For his 75th birthday concert at the Proms in 1966, Bliss conducted his Piano Concerto, commissioned by the British Council in 1939. Following this birthday concert, Bliss wrote that he felt \"indeed positively youthful; perhaps that rejuvenation was accentuated by the exuberantly fine performance that John Ogdon gave of my Piano Concerto.\" That \"exuberantly fine performance,\" along with Bliss's brief speech of thanks, are included in this set.    Bliss and his younger brother served during World War I, and Kennard was killed at the Battle of the Somme. In 1930, haunted by nightmares of the war and grief about his brother, Bliss composed Morning Heroes, dedicating it \"to the memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other comrades killed in battle.\" The work is a symphony for orator, chorus, and orchestra, with poetry ranging from The Iliad to Walt Whitman and Wilfred Owen. Lady Bliss considered the pre-eminent orator of this work to be Donald Douglas, featured here with Bliss in 1968-surprisingly, the only performance to date of Morning Heroes at the Proms.    The much-revised Concerto for Two Pianos is presented in a version for two pianos and three hands, which Bliss arranged after Cyril Smith suffered a stroke that paralysed his left arm. This performance with Bliss leading Cyril Smith, Phyllis Sellick, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra is from the 1969 Proms.     Two shorter works complete this Bliss anniversary tribute. Mêlee Fantasque from 1921, influenced by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, is a precursor to many ballet scores Bliss would produce. The Phoenix, subtitled \"Homage to France August 1944,\" is noted in the score as symbolizing \"the imperishable life and the transcendent beauty of France.\"  The extraordinarily vast repertoire of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau over his 45-year career comprised lieder, operas, cantatas, and oratorios. He sang these in German, Italian, French, Russian, English, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Latin, from eras that spanned the Baroque to the latter part of the 20th century. Particularly, it was the controlled power and beauty of his voice, and the dramatic intensity and poetry of his interpretations, that led him to excel in the genre of German lieder. In this form he exerted a virtually unprecedented stylistic and interpretative influence-not only on the musical world of his day, but also on generations of performers to come.    SOMM's centenary tribute opens with four songs by Ferruccio Busoni, all being works that were written late in the composer's career. They come from a programme that Fischer-Dieskau gave with Gerald Moore in 1962.     At the 1971 Helsinki Festival, Fischer-Dieskau presented a recital with Irwin Gage, which was devoted entirely to songs with texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The recital, described by a contemporary critic as \"a landmark event,\" featured compositions by contemporaries of Goethe, who lived from 1749 to 1832, such as the Countess Anna Amalia, Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and Goethe's friend Carl Friedrich Zelter. The more familiar composers represented on this Goethe-inspired recital were active during the first part of the 20th century. They include Richard Strauss, Max Reger, and Ferruccio Busoni.     This tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also includes six songs from a programme of works by Gustav Mahler, which was presented with his long-time collaborator, Karl Engel. Three of the songs are from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, based on texts of German folk poems, and three are from the collection of five Ruckert-Lieder, after poems written by Friedrich Ruckert.    The musical component of this collection closes with a concert performance of three songs by Zoltan Kodaly, sung in Hungarian by Fischer-Dieskau. The composer proves himself an outstanding interpreter of his own music in conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.     In the two interviews included on the bonus CD, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau discusses his early years, his teachers, the development of his career, and a small but revealing cross-section of his enormous repertoire.","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012566634730,"sku":"758871503921","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4424635-3387844.jpg?v=1786686650"},{"product_id":"holst-beni-mora-op-29-no-1-choral-symphony-op-41","title":"Holst: Beni Mora, Op. 29 No. 1 \u0026 Choral Symphony, Op. 41","description":"SOMM Recordings is proud to extend it's celebration of the 150th anniversary of Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934). The label was one of the few to mark the anniversary with it's double CD release last September of Holst: Savitri, Choral Hymns from Rig Veda, 4 Songs, The Evening Watch, Hammersmith, The Perfect Fool Suite \u0026amp; The Planets, ARIADNE 5030-2. These never-before-released live recordings from the 40s, 50s, and 60s were issued in meticulous restorations by long-time SOMM collaborators Lani Spahr and Paul Baily.    Now, SOMM continues it's outstanding mission of issuing lesser-known music of interest with a pair of gems to enrich the catalogue of historic performances: a stereo recording of Holst's three-movement suite Beni Mora (the fictional name for Biskra, Algeria) and a live performance of the Choral Symphony. Both are played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, who brought a personal acquaintance and a deep understanding of the composer's inspiration to the works. Once again, the suburb audio restoration is by Lani Spahr.    Holst's The Planets is a justifiably well-known suite, but the great originality and skill in his writing is still largely under-appreciated. He lived a retiring life playing trombone in theatre orchestras as a younger man and teaching for much of his career at the St Paul's Girls' School in London. Yet, his abiding interest in cultures of North Africa, the Levant, and India were reflected in his rare musical expression.    While spending time in Algiers in 1908, Holst heard an indigenous musician playing the same phrase repeatedly for two hours on a bamboo flute. This melody became the basis for the final movement of Beni Mora, where Holst repeats the eight-note tune 163 times in a manner foreshadowing minimalism. The first two movements of the suite evoke the mysticism, lively rhythms, and exoticism of the Arab world, juxtaposed with more reflective moments.    Following the success of The Planets, Holst received a commission from the 1925 Leeds Triennial Festival, and he used the opportunity to revise the draft of his Choral Symphony. The work consists of a Prelude and four movements, in keeping with an idea of conventional symphonic structure. Holst's inspiration came from a widely diverse collection of poetry by John Keats-ranging from the famous Ode to a Grecian Urn to lines scribbled on the flyleaf of a book of plays.     The response to the Choral Symphony was not initially favourable. Even Holst's lifelong friend, Ralph Vaughan Williams, admitted that he felt only a \"cold admiration\" for it. But within months of the first performance Holst wrote, \"I think the work as a whole is the best thing I have ever written.\" This recording is evidence of that belief.","brand":"SOMM Recordings","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012567355626,"sku":"758871504027","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4405052-3329309.jpg?v=1786680340"},{"product_id":"berlioz-romeo-et-juliette-scriabin-le-poeme-de-l-extase-rozhdestvensky","title":"Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette; Scriabin: Le Poeme de l’extase \/ Rozhdestvensky","description":"\u003cp\u003eGennady Rozhdestvensky (1931–2018) was one of Russia’s greatest conductors along with Yevgeny Mravinsky; Kirill Kondrashin and Yevgeny Svetlanov. Like them; he was a supreme interpreter of his country’s leading composers –notably Prokofiev; Shostakovich; and Tchaikovsky – but he was also more versatile and always in search of new challenges far beyond Russian and Soviet repertoire; from Benjamin Britten to Carl Nielsen and much more.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012568076522,"sku":"5060244551725","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4237925-3141960.jpg?v=1786639806"},{"product_id":"holst-vaughan-villiams-walton-butterworth-adrian-boult","title":"Holst, Vaughan Williams, Walton, \u0026 Butterworth \/ Works for Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eSir Adrian Boult (1889–1983) was probably Britain’s most authoritative interpreter of the music of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He formed close relationships with both composers; particularly with Vaughan Williams; giving premieres of three of his symphonies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012568830186,"sku":"5060244551732","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4237926-3141961.jpg?v=1786633233"},{"product_id":"bacewicz-orchestral-works-vol-1-oramo-bbc-symphony-orchestra","title":"Bacewicz: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 \/ Oramo, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe three works on this album were all composed between 1943 and 1953. Despite the extreme experiences and difficulties she faced during this undoubtedly most tragic time in Poland’s history, Grazyna Bacewicz managed to compose outstanding works which constitute splendid testimony to the vibrant creative potency for which she was renowned. Until 1939 her career as a virtuoso violinist and an emerging composer evolved naturally. Trained by the best Polish pedagogues at the Warsaw Conservatory, she went on to acquire an international education thanks to an Ignacy Paderewski Scholarship, which allowed her to pursue her studies in Paris: composition with Nadia Boulanger, violin with André Touret (1932 – 33) and Carl Flesch (1934 – 35). In spite of her soloistic successes she decided to join the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra as its leader, in order that an improved knowledge and understanding of an orchestra should inform her composition. Poland then suffered terribly at the hands of Hitler and Stalin, before coming under the control of the Soviet Union. This album was recorded and released in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state cultural institution promoting Polish culture around the world and actively participating in international cultural exchange.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"dcr-ch7w1w\" data-gu-name=\"body\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"dcr-v4ay52\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"dcr-lw02qf\" id=\"maincontent\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector  dcr-1g5o3j6\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003eThe Polish-born Bacewicz had trained as a violinist, but also studied composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger...the \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eelegant neoclassicism that Bacewicz imbibed in her lessons with Boulanger is evident in both these symphonies, though not so obviously in the extrovert Overture from 1943 also included on the disc. It’s possible to construe her style as a bridge in Polish music between Karol Szymanowski, or at least his later neoclassical works, and the Bartók-influenced modernism of Witold Lutosławski...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003ethose influences, as well as perhaps a debt to Shostakovich, too, are welded into a distinctive style that never seems derivative. Her handling of the large-scale four-movement forms is wonderfully assured, while the moments of high dissonance suggest that even in the early 1950s she was not prepared to conform to the precepts of Soviet populism as meekly as the authorities might have liked.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003eCertainly the drive and conviction behind these performances suggest that Oramo believes passionately in the music’s worth, and the BBCSO revels in its expert orchestration. It all promises well for subsequent instalments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003e-- The Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e[The] third symphony\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/theclassicreview.com\/tag\/symphony\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s anxiety-ridden introduction (marked Drammatico) surely reflects the mood of its times, as does the relentless drive and restlessness of the Molto allegro energico that follows, in clear sonata\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e form. The stalking bass line that begins the following Andante brings in an incessant coloristic  development where melodic figures struggle to have a fully lyrical moment, only to be interrupted by a thwacking bass drum. The basis of both scherzos is mercurial shifts of mood and color, ceaselessly restless, though sometimes playful. And how acutely the BBC players inhabit those many moods – one senses the orchestra’s conviction and enthusiasm for this music in playing that is energetic, fulsome, and highly refined.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- The Classic Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs recordings of Grażyna Bacewicz’s music have surfaced over the past 10 years or so, it has become obvious how unfairly neglected she was previously...Through first the suffering of the war years in Poland, then the cultural diktats of life under a Soviet Union-aligned government, Bacewicz managed to continue composing and retain her own voice. The two symphonies share a powerful, headlong drive. Given its premiere in 1952, the Symphony No 3 is the more tightly argued of the two, compressing its ideas with an internal logic that generates a fierce electric charge, with pounding energy rarely far away. The Symphony No 4, following a year later, takes up where its predecessor left off, though the scope of its musical ideas ranges somewhat more widely and the tension is less insistent. The breezy Overture, written in occupied Warsaw in 1943, is not obviously wartime music, unless its joyous energy hides some coded meaning, as in Shostakovich’s symphonies. This is music very much of its time, rolling together the intense concentration of Shostakovich with a dash of Bartók’s exploratory sound-worlds and William Walton’s show-off orchestration into a very cogent whole. The performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo, do not stint the vigorous spark of Bacewicz’s imagination.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"dcr-hm5hhe\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- The Financial Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOramo and the BBCSO offer an exhilarating account of this extrovert music[, the Overture].\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe music [of the Symphony no. 3] is taut and full of interest; Oramo leads a powerful, athletic performance. The slow movement, an\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eAndante\u003c\/em\u003e, is most attractive and expressive; it features a good deal of very appealing writing for the woodwinds. The vivacious Scherzo requires – and receives – very precise articulation from the orchestra. The music is fast, lively, and often witty. In this movement, Bacewicz displays a jazzy brilliance in her writing; so much so that I was put a little in mind of Walton. The finale opens with a quiet, ominous introduction in which the low brass and tam-tam make important contributions. The main body of the movement (\u003cem\u003eAllegro con passione\u003c\/em\u003e) is often dramatic and, as I hear it, has an element of darkness. The movement is eventful and often powerful. Graźyna Bacewicz’s Third Symphony is a most interesting composition, which I’m keen to explore further. Oramo and the BBCSO do it very convincingly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e...Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra have presented the works with such skill and commitment. I hope they’ll record more of this composer’s orchestral music for Chandos. When my colleagues and I sampled this SACD...we were impressed by the big, immediate sound. Further listening on my own equipment has reinforced that view. The sound has a good dynamic range and plenty of presence. Chandos has presented both the music and the performances in an ideally vivid fashion. The booklet includes an extended essay by Katarzyna Naliwajek.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- MusicWeb International\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46012570075370,"sku":"0095115531624","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4257610-3206439.jpg?v=1786633363"},{"product_id":"ernest-john-moeran-symphony-in-g-minor-violin-concerto","title":"Ernest John Moeran: Symphony in G Minor; Violin Concerto","description":"The troubled life of English composer Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950) ended 75 years ago, when he fell into the water at Kenmare in Ireland, and his death was officially recorded as a cerebral haemorrhage. To honour the life of E J Moeran, SOMM Recordings is releasing broadcasts that were privately recorded by Lionel Hill, author of Lonely Waters - the diary of a friendship with E J Moeran. This commemorative release, with outstanding audio restoration by Lani Spahr, includes Moeran's Symphony in G minor conducted by Sir Adrian Boult and his Violin Concerto with the incomparable Albert Sammons as soloist. Additionally, Moeran's Cello Concerto, written for his wife Peers Coetmore, is available as a download.    E J Moeran was born to an Irish Protestant priest and a Norfolk-born mother, and the duality of his nationality finds expression in his music. He wrote of his Symphony in G minor that it \"may be said to owe it's inspiration to the natural surroundings in which it was planned and written. The greater part of the work was carried out among the mountains and seaboard of Co. Kerry, but the material of the second movement was conceived around the sand-dunes and marshes of East Norfolk.\" On 9 February, 1949, Moeran and his friend Lionel Hill attended a performance of the symphony at the Royal Albert Hall, with Adrian Boult conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. That is the performance heard on this CD.    The first movement of Moeran's Violin Concerto, written in Co. Kerry, was similarly inspired by the calm of Kenmare Bay in fine weather, while the Lento last movement reflected a period of seasonal colour and beauty along the Kenmare River. The second movement Rondo is unmistakably imbued with the spirit of Kerry fairs and Irish fiddlers. Moeran wrote that \"Albert Sammons is the only living violinist I would like to have interpret it.\" This recording, a BBC Home Service broadcast from Norfolk on 28 April 1946, is Sammons' last public concerto performance. 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It is thrilling to hear the rarity Spring Song played with full acknowledgement that this is rather more than a seasonal ditty. We once again come close to the heart of Sibelius in an unlikely place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– Gramophone\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Lemminkäinen Suite has tended to be viewed as an important staging post on Sibelius’s path to the symphony. What Sakari Oramo shows is that it’s a marvellous achievement in its own right, and as such not quite like anything else. 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Rozhdestzensky is still with us but, for some reason, only a very occasional visitor to the UK and more's the pity; in his excellent booklet notes, David Nice asks 'Is Gennadi Rozhdestvensky the greatest ever conductor of ballet scores?', and, on the evidence of this Nutcracker, which is ideally paced at every turn, it's hard to disagree. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Although proportioned something like a conventional concert programme, this selection of performances actually derives from two 1981 Proms, during Rozhdestvensky's relatively brief tenure as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony. The 2nd Act of the  \u003ci\u003eNutcracker\u003c\/i\u003e was filmed at the end of July and was preceded by a choral version of Mussorgsky's  \u003ci\u003eNight on Bare Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e (the choir can be seen seated behind the orchestra during the Tchaikovsky), Prokofiev's  \u003ci\u003eUgly Ducking\u003c\/i\u003e and Scriabin's  \u003ci\u003ePrometheus\u003c\/i\u003e. The Glinka items are extracted from a daring programme, mixing Viennese waltzes with double piano concertos, including Bartók's Concerto for two pianos and percussion. A punchy and swift performance of Glinka's Overture to  \u003ci\u003eRuslan and Lyudmila\u003c\/i\u003e opens the programme, followed by three wonderful dances from his opera  \u003ci\u003eA Life for the Tsar\u003c\/i\u003e, the second of which has an energetically skipping rhythmic quality and which I recall fondly from its use in the climactic ball sequence from Alexander Sokurov's film  \u003ci\u003eRussian Ark\u003c\/i\u003e, a remarkable single-take trawl through Russian history. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  One of the advantages of seeing rather than merely hearing a performance such as this is the chance it affords to study the conductor's technique, and Rozhdestvensky's manner throughout the programme is minimal but precisely calibrated. The camera frequently cuts to an inert Rozhdestvensky, apparently doing nothing at all, but he is the master of conveying a world of meaning with a raised eyebrow and his hands can suggest a sculptor at work when he wishes. As already noted, tempos are perfectly judged in the Tchaikovsky, treading a fine line between grandeur and excitement and the BBC Symphony Orchestra's playing is every bit as plush and lively as one would expect from a Russian orchestra. Rozhdestvensky's speeds are adjusted for the concert hall: some of them would be tricky to dance to, such as a sweeping but forward driving  \u003ci\u003ePas de deux (The Prince and the Sugar Plum Fairy)\u003c\/i\u003e. It's only a shame that we couldn't have the complete ballet; Rozhdestvensky in the full score does appear on a pricey Melodiya set (MELCD1000665), but it's terrific to have at least half and it's a performance I can imagine returning to often. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  -- Andrew Morris, MusicWeb International\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Gennadi Rozhdestvensky at the BBC Proms\u003cbr\u003e  Mikhail GLINKA (1804-1857)\u003cbr\u003e  Ruslan and Lyudmila – Overture [5:53]\u003cbr\u003e  Three Dances from A Life for the Tsar [16:27]\u003cbr\u003e  Pytor Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)\u003cbr\u003e  The Nutcracker – Act 2 [42:40]\u003cbr\u003e  BBC Symphony Orchestra\/Gennadi Rozhdestvensky\u003cbr\u003e  rec. 27 July 1981 (Tchaikovsky), 14 August 1981 (Glinka), Royal Albert Hall, London\u003cbr\u003e  Producer (original broadcast): Rodney Greenburg\u003cbr\u003e  Picture format: 4:3\/NTSC\u003cbr\u003e  Sound: Ambient Mastering\/LPCM Stereo\u003cbr\u003e  Region: 0 (worldwide)\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":46012908962026,"sku":"5060244550278","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1855830.jpg?v=1786628893"},{"product_id":"lutoslawski-vocal-works-095115168820","title":"Lutoslawski: Vocal works","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012975120618,"sku":"095115168820","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1890425.jpg?v=1786760168"},{"product_id":"susan-gritton-sings-finzi-britten-and-delius-095115159026","title":"Susan Gritton sings Finzi, Britten and Delius","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013005529322,"sku":"095115159026","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1639404.jpg?v=1786693536"},{"product_id":"brahms-piano-concerto-no-1","title":"Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1","description":"Classical Music","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013007495402,"sku":"5060244550483","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1908178.jpg?v=1786717464"},{"product_id":"british-classics-davis-atherton-bbc-symphony-bbc-195923","title":"British Classics \/ Davis, Atherton, BBC Symphony, BBC Wales National Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis release combines two much loved British classics: Elgar's seminal 'Enigma Variations' and Holst's orchestral masterpiece 'The Planets'. In an acclaimed BBC drama-documentary filmed in the rolling Malvern Hills, Sir Andrew Davis unravels the mystery of the famous musical puzzle contained in Elgar's work followed by a landmark performance of the complete score by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis given in the cathedral in Elgar's home town of Worcester. The lavish visualization of Gustav Holst's orchestral masterpiece 'The Planets' and Colin Matthews' additional movement 'Pluto', the Renewer features spectacular images which enhance the symbolic meaning attributed to each planet by the composer. Directed by Rhodri Huw, this memorable audiovisual experience blends images filmed in many locations around the world, computer graphics, animatronics and a splendidly atmospheric performance by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. \"Sir Andrew Davis's fine performance of the Enigma Variations, with Nimrod hushed, slow and steady, was recorded in the atmospheric surroundings of Worcester Cathedral, where Elgar said everyone should hear his music. Davis introduces a highly enjoyable documentary about the work and 'the friends pictured within'. In the documentary he suggests that each variation, as well as reflecting the character of a particular friend, reveals much about Elgar himself, 'like an actor playing many roles'.\" (The Penguin Guide - Elgar) \"As for the performance, this is not a run-of-the-mill Planets. Atherton recreates the score with both subtlety and aplomb, and with the necessary bravura when called for. It is difficult sometimes to pay too careful attention to the music given the sheer overwhelming beauty of the visual images, but the underpinning is very present, and one comes to a whole new appreciation of Holst’s masterpiece by having a visual element.\" (Musicweb International - Holst)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Opus Arte","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":46013070278890,"sku":"809478012665","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3786466.jpg?v=1786701042"},{"product_id":"garrick-ohlsson-plays-chopin-brahms-liszt-92152","title":"Garrick Ohlsson Plays Chopin, Brahms \u0026 Liszt","description":"Garrick Ohlsson won the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition just four years prior the solo recital performances of Chopin and Liszt featured on this DVD. Ohlsson recorded the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under James Loughran at Royal Albert Hall in 1978. Since these youthful concerts Garrick Ohlsson has also recorded the complete works of Chopin to global acclaim and is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of Chopin.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Sound format: LCPM mono\u003cbr\u003e  Picture format: 4:3\u003cbr\u003e  Running time: 78’\u003cbr\u003e  Subtitles: n\/a\u003cbr\u003e  Menu languages: English\u003cbr\u003e  Booklet languages: E\/F\/G\u003cbr\u003e  Region code: All Regions - 0\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  When I last saw Garrick Ohlsson live in concert in 2007, I was mightily impressed by the delicacy and contrast the ursine pianist brought to his performance of Rachmaninov’s third piano concerto. This DVD unearths performances given by a much younger Ohlsson some thirty years earlier, when he was less a bear and more a lion of the keyboard, complete with 1970s mane. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The main feature on this DVD is a BBC Proms performance of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto under the baton of that great Scottish Brahmsian, James Loughran, whose famous Halle recordings of the symphonies, last seen on Classics for Pleasure, have sadly been deleted from the catalogue. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Ohlsson, wearing a white coat like the leader of the orchestra and no one else on stage, strides out with Loughran to warm Proms applause. We are quickly underway. The first movement is nicely paced, flowing and big. Indeed “big” is the right word for this performance. Loughran knows what he is doing with this music. He draws a well blended, robust sound from the orchestra, right from the opening horn call. Ohlsson shares his dramatic conception of the concerto, moving from gentle rhapsodic playing to roaring climaxes with the ebb and flow of the musical narrative. The uncredited principal cellist brings grace and charm to the andante, which Ohlsson matches and exceeds, and the finale is smile-coaxingly playful, but never lightweight. The highlight of this performance is the second movement. Ohlsson is at his rhapsodic best here. There are occasional wrong notes and horn wobbles, but they matter little when the performance is as exciting as this one. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The 1974 recital is fabulously 70s, from the font that flashes onto the screen to announce the recital in time to the opening chords of the Scherzo to the wavy beige studio backdrop. Ohlsson’s Chopin is superb. The Scherzo sparks with nervous energy and, under Ohlsson’s fingers, rings more with tragedy than mere melancholy. The Polonaise that follows is big and appealingly playful, like Hans Sachs merrily mending shoes with a large hammer.  \u003ci\u003eFunérailles\u003c\/i\u003e is dark and menacing, seemingly powered by Ohlsson’s relentless left hand. The size of Ohlsson’s mitts is astonishing. If ever hands were built for the piano, his were. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The booklet note by Jeremy Siepmann lionises Ohlsson and says little of the music or the circumstances of its performance. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The mono sound, clear but constricted, prevents a general recommendation when so much of Ohlsson’s fine playing is available on disc in stereo. However Ohlsson’s fans and those who would see the young lion in his pomp need not hesitate. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -- Tim Perry, MusicWeb International\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"DVD","offer_id":46013070606570,"sku":"5060244550131","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1806881.jpg?v=1786752078"},{"product_id":"tchaikovsky-symphony-no-5-op-64-janacek-taras-bulba","title":"Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5, Op. 64  - Janácek: Taras Bulba,","description":"Rozhdestvensky is considered to be one of the greatest Tchaikovsky conductors today. Given his Russian background and his outstanding leadership of the Bolshoi in the past, it is not surprising that his performances of the composer's works are entirely idiomatic. This live performance of Tchaikovsky's popular Symphony No.5 comes from the 1978 Flanders Festival in Belgium and has been recorded in excellent stereo. It is both exciting and poetic, and it confirmed Rozhdestvensky's new appointment as music director of the BBC Symphony the same year. The fill-up consists of Jan+ícek's rhapsody Taras Bulba recorded at the 1981 Proms. This work is a new addition to Rozhdestvensky's discography. Taras Bulba is arguably Janacek's most powerful and dramatic work. Here, it is given a searing performance in superb stereo, which fully captures the large orchestra used, complete with organ, brass and percussion.","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013082239210,"sku":"5060244551169","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2368899.jpg?v=1786654559"},{"product_id":"clyne-mythologies-bbc-symphony-orchestra-396793","title":"Clyne: Mythologies \/ BBC Symphony Orchestra","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Clynne’s enormous palette of colors and special effects coalesce into an aural three-dimensional experience of striking originality. Equally there’s a comforting familiarity to her music, as she draws inspiration from historic styles that she transforms into a new musical dialect. Anna’s background in electro-acoustic music and her fascination for a variety of multi-media – including poetry, visual art and videography – combine to create rich and exhilarating textures of popular appeal.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe five works on Anna Clyne: Mythologies were written over a 10-year period between 2005 and 2015. The performances on the album feature the BBC Symphony Orchestra and four internationally-acclaimed conductors. Masquerade, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to open the Last Night of the Proms 2013 and conducted by Marin Alsop, captures the spirit of that quintessentially English tradition. The title evokes an 18th-century outdoor festivity featuring fireworks, acrobats and street entertainers. This Midnight Hour, conducted by the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo, encapsulates the modernity and decadence of two European poets, Nobel Prize-winning Spaniard Juan Ramón Jiménez and Frenchman Charles Baudelaire. Oramo also conducts The Seamstress, a single-movement violin concerto in all but name, featuring soloist Jennifer Koh as well as the whispered voice of Irene Buckley reciting the work’s inspiration, a poem by William Butler Yeats.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMore poetry by a Nobel laureate, the Irishman Seamus Heaney, inspired Night Ferry; conducted by Andrew Litton, the work conjures crashing waves and weathered seafaring. The album concludes with rewind, conducted by André de Ridder. It’s a wild romp imagining the backwards scroll of a video tape complete with glitches, skips and freezes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMythologies became an instant media and popular success when it was released in October 2020 – “hands-down one of the half-dozen best classical albums of 2020”, according to New York Music Daily. The album is now presented in both a CD version and as a magnificent 2-LP set. The splendor of the glossy gatefold and 180-gram vinyl in particular is an appropriate match for Anna’s enormous palette of colors and special effects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEWS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI found her music colourful, full of energy and overflowing with ideas which grip you from first to last. The present release of her compositions spanning the decade from 2005 up to 2015 thus offers a fine survey of her recent orchestral music and there is no better place to begin with than the first work recorded here, the short \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMasquerade,\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e a brilliant concert-opener if ever there was one. The music skips along with high spirits until it concludes with a quotation from John Playford's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe English Dancing Master\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e which comes as a surprise - although I for one would not be surprised to learn that that very tune had already been there since the very beginning but cleverly and subtly disguised. Anyway, this short and brilliant work presents Anna Clyne's music-making in a nutshell, as it were.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese superb works receive committed readings from all concerned and, besides singling out the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing at its customary best, I would like to draw attention to Jennifer Koh's impressive take on the violin part in \u003cem\u003eThe Seamstress\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the gems in this collection. I hope that many will derive as much musical pleasure from this very fine release as I have, and that it will not take too long before more of Clyne's orchestral music is committed to disc.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- MusicWeb International\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eMythologies\u003c\/em\u003e is an apt title choice for this striking collection by London-born composer Anna Clyne (b. 1980). However ancient mythological tales might appear at the surface level, their archetypal themes resonate across the ages, as relevant today as when they were born, and they're fantastical in nature too, populated as they are with gods and mythical beasts. In similar manner, Clyne's music exudes an era-transcending quality in these phantasmagoric pieces, some of which stretch out for twenty minutes at a time. The Grammy-nominated composer is a tale-spinner whose creations transport the listener to dazzling realms.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCertainly a key part of the recording's appeal has to do with unpredictability: in not conforming to long-established scripts, the pieces are able to unfold in any number of stylistic directions, even if ultimately each develops in accordance with her sensibility.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-- Textura\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Avie Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013100654826,"sku":"822252243420","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3856699-2628777_e8f915db-6d94-489e-949c-996cd400842f.jpg?v=1786713003"},{"product_id":"chopin-piano-concertos-shura-cherkassky-220307","title":"Chopin: Piano Concertos \/ Shura Cherkassky","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eCHOPIN \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003ePiano Concertos: Nos. 1;\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003e 2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2 \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Shura Cherkassky (pn); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eChristopher Adey, cond; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eRichard Hickox, cond; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBBC Scottish SO. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBBC SO \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e ICA CLASSICS 5085 (75:22) Live: Glasgow \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e12\/3\/1981; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eLondon 8\/30\/1983 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eShura Cherkassky, according to the liner notes, was sometimes a difficult man to accompany, as he would often change his mind on phrasing or tempos between the final rehearsal and the concert; thus, annotator Robert Orledge says, “some conductors were reluctant to appear with him,” citing as an example the sudden rush with which he plays the final section of the Second Concerto. I can see where this would be a problem. I recall a live performance I attended by a famous American pianist where, suddenly, the keyboardist rushed forward and left the orchestra behind, and I learned later that he did not rehearse the work that way. The difference, if I may say so, is that Cherkassky usually had good taste while the American pianist I heard usually played with poor style regardless of his tempo choices. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eWell, as Cherkassky once said to me, “Some people like my playing and some don’t, but at least no one can say that I’m boring.” True enough. Yet I was beginning to doubt that this would be that fine a disc as the First Concerto started up. Conductor Adey plays it very slowly, with lots of romantic gush and goo, and moreover the first minute or so suffers from what is probably a crumply original tape. I was not expecting much. But then Cherkassky entered, and his bracing interpretation of the opening phrases acted like a wake-up call for the orchestra. (Having heard Cherkassky three times in person, twice with an orchestra and once in recital, and also being familiar with many of his recordings, I just don’t see that he would have wanted this concerto played so slowly to begin with. It just wasn’t in his nature, thus I believe that he bristled at Adey’s tempos in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eboth\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e the rehearsal and performance.) From this point on—thankfully—it is the pianist who leads the orchestra, forcing Adey to pick up his tempo or be left behind. One is immediately caught up in the excitement, which despite a sensitively shaped second movement continues on through to the end. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eWith the Second Concerto, we enter an entirely different world. Richard Hickox was one of the great, underrated conductors of his generation, a man who viewed music as dramatic expression and molded his performances that way. From the very first note, Hickox is on edge, and I mean that almost literally…he makes Chopin’s orchestration sound almost like Beethoven or Schumann, full of drama and bringing out all sorts of inner voices with tremendous clarity. The switch from Adey to Hickox is almost as dramatic as if one suddenly shifted from John Barbirolli to Igor Markevitch, but Cherkassky is entirely in his element. There’s a particularly delicious passage in the second movement when the piano’s descending chromatics clash on one note with the orchestra’s chord—exactly as written, but a detail that normally escapes one’s attention in most performances of the concerto. And Cherkassky’s last-movement cadenza is incendiary, as advertised. It’s a heck of a performance that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Cherkassky’s changes to the text of the score are certainly evident but, like Glenn Gould, they generally enliven and enhance the music. Of course, that would probably keep this disc from being your first choice for recordings of the two concertos, but as a second recording it is definitely recommended. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Lynn René Bayley \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013106159850,"sku":"5060244550858","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2067755.jpg?v=1786675436"},{"product_id":"alwyn-miss-julie-sakari-oramo-bbc-symphony-orchestra","title":"Alwyn: Miss Julie \/ Oramo, BBC Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘Why has this intense, brilliantly orchestrated, claustrophobically gripping masterpiece been so neglected since its 1977 premiere?’ asked Richard Morrison in The Times of the concert performance in the Barbican that preceded this recording.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMiss Julie\u003c\/em\u003e is Alwyn’s last large-scale work, written in 1973-76. Alwyn set his own libretto, based on Strindberg’s 1888 play of the same title. The naturalistic drama and lifelike characters of that play appealed to Alwyn from an early age – in fact, he previously attempted to compose an opera on \u003cem\u003eMiss Julie\u003c\/em\u003e in the 1950s. That attempt failed because of differences with his then-librettist, Christopher Hassall. Alwyn believed that in opera, the action should be self-explanatory, arias should serve a dramatic purpose (as opposed to sheer vocal display), characters should sing to each other and not to the audience, ensembles should be minimized and the text should be set to vocal lines that reflect natural speech patterns. These views were distilled over his extensive career as a film composer, which taught him that music could do more than establish characterization, suggest mood, and heighten atmosphere: in some cases it could also communicate the unspoken thoughts of an onscreen character even when these were at odds with what he or she was presenting visually.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra support an outstanding cast featuring Anna Patalong in the title role in this acclaimed revival of Alwyn’s neglected masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Alwyn’s orchestral writing is always characterful, his vocal lines are unfailingly singable. Though his richly coloured writing reveals a whole range of 20th-century influences – Strauss, Janácek, and Ravel especially – it’s the world of Puccini that’s most strongly evoked at the work’s dramatic flashpoints. Anna Patalong as Julie nailed her character’s dangerously unhinged brittleness from the start. Benedict Nelson as Jean, the valet with whom she is so desperate to run away, sings the role with tremendous verve.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e – The Guardian (UK)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46013110812906,"sku":"095115525326","price":21.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3826216-2575688.jpg?v=1786717574"},{"product_id":"holst-the-planets-britten-the-young-persons-guide-to-th","title":"Holst: The Planets - Britten: The Young Person's Guide to th","description":"Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (b.1931) is the last living survivor of a great Russian quartet of conductors consisting of Mravinsky, Kondrashin and Svetlanov. He was the highly distinguished principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 1981, an exciting period in the orchestra’s history faithfully captured here. These recordings of Holst’s Planets and Britten’s Variations \u0026amp; Fugue on a Theme of Purcell have never been issued before on CD.","brand":"ICA Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013135421674,"sku":"5060244550537","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1948665.jpg?v=1786704939"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/collections\/960px-BBC_Symphony_Orchestra_at_the_Royal_Albert_Hall.jpg?v=1777638424","url":"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/collections\/bbc-symphony-orchestra.oembed?page=5","provider":"ArkivMusic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}