In addition to Sir Adrian Boult’s (1889–1983) masterly conducting of Beethoven’s and Schubert’s symphonies, these live stereo performances include several new additions to the conductor’s illustrious discography: Rossini’s La scala di seta and Beethoven’s Die Weihe des Hauses Overtures, as well as Weber’s Euryanthe Overture which he last recorded in 1937.

Leopold Stokowski’s eminence as one of the truly great conductors of the 20th century over a career spanning more than six decades is exemplified in this set, which features live performances in stereo of symphonies and other works he conducted in concert during his final years and which, in many cases, he had premiered on record as well. In one of the many outstanding reviews of these live concerts, the distinguished Times critic William Mann wrote of the 1963 ‘Proms’ premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No.2: “A performance which was superb by any standards, meticulously loyal, noble and deeply felt out of long and thoughtful experience.” The set has been newly remastered to reflect Stokowski’s instructions on how he wanted his recordings to sound.

REVIEW:

A complete concert that the conductor gave in 1970 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in 1970 makes for a particularly gratifying disc, because it contains a work that exists in no other Stokowski recording, Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. It is a wild reading, with mostly quick tempos, although there are extremes in both directions.

— Fanfare

Arvīds Jansons (1914-1984) was born in Liepāja on Latvia’s west coast. He studied violin from 1929 until 1935 at the Conservatory of Liepāja, then composition and conducting (under Leo Blech) at the Conservatory of Riga from 1940 until 1944, while working as a violinist at Riga Opera.

In 1944, he was appointed conductor of Riga Opera, then of the Latvian Radio Orchestra (1947–1952), and in 1952 he was appointed associate conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky. He toured frequently with them as well as with other Russian orchestras, to the UK and to the Continent, from 1970 onwards.
Jansons became principal guest conductor of Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra in 1965 at the personal invitation of Sir John Barbirolli, who knew of Jansons as an expert orchestral conductor but a genius in the rehearsal studio. It was in Manchester that Jansons collapsed and died from a heart attack in 1984 while conducting a concert with the Hallé. Arvīds was the father of Mariss Jansons (1943-2019).

The key point about this release is that Arvīds Jansons’s recordings are extremely rare and will be sought after by collectors. This 2-CD set is the first to release Arvīds Jansons’s recordings with the celebrated Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bryce Morrison, the celebrated critic and authority on piano music, described the pre-eminent Hungarian pianist as follows: ‘Annie Fischer was among the greatest and most richly comprehensive of all pianists’. The distinguished Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, notoriously critical, described her as ‘an artist imbued with a spirit of greatness and with genuine profundity’.

This recording is a rarity and belonged to Silvestri, only discovered after his death. The live performance from 1961 of Shostakovich Symphony No.8 is a new addition to Silvestri's discography, as is Kabalevsky’s Colas Breugnon Overture. The recording captures Silvestri’s electrifying performance of Shostakovich’s greatest symphony. During his early years in Moscow, Silvestri conducted Shostakovich and was praised by the composer. Silvestri’s only other Shostakovich recording was Symphony No.5 with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1960

This is the first recording of a new edition of the Mozart Requiem prepared by Michael Ostrzyga (Barenreiter). The performance features an international line-up of soloists from France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. The inclusion of Mozart’s Ave verum corpus and the Exsultate, jubilate represents excellent value.

ICA Classics, via its long-term contract with BBC Worldwide, are proud to release a fourth volume of the best-selling BBC Legends box, featuring 20 CDs of some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Volume one was released in 2013 and comprised 20 CDs taken from the critically acclaimed BBC Legends catalogue which has been unavailable since 2010. The second volume was released in 2017 and is now out of print, while the third volume came out in late 2022. A beautifully packaged clamshell box with individual wallets for each main artist featuring full details of tracks, dates and venues.

Sir 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.

Gennady 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.

Sanderling’s German tradition brings great insights to Bruckner’s 3rd Symphony, though he conducted the composer infrequently. It is a rare recording has never been issued before. (ICA Classics)

Ataúlfo Argenta was not associated with Beethoven, yet this live (excellently remastered) ICA recording of the 'Eroica' with the Orquestra Nacional shows him as an exciting interpreter. (ICA Classics)

The combination of Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic playing Mozart and Bruckner drew a “packed and raving audience” according to The Guardian. (ICA Classics)

Breathtaking pianism from Gilels: Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 2 is titanic and tender by turns, and his opening phrase of Beethoven Four is near-miraculous. - BBC Music (ICA Classics)

To mark the centenary of the celebrated French cellist Paul Tortelier (born 21st March 1914), the BBC drew from their archives a selection of films and documents that spanned his whole career and testified to the exceptional rapport he enjoyed with Britain. The program “Paul Tortelier at the BBC” is here reproduced, and offers a portrait of one of the truly great cellists. (ICA Classics)

Kurt Sanderling (1912–2011), born in Prussia, fled Germany for the USSR on the invitation of his Jewish relatives living there, to seek artistic and personal refuge from the Nazi regime. He remained in the Soviet Union until 1960, working as assistant conductor and sharing concerts with the legendary Yevgeny Mravinsky, chief conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1960, he moved to East Berlin to become music director of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (1960–1977) and the Dresden Staatskapelle (1964–1967) and started conducting around Europe, Japan, the US, and in the UK forming a close rapport with the New Philharmonia (later Philharmonia) in 1972. He developed a strong personal relationship with Shostakovich, which began in 1943 and which lasted for decades. Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10, written in 1953 following the death of Stalin, is regarded by many as his greatest work. The composer said of it, ‘I wrote it right after Stalin’s death and no one has yet guessed what the symphony is about. It’s about Stalin and the Stalin years. The second part of the Scherzo is a musical portrait of Stalin.’ The short filler is a performance of Balakirev’s Islamey, directed by Kirill Kondrashin (1914–1981), one of Russia’s greatest conductors and a close friend of Shostakovich who recorded the entire cycle of the composer’s symphonies with the Moscow Philharmonic.