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Elgar and the First World War
5th Nov 2012
Sir Andrew Davis presides over a touching account of the incidental music for The Starlight Express, whilst John Wilson champions wartime rarities including Polonia, Carillon, and Le drapeau belge*; Simon Callow narrates with gusto on both recordings.
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Tchaikovsky’s Early Symphonies
17th Sep 2012
Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra makes hugely persuasive cases for Tchaikovsky’s neglected first three symphonies, Winter Daydreams, the ‘Little Russian’ and the ‘Polish’, in live performances given in London and Zurich last spring.
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Mahler Symphony No. 1 from Iván Fischer
13th Aug 2012
The Hungarian conductor and his Budapest orchestra bring a wonderfully rustic, unrefined flavour to Mahler’s völkisch central movements, in an interpretation which benefits from Fischer’s ear for balance and attention to the smallest details of orchestration.
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Richard Strauss round-up
9th Jul 2012
Elektra from Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, Die Frau ohne Schatten from the 2011 Salzburg Festival, and the Four Last Songs from Anne Schwanewilms.
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Bruckner Symphonies from Rattle and Barenboim
28th May 2012
Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in the Seventh Symphony, whilst Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker tackle the Ninth.
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Britten: War Requiem
7th May 2012
Gianandrea Noseda leads an Italianate performance of Britten’s great depiction of ‘the pity of war’, with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists Sabina Cvilak, Ian Bostridge and Simon Keenlyside.
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Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique from Ticciati and the SCO
16th Apr 2012
Now several years into his tenure as principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the young British conductor presides over a ‘deliriously orgiastic’ account of Berlioz’s ‘episodes in the life of an artist’.
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Claude Debussy
2nd Apr 2012
James explores three collections marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, with highlights including Boulez’s Pélleas et Mélisande, Michael Tilson Thomas’s Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s Préludes.
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The Debussy Edition
Franklin Cohen (clarinet), Jean-Rodolphe Kars (piano), Vera Badings (harp), Krystian Zimerman (piano), Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano), Mitsuko Uchida (piano), Zoltan Kocsis (piano), Alfons & Aloys Kontarsky (pianos), Augustin Dumay (violin), Maria-Joao Pires (piano), Mischa Maisky (cello), Martha Argerich (piano), Wolfgang Schulz (flute), Véronique Dietschy (soprano), Philippe Cassard (piano), Emmanuel Strosser (piano), Maria Ewing, François Le Roux (Pelléas), Christa Ludwig (Genevieve), José van Dam (Golaud), Jean-Phillipe Courtis (Arkel), Patrizia Pac (Yniold), Rudolf Mazzola (Docteur), Suzanne Danco (soprano), Marie-Lise de Montmollin (mezzo), Nancy Wough (alto) The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Melos Quartet, Ensemble Wien-Berlin, Wiener Philharmoniker, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Monteverdi Choir, Union Chorale de La Tour-de-Peilz, Pierre Boulez, Alexander Gibson, Bernard Haitink, Eduard van Beinum, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado, John Eliot Gardiner, Ernst Ansermet
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Brahms choral discs from Gardiner and Herreweghe
5th Mar 2012
Gardiner follows his recording of the complete symphonies with an account of the Deutsches Requiem that scores highly on textual clarity, whilst Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent offer luminous performances of the Alto Rhapsody (with Ann Hallenberg as soloist) and Schicksalsied.
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Schoenberg and Berg
13th Feb 2012
Isabelle Faust pairs the Berg and Beethoven violin concertos to great effect with Orchestra Mozart and Claudio Abbado, whilst Pierre Boulez brings breathtaking clarity to Schoenberg’s densely-orchestrated Pelleas et Melisande with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.
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Beethoven Symphonies from Thielemann and Chailly
23rd Jan 2012
Thielemann offers a cycle in the grand Germanic tradition with the Wiener Philharmoniker, whilst Chailly’s interpretations with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig emphasise lightness and freshness without ever sounding too hard-driven or breathless. James puts the case for each approach.
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Maurizio Pollini plays Chopin
12th Dec 2011
In the run-up to the great Italian pianist’s 70th birthday, Testament release a very early recording of the Études Opp. 10 & 25 (recorded when Pollini was just 18), and Deutsche Grammophon issue his complete Chopin recordings from 1972 to 2008.
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Bruckner and Mahler from Haitink and Pappano
14th Nov 2011
Haitink conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, whilst Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia tackle Mahler’s Sixth in their first-ever recording of the composer’s music together.
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Gergiev and the LSO conclude their Mahler cycle
5th Sep 2011
The Russian conductor’s painstaking attention to tiny issues of orchestral balance and uncharacteristic willingness to allow the music breathing-space make for a tremendously moving Ninth Symphony.
