London Philharmonic Orchestra - CD

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London on 4 December 2010.

Mahler’s First Symphony: the opening chapter of his spiritual autobiography. And the music itself seems to awaken – emerging from hushed strings and woodwind cuckoos into its stride, marching forth, stamping towards an eerie realisation of a nursery rhyme and arriving at a final, blazing affirmation of confidence.

Vladimir Jurowski conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in this live 2010 concert performance including the Symphony’s original second movement, ‘Blumine’.

Sir Adrian Boult conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Dream Children 1&2, The Wand of Youth Suite No. 1 and the Nursery Suite. ‘Sir Adrian Boult – the incomparable Elgarian’.

The performance of the Impromptus, D.899, heard here, confirms Curzon’s place as one of the great Schubert players of his generation. Indeed, the audience was so impressed that they couldn’t help applauding between each Impromptu. Not only does Curzon manage to play with a range of emotion, from limpid tenderness to controlled aggression, but his attention to the sound he produces from the piano never fails to impress. This was one of Curzon’s most salient attributes; for him the sound he made at the keyboard was paramount and it is his combination of cerebral interpretation, no doubt acquired in part from two years study with Artur Schnabel, coupled with his acute attention to sound, that made Curzon such a unique pianist.

Listening to the first Impromptu one can hear that it is not just the beauty of sound that Curzon is concerned with, but the balance between the hands, parts and voices, and the way the harmony of the left hand supports Schubert’s glorious melodies. Indeed, it is good to have Curzon in a live performance of this work as, although he recorded a short studio recital of works by Liszt and Schubert for the BBC in December 1961, he omitted the first and most substantial Impromptu playing only the last three.

One of the highlights of the 1961 Edinburgh Festival was Curzon’s performance of Mozart’s last Piano Concerto, K.595 in B flat. He later travelled to London to perform the work again at the Proms and it is this performance that is heard on this CD.

Curzon is supported by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Sir Adrian Boult, who had not appeared at the Proms since 1958. The orchestral playing is at once smooth and elegant with string and wind playing beautifully shaped and phrased by the conductor, matching Curzon’s style to perfection.

Composed during the Second World War, Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony is a powerful work that juxtaposes music of unremitting bleakness and moments of shattering brutality, ending in a tentative expression of optimism. Today it stands not only as a chilling reminder of some of the darkest days of the 20th century, but also as a reminder of Shostakovich’s acute musical imagination and craftsmanship. Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in this live 1983 concert recording from Royal Festival Hall.

Rozhdestvensky established his credentials as a Shostakovich conductor from 1955 when he deputised for Samuil Samosud in an early performance of Symphony No. 10.

This is a performance which is clearly informed from the conductor’s experience of living under Stalinist represssions.

Rozhdestvensky was in Shostakovich’s circle and is a respected authority on the composer. He gave the first performance of Symphony No. 10 outside the USSR at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival.

Renowned worldwide in his lifetime and remembered today as a double bass virtuoso, Giovanni Bottesini excelled in every branch of musicianship, but his operas and sacred works were overshadowed by those of Verdi and have fallen into neglect. Composed in response to the death of his brother Luigi, Bottesini’s large scale Requiem combines ecclesiastical counterpoint with formal innovation and the expressive lyricism and dramatic orchestration of operatic models.

With double bass virtuoso Thomas Martin stepping into conductor’s shoes in Bottesini’s unjustly neglected Requiem, this is one of our major releases of the season, which will be sure to generate wide interest. With an extremely strong set of soloists, The Joyful Company of Singers’ “conviction and a real depth of feeling” (Gramophone on 8557783, Williamson Choral Music), and the renowned London Philharmonic Orchestra, this is a large-scale work to stand alongside Verdi’s famous Requiem, but by contrast having the CD market entirely to itself.

The new album 'The Greatest Video Game Music 2', again recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, features some new, exciting arrangements made by Andrew Skeet of some of the most beloved video game music tunes.

The aim is to cater to an ever increasing fan base, and bring the classical audience and the gaming community closer together. In the spirit of this, 3 of the tracks have been chosen by fans in a poll made by Gamer Magazines IGN and Kotaku. The polls got over 80 000 votes, and fans are excited to hear the new arrangements.

The first album; The Greatest Video Game Music, released in late 2011 featured classical renditions of the most famous and loved video game music, performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra. The album has been a great success selling almost 100.000 units worldwide. This makes it the bestselling video game music album of all time.

Conductor Klaus Tennstedt enjoyed a close and enduring relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra that resulted in his appointment as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Music Director in 1983, later becoming its Conductor Laureate. Renowned for his interpretations of the German Romantic repertoire, Tennstedt once said he loved the LPO so much because ‘it is a romantic orchestra’.

Here he conducts the Orchestra in live concert performances of Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3. This Symphony No. 1 performance in 1992 was one of the conductor’s last concerts with the LPO. As the conductor struggled with illness, every one of his late concerts in London became an event, as if any could be his last, and the acute atmosphere of his last London appearances shines through in this performance.

British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage is widely admired for his distinctive blending of jazz and contemporary classical traditions, high energy and elegiac lyricism. His music is colourful, rhythmic and always distinctive, with an innate dramatic sense.

Powerful in its contrasts, his music and texts hold up a mirror to the realities of modern life and make a broad appeal to an enquiring contemporary audience.

Turnage was the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence from 2005–10, during which time the Orchestra released two highly acclaimed CDs of his orchestral music. This is the third and final volume of Turnage’s music to be released on the LPO Label. It features five works recorded for the first time, including the world première peformance of his violin concerto Mambo, Blues and Tarantella with soloist Christian Tetzlaff. The CD also features performances by soloists Lawrence Power (viola) and Michael Collins (clarinet).

Recorded at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall: On Opened Ground 19 October 2011, Texan Tenebrae 17 April 2010, Riffs and Refrains 13 Feb 2008, Mambo, Blues and Tarantella 24 September 2008. Lullaby for Hans recorded at Snape Maltings, 1 April 2007.