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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Sviatoslav RichterRoyal Festival Hall, 11 June 1967
Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997) is acknowledged today as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century along with his great Russian contemporaries, David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels and Mstislav Rostropovich. This rare broadcast recording makes its first appearance on CD. The June 1967 recital at the Royal Festival Hall very much reflects the pianist’s personal taste, containing the rarely played Haydn and Weber Sonatas together with the Schumann Novelettes with the more popular additions of Chopin and Debussy. He declared, ‘my principle is to play only works that I really love and not just those that are currently accepted’. Of all the Haydn Sonatas that Richter played, No.62 featured more frequently in his programmes as did the Weber Sonata No.3, which he regarded in a notebook entry in 1990 as a ‘highly original work and I like it a lot’. The two Schumann Novelettes were often played in the 1960s though Richter did not perform No.8 for the following two decades. With the Chopin and Debussy, Richter is on familiar territory, which he invests with his characteristic imagination and spontaneity. Superb Ambient Mastering recreates the atmosphere in the Royal Festival Hall perfectly. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Emil Gilels plays Tchaikovsky & Beethoven
Emil Gilels (1916–1985), along with Sviatoslav Richter, was one of the most celebrated pianists of the 20th century. These rare broadcast recordings make their first appearance on CD. The live recording of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 from the 1966 Edinburgh Festival together with the distinguished accompaniment of Sir John Barbirolli produce a performance of great poetry, imagination and power. Gilels had a wonderful, discriminating ear and throughout the concerto brings a chamber music quality to his playing when the score demands. Gilels recorded the work in the studio in 1957 and 1968 but there are very few live performances available where the pianist is ‘caught on the wing’ in good sound. The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 in the abridged version by Siloti from 1959 brings out Gilels’ incredible technique and virtuosity (The New York Times dubbed him ‘the little giant’) with Kirill Kondrashin transforming the LPO into an authentic Russian-sounding orchestra. Ambient Mastering adds an extra dimension to these distinguished performances recorded over 45 years ago. “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. Ropey sound quality, but worth it.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 **** “there is no doubting the poetry and the intensity that Gilels invests in the solo part. He was never a pianist to flaunt any degree of flamboyance, but the quality that comes through in this performance is the focus and the seriousness of his interpretation, his chamber-music-like relationship with the orchestra, the gleaming tone that he could elicit from the keyboard, and the range of emotion that he could describe” The Telegraph, 22nd September 2011 **** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Klaus Tennstedt conducts Mahler
Interview: Tennstedt discusses Mahler with Michael Oliver BBC STUDIOS 1987
Klaus Tennstedt (1926–1998) was one of the great Mahlerians of his time and, over a period of 10 years, he recorded a Mahler cycle in the studio with the LPO where he was music director from 1983 to his retirement due to ill health in 1987. This recording has never been issued before and is sourced from the BBC’s master tapes. This 1986 performance from London’s Royal Festival Hall differs from the studio recording made in the late 1970s. As Michael McManus states in his booklet notes, ‘Fine though the studio recording from 1979 was and is, this live performance has an intensity and integrity that few, if any, recordings of this work can match’ and ‘Tennstedt in concert was a very different creature from Tennstedt in the studio. Mahler in particular was a lifeand-death experience in the concert hall’. The sound captured by the BBC engineers is state of the art and easily captures Mahler’s huge dynamic range. As a bonus, there is a short interview from 1987 in which Tennstedt discusses Mahler interpretation with Michael Oliver. “This is not the spick and span, vibrato-lite Mahler somewhat in vogue today...yet something special is going on, especially when the stick is discarded for much of the long-breathed, old-world, unashamedly subjective Adagietto...[Meier] contributes more than the statutory stoical poise...Exuding integrity, his finale is again straightforward, by no means unduly slow. Fortunately the sound is good.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 “This is an overwhelming experience. Tennstedt’s studio recordings of Mahler are impressive, but his concerts with the LPO at the Festival Hall were something different — among the greatest performances I have ever heard. This Mahler 3, given on October 5, 1986, is on fire from the first note. The Tennstedt strengths (huge dynamic range, maximum vividness of instrumental colour) strike you like a blow.” Sunday Times, 11th September 2011 “They are almost unbearably intense, recorded live as the pressures of illness loomed over the conductor. The intensity is palpable on the CD of the Third Symphony...but it is visible on the DVD of the Fifth: Tennstedt's unique way was to let the music unfurl with total freedom (and some vagueness) and then galvanise its climax with frightening concentration.” The Observer, 18th September 2011 | | | (also available to download from $20.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Wilhelm Furtwängler conducts Beethoven
Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886–1954), along with Arturo Toscanini, were unquestionably the two dominant conductors of classical music in the 20th century. Furtwängler always regarded Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony as a near-religious work and the performances he gave were always special occasions. This release is important because it has never been released before outside Japan and came about because Furtwängler, having scheduled a number of performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 in January 1953, fell ill during the first concert, which was abandoned. The concerts were then re-scheduled for the end of May with an extra performance thrown in for those who were at the uncompleted one. This took place on May 30 but is often confused with the final concert which took place a day later, on May 31, and which has been released on a number of labels. The original sound of the May 30 concert is superior to that of the performance of May 31 and has been enhanced with Ambient Mastering. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Gennadi Rozhdestvensky conducts Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky & Prokofiev
Mussorgsky: | A Night on the Bare Mountain Sorochinsky Fair version. Royal Albert Hall, London, 27 July 1981. David Wilson-Johnson (bass-baritone) BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus & BBCSO | Prokofiev: | The Love for Three Oranges: Suite Op. 33a Far East Tour, Kurashiki City Auditorium, Kurashiki, Japan, 31 May 1981 BBCSO | Tchaikovsky: | Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 Leeds Music Festival, Leeds Town Hall, Leeds, 1 June 1979 BBCSO |
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. The Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev recordings have never been issued before on CD, while the Mussorgsky was released on the now defunct BBC Radio Classics series over 15 years ago. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 from the 1979 Leeds Music Festival is one of the conductor’s most inspired performances, rivalling Mravinsky in his celebrated accounts. Rozhdestvensky treats it as a broad tragedy of the highest order without sentimentalising it. Rozhdestvensky’s championship of Mussorgsky produces a rarity – the version of A Night on a Bare Mountain used in the composer’s Sorochinsky Fair, which includes a chorus and a bass-baritone (David Wilson-Jones). This version, from the 1981 BBC Proms, is sung in English. Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges Suite was given on a Far East tour in Kurashiki, Japan in 1981 and benefits from Rozhdestvensky’s long experience with ballet and, in this performance, his fiery impetus. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Evgeny Svetlanov conducts Shostakovich & Tchaikovsky
Rimsky Korsakov: | The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia: Massacre at Kerzhentz Royal Albert Hall, London, 30 August 1968 The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia: Hymn to Nature Royal Albert Hall, London, 30 August 1968 | Shostakovich: | Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93 Royal Albert Hall, London, 21 August 1968 | Tchaikovsky: | The Snow Maiden, Op. 12: melodrama Royal Albert Hall, London, 22 August 1968 |
Evgeny Svetlanov (1928–2002) was, together with Mravinsky and Kondrashin, one of the greatest Russian conductors of the 20th century. He was principal conductor of the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (Russian State Symphony Orchestra) from 1965 to 2000 and became a familiar figure in London (notably with the LSO in the 1970s), France and Japan. These performances have never been issued before on CD. The performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10 was given on the very night that Soviet tanks invaded Czechoslovakia in a concentrated effort to halt ‘The Prague Spring’, the liberal political reforms initiated by Alexander Dubcˇek. The atmosphere in the Royal Albert Hall, as can be heard from the shouts of protest, was electric and very tense. It is likely that the USSR State Symphony Orchestra had not heard the news, but after the first few bars, the disruption was finally drowned out by other members of the audience and from various accounts, Svetlanov, as can be heard here, then went on to give the performance of his life. Svetlanov’s widow, on hearing the test pressings of this CD, said that the performance brought tears to her eyes and the emotion of that evening came across very strongly. Two short bonus titles have been added – Tchaikovsky’s Melodrama from The Snow Maiden and two excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Invisible City of Kitezh (here recorded in stereo) –, reflecting the historic three concerts Svetlanov and his orchestra gave in London at the August 1968 BBC Proms. “The present disc has indisputable documentary significance. With Soviet bloc tanks newly arrived on the streets of Prague on August 21, 1968, the Shostakovich...risked being seen as 'oppressor's music'. The atmosphere in the Royal Albert Hall was palpably tense...He delivers a compelling interpretation of the Tenth...It is fascinating to revisit the brutal power and timbral specificity of Svetlanov's archetypally Soviet band.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sir Adrian Boult conducts Vaughan WilliamsRoyal Festival Hall, London, 12th October 1972
Renowned for his interpretations of English works, Sir Adrian Boult (1889–1983) was a master of the baton and one of Britain’s leading conductors. He had a great love for and understanding of the music of Vaughan Williams, who was said to be ‘totally in favour of Sir Adrian’s approach to his music’ (John Culshaw). Vaughan Williams was a close friend of Boult, to whom he dedicated ‘Job: A Masque for Dancing’, a work that has been hailed as one of the English composer’s greatest achievements. Boult made four commercial recordings of Job, the first in 1946 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, followed by two with the LPO in 1954 and 1958, and the last in 1970 with the LSO. As a champion of English Music, and of Vaughan Williams in particular, Boult was the natural choice to conduct this centenary concert to mark Vaughan Williams’ birth, which he did in his capacity as president of the LPO fifteen years after he had stepped down as its Music Director, in a period described as his ‘Indian Summer’. A conductor who made many recordings, Boult’s version of Vaughan Williams Symphony No.8 for EMI is hailed as ‘vivid and fresh’ in the Penguin Guide, whilst his interpretations of other RVW symphonies are described as ‘warm and mature’, ‘full-bodied and well focussed’. This is the first DVD release of this material. 1DVD Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 73’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “Classic performances - a treasurable recording of a moving occasion” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 ***** “In one sense, he is the least interesting of conductors to watch, the very antithesis of Bernstein's terpsichorean style and perhaps only rivalled in economy of gesture and facial expression by Richard Strauss; on the other hand, one constantly wonders how he achieves the miraculous effects he does by such minimal means.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | André Previn conducts Rachmaninov & Prokofiev
André Previn (b.1929) is often hailed as one of the world’s most versatile musicians. The recipient of ten Grammy awards for his recordings, he has conducted many of the world’s top orchestras, both in concert performances and in the studio. All three of the performances on this DVD took place during Previn’s tenure as Principal Conductor of the LSO – the Prokofiev was filmed as part of the popular BBC television series ‘André Previn’s Music Night’. This footage of Rachmaninov’s ‘The Bells’ documents the first Proms performance of this work in 1973, featuring three stellar British singers, Sheila Armstrong, Robert Tear and John Shirley-Quirk and a precise and energetic London Symphony Chorus. The Penguin Guide describes Previn’s performance of ‘The Bells’ on EMI, recorded just two years after the performance on this DVD, as ‘powerful’ due to his ‘concentration on purely musical values [which] adds much as on the evocation of atmosphere’. Previn used the same three soloists. This is the first DVD release of this material. 1DVD Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 62’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “Previn produces a blazing account of Rachmaninov's The Bells for its 1973 Proms premiere. A sparkling Lieutenant Kije and effervescent Candide Overture too.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 **** “a evocative piece of nostalgia...[The solo] singing is of a searing emotional intensity. The chorus sing with a passion. The LSO are on top form. Brian Large's visual direction is commendably unfussy, homing in on instruments as and when but chiefly leaving the performance to speak for itself - which it does with the utmost eloquence coupled with visceral excitement.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Boston Symphony Orchestra & Charles Munch play Mendelssohn
Access to the publicly broadcast BSO concerts from this era has been extremely difficult even for researchers. This series of DVDs will make these performances available for the first time since they were broadcast. Munch launched the BSO into television in 1955. He was an immensely popular conductor and well suited to being filmed. This material represents some of the earliest televised concerts with the Boston Symphony and Charles Munch, and has been restored using the greatest care and state-of-the-art techniques. It is of exceptional musical interest and rare historic value. Munch recorded Mendelssohn’s Symphonies Nos 3, 4 and 5 with the BSO on RCA. Characteristically lively renditions, Munch’s interpretations of both symphonies are energetic and precise with excellent articulation from the BSO. With Mozart’s Masonic Funeral Music as a bonus track – a new addition to his discography – this DVD is another fine example of a first class orchestra under one of its most charismatic Music Directors. Two Munch/BSO DVDs from ICA Classics’ first set of releases have been awarded the Diapason d’Or in France’s Diapason magazine. 1DVD Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 70’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | John Cranko
John Cranko (1927–1973), choreographer at Sadlers Wells ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet, collaborated with Charles Mackerras to create Pineapple Poll, a light hearted comedy. This was closely followed by a further joint effort, which resulted in another comic ballet, The Lady and the Fool. David Blair, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in the 50s and 60s, plays Captain Belaye in Pineapple Poll – a role he also danced at the ballet’s premiere in 1951. The Lady and the Fool was reworked for Covent Garden in 1955, four years before this studio production, with Beriosova playing La Cappricciosa in the year she became Prima Ballerina at Sadlers Wells. Both these ballets are examples of rare studio performances from the BBC’s earliest television archives and are released here for the first time on DVD. 1DVD Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 89’ Subtitles: F/G Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Klaus Tennstedt conducts MahlerRoyal Festival Hall, London, 13 December 1988
Klaus Tennstedt (1926–1998), a renowned Mahlerian, conducted this live performance at the Royal Festival Hall a year after stepping down as the LPO’s Principal Conductor. Issued here for the first time on DVD, this same live performance was hailed as ‘legendary’ by Michael McManus in the Gramophone and has been released on CD by EMI. Tennstedt’s 1978 studio recording of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is described in one edition of the Penguin Guide as ‘an outstanding performance, thoughtful on the one hand, warm and expressive on the other.’ This 1988 live performance is described in a later edition of the same guide as ‘more daring and more idiosyncratic than Tennstedt’s earlier studio recording, but the tension is far keener. The experience hits one at full force’. ‘The emotional tension of the occasion is vividly captured.’ This performance was the last time Tennstedt returned to Mahler 5 with the LPO and the highly personal and passionate interpretation justifies his reputation for outstanding live performances. According to Michael McManus, ‘The phenomenon that was Tennstedt in concert will never, can never, be recreated.’ 1DVD Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 76’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “The performance epitomises the combination of immensely detailed precision and overwhelming expressive intensity that Tennstedt's many admirers found so special about his Mahler...it includes long takes of Tennstedt himself, revealing his refusal to play to the gallery. Moreover, the DVD is touching: the uncharismatic figure who strides to the podium with such determination is plainly an unwell man, but his weariness never shows for long.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 **** “This Fifth, from the RFH in December 1988, is an entertaining watch. It’s raw, physical, raucous and, most crucially, dangerous...there’s magic in watching this frail figure conjure up sounds of such ferocity. And the physicality of Tennstedt’s approach, glasses perennially on the point of sliding off his perspirant nose, is joyfully reflected in the London Philharmonic’s playing” The Arts Desk, 14th December 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Kurt Sanderling conducts Mahler & SchumannRoyal Albert Hall, London, 29 July 1988
Some of the greatest conductors have worked with the BBC Philharmonic – Sanderling (b.1912), conducting here in 1987, knew the orchestra well having first conducted them some 13 years previously when they were known as the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. Sanderling has had an illustrious career with orchestras such as the Leningrad Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle and the Philharmonia, retiring only 9 years ago. The BBC Legends recording of his Mahler 9 with the BBC Philharmonic from 1982 received excellent reviews. John Mitchinson, often chosen for the tenor role in Das Lied von der Erde, performed the work many times with the BBC Philharmonic to great acclaim, with two BBC Legends recordings featured in the Penguin Guide – ‘his voice focuses ever more securely through the work with many cleanly ringing top notes’ … ‘John Mitchinson is here at his finest, contrasting his firm, heroic tone in the first song against delicate half-tones, using his head-voice.’ Known for enjoying live performances and having an affinity for late Mahler, Sanderling’s reading of Das Lied von der Erde is inherently musical. This is the first DVD release of this material. 1DVD Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 99’ Subtitles: F/G Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “Sanderling's Schumann's Fourth Symphony is robust, his Mahler Lied von der Erde (Mitchinson and Watkinson in marvellous voice) strangely Olympian.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 **** “Sanderling makes it all seem relatively effortless, elevating Mahler to the proverbial Olympian heights with no visible means of support...[he] is blessed with singers highly compatible with his interpretation. The versatile tenor John Mitchinson soars comfortably even in the peice's highest registers, and mezzo-soprano Carolyn Watkinson - best known for singing Baroque repertory - brings to Mahler a comparable sense of musical and emotional transparency.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Boston Symphony Orchestra & Erich Leinsdorf play Schubert & Schumann
This series of DVDs will make the publicly broadcast BSO concerts from this era available for the first time since they were broadcast. This material represents some of the earliest televised concerts with the Boston Symphony and Erich Leinsdorf, and has been restored using the greatest care and state-of-the-art techniques. It is of exceptional musical interest and rare historic value. The BSO’s Music Director for seven seasons, Leinsdorf had a long and distinguished career, having worked with Toscanini and Walter, conducting at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Cleveland Orchestra and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in addition to his tenure at the BSO. A particular favourite of Leinsdorf’s, the Schumann is both powerful and precise under Leinsdorf’s direction, whilst the Wagner is a warm and sensitive rendition from a great Wagnerian conductor. Two of ICA’s BSO DVDs featuring Charles Munch as conductor have been awarded the Diapason d’Or in France’s Diapason magazine. Sound format: Ambient Mastering Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 97’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Borodin Quartet play Schubert & BrahmsCité de la Musique, Paris, 16 January 2010
Described as ‘the quartet world’s most senior ensemble’, the Borodin Quartet is one of the great quartets of our time. The quartet celebrated its 65th anniversary with a sold-out concert at the Wigmore Hall, in London, a week before this live recording from the Cité de la Musique. Following the performance the Financial Times wrote that ‘today’s Borodin Quartet has lost nothing of its old authority’. The Telegraph named this anniversary concert at the Wigmore Hall as their best chamber moment of 2010, stating that the quartet ‘proved that decades of experience really count’. The Sunday Telegraph wrote ‘the Borodin Quartet plays with uncommonly rich, even tone and consoling warmth. For sheer musical presence, it has few equals.’ The quartet has stayed true to its roots, retaining its unique sound and style of playing over the years. The quartet’s recording of the Brahms quartets on Warners is described in the Penguin Guide as ‘Marvellously sophisticated playing.’ This is the first DVD release of this material. 1DVD Sound format: LPCM stereo Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 95’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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