Bernstein: The Concert Collection Boxset 9 Dvd Chichester Psalms Symphony No.1 | Symphony No. 2 Dvd 8 9

György Solti has come in for his share of hard knocks as a Mahler interpreter, and no one will pretend that he has the same sort of intuitive empathy for this music that Leonard Bernstein has. But he does have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra–no mean advantage–and many of these performances have come up sounding rather well. London also has been smart to include his first (and better) performance of the Fifth, and he generally does quite well by Symphonies Nos. 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 as well.

André Previn was always a great conductor of Russian repertoire and was especially known for his recordings of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev. His 1973 recording of the Rachmaninov “Second Symphony” was important in establishing that work in the central repertoire and increasing the reputation of the composer himself. These are his mid-1970’s recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra recorded just one and four years after the Rachmaninov. He re-recorded all three works between Philips and Telarc in the late 1980’s with the Los Angeles Philharmonic but this recording is still his best.

Even though Dmitry Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 in F minor was an academic exercise from his teens, and the Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, ("The First of May"), a reflection of the avant-garde experimentation of the early Soviet period, these youthful works reveal salient characteristics of his personality that repeatedly surfaced in the later symphonies and should be considered as fully a part of the cycle. Shostakovich's expressions range from sardonic and brooding moods in the First to the energetic and violent activity of the Third, and these qualities are accurately conveyed in Vasily Petrenko's performances with the Royal Liverpool Orchestra, with the ensemble's choir included in the triumphal finale of the Third. The recordings have a wide audio range, so the extreme dynamics of Shostakovich's music can be heard with minimal adjustment of the volume. That said, much of the music is extremely quiet and eerily thin in texture, so attentive listening is required. But the fortissimos are everything they should be, and Petrenko elicits full sonorities from the orchestra.

Writing in a style that was essentially Romantic, if modified by his study of Classical composers, the Swedish composer Stenhammar enjoyed a successful career also as a pianist and then, primarily, as a conductor. As a leading composer of his generation in Sweden, Stenhammar contributed to a variety of genres. Two symphonies and two piano concertos, in addition to a number of less substantial works, are still in today’s repertoire. The Interlude from his important cantata Sången is a frequent concert item.

Louis Théodore Gouvy (1819–98) was born on the border between two cultures, French and German. He grew up in a French-speaking family living in an Alsatian village in the Saare, which at the time of his birth was under Prussian control. Not until he was 32 was he able to attain French citizenship.

For the first time it is possible to present the orchestra music os Beethoven to the listening public of today in a form which he would recognise. For the Hanover Band is an orchestra of 29 specialist performers on late 18th-century instruments, a classical orchestra modelled in size and type on the Burgtheater orchestra in theVienna of 1800 which Beethoven engaged for the premiere of these two works.

Gordon Chin is one of Taiwans leading composers, and increasingly honoured by commissions and performances from major ensembles in North America, Asia and Europe. Featuring an array of exotic Chinese percussion instruments, Symphony No. 3 Taiwan is a dramatically powerful work cast in three movements which explore his native countrys turbulent history. Specific literary quotations from Shakespeare, Blaise Pascal and Samuel Johnson elucidate the expressive moods of the three-movement Cello Concerto No. 1.