Released in time for the conductor’s 90th birthday, here’s a treasurable memento of Bernard Haitink’s close rapport with the LSO. They’ve already given us an impressive symphony cycle, and now the same qualities of classy musicianship and Haitink’s winningly ego-free approach make for very satisfying listening. In the Piano Concerto No. 2, Pires articulates the solo line with great clarity and considerable poetry (above all in the Adagio). In the Triple Concerto, Lars Vogt, alongside two LSO principals, offers a similar combination of sense and fantasy, the music sparkling when required. A dramatic performance of the seldom-heard Leonore Overture No. 2 completes a Beethovenian feast.
Composed in 1803, while Beethoven was also writing the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, Christ on the Mount of Olives (Christus am Ölberge) is the composer’s only oratorio and combines the emotive force of his later Missa Solemnis with the theatre of a Bach Passion. With orchestra, chorus and soloists, it tells the story of Jesus’ prayer and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and also reflects the emotional pressure Beethoven was under at the time.
The release of Bernard Haitink's new cycle of the Beethoven symphonies was one of the most talked about classical events of 2006. Over recent years many people had questioned whether another complete set of Beethoven's symphonies would ever be recorded. But Haitink's revelatory recordings have demonstrated why fresh new interpretations of Beethoven's music are so important and why the composer's music is still so relevant today.
Krystian Zimerman, Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra present Ludwig van Beethoven's 5 piano concertos. The exceptional Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman, together with Leonard Bernstein, presented an outstanding reference recording of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos 3, 4 and 5 more than 30 years ago (1989). At the time, both agreed on their commitment to music - in mind, heart and soul - which led to an extraordinary recording. Unfortunately, Bernstein died before the cycle was completed.
REPRINT (2nd EDITION) Comprising all previously unreleased recordings, this four-CD set presents classic, headline-generating performances by the London Symphony Orchestra with conductor Karl Böhm at the Salzburg Festival. Dating from 1973 to 1977, the recordings also feature pianist Emil Gilels (in the Schumann Piano Concerto) and violinist Henryk Szeryng (in a concerto once attributed to Mozart). A veritable symbol of Central European values, Böhm leads the LSO in Mozart's Symphonies No. 28 and No. 35 ("Haffner"), Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, Schumann's Symphony No. 4 and Brahms' Symphony No. 2. The four-disc set is sold for the price of three, with the Richard Strauss tone poem Death and Transfiguration coming on a bonus CD. The Austrian Radio (ORF) stereo tapes were digitally mastered by Ton Eichinger Studio in Vienna. Illustrated with photos from the LSO archive, the 96-page booklet features an introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winner Tim Page and an essay by notable British critic/author Richard Osborne, as well as artist bios from The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. REPRINTED COPIES INCLUDE: Attractive, informative and protective slipcase Improved book layout Additional photographs with expansive captions Same high-quality audio production
Join us in celebrating 25 years of our record label with 25 classical masterpieces from our catalogue.