Gardner

Stuart Skelton, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Gardner - Britten: Peter Grimes, Op. 33 (2020) [Digital Download 24/96]

Stuart Skelton, Erin Wall, Roderick Williams, Susan Bickley, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Gardner - Britten: Peter Grimes, Op. 33 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Front Cover & Digital Booklet | Time - 138:17 minutes | 2,18 GB
Classical, Opera | Label: Chandos Records, Official Digital Download

‘The burly Aussie tenor is now even more identified with this ill-fated protagonist than Peter Pears, the first Grimes. And everywhere Skelton has sung the part, whether at English National Opera, the Proms, the Edinburgh festival or now on this international tour of a concert staging mounted by the Bergen Philharmonic, the conductor has been Edward Gardner. Theirs is one of the great musical partnerships, and they continue to find compelling new depths in this tragic masterpiece.’ – Richard Morrison – The Times.
Edward Gardner, Orchestre du Theatre National de l'Opera de Paris - Donizetti: L’Elisir d’amore (2008)

Edward Gardner, Orchestre du Théatre National de l'Opéra de Paris - Donizetti: L’Elisir d’amore (2008)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Italiano | LinearPCM, 2 ch | Dolby AC3, 6 ch | DTS, 5 ch | 7.52 Gb (DVD9) | 133 min
Classical | BelAir | Sub.: Francais, English, Deutsch, Espanol

Transposing the plot to the Italy of the 1950s, director Laurent Pelly (La Fille du Régiment in London and New York, with Natalie Dessay) offers us an absolute jewel, beautifully crafted and shot through with poetry. American Heidi Grant Murphy sings Adina, accompanied by tenor Paul Groves as Nemorino. “Doctor” Dulcamara is masterfully played by the up-front Ambrogio Maestri and Laurent Naouri‘s Belcore is delightfully repulsive. Appointed music director of the English National Opera in 2006, young British conductor Edward Gardner conducts the Paris Opera Orchestra.
Stuart Skelton, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Gardner - Britten: Peter Grimes, Op. 33 (2020)

Stuart Skelton, Erin Wall, Roderick Williams, Susan Bickley, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Gardner - Britten: Peter Grimes, Op. 33 (2020)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 539 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 326 Mb | Digital booklet | 02:18:17
Classical, Opera | Label: Chandos Records

‘The burly Aussie tenor is now even more identified with this ill-fated protagonist than Peter Pears, the first Grimes. And everywhere Skelton has sung the part, whether at English National Opera, the Proms, the Edinburgh festival or now on this international tour of a concert staging mounted by the Bergen Philharmonic, the conductor has been Edward Gardner. Theirs is one of the great musical partnerships, and they continue to find compelling new depths in this tragic masterpiece.’ – Richard Morrison – The Times. This studio recording was made following the acclaimed production at Grieghallen, in Bergen, in 2019 (repeated in Oslo and London and reviewed above). Luxuriant playing from the Bergen Philharmonic and a stellar cast under the assured direction of Edward Gardner make this a recording to treasure.
Hilary Gardner - The Great City (2014) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

Hilary Gardner - The Great City (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time - 39:49 minutes | 839 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover

Acclaimed singer Hilary Gardner grew up in Wasilla, Alaska infatuated with New York City. In 2010, Hilary was chosen by the Frank Sinatra estate to appear as the live, onstage singer in Tony-award winner Twyla Tharp’s "Come Fly Away". Backed by a 19-piece big band, Hilary sang solos and duets with Frank Sinatra in a performance hailed by critics as “wonderful” (Huffington Post), “elegant” (USA Today), and “terrific” (New York Observer). Her solo recording debut "The Great City" is part love letter, part lament to New York and the big dreams it represents. The album has garnered effusive praise from New York’s jazz community, including Will Friedwald (Wall St. Journal) and Terry Teachout (Arts Journal, Wall St. Journal).
James Ehnes, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Gardner - Nielsen: Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 4 (2023)

James Ehnes, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Edward Gardner - Nielsen: Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 4 (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 269 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 156 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:07:51
Classical | Label: Chandos Records

Nielsen’s epic Violin Concerto was premiered in Copenhagen in February 1912, by violinist Peder Moller. Nominally the work is set in two movements; both open with a slow section and move to a faster one. Whilst unusual, this could be seen as a more usual fast – slow – fast three movement form, but with an extensive slow introduction to the first movement. The music moves quickly from one idea to the next, and overall has a bold, playful and optimistic feel. In stark contrast, although written only a few years later, the fourth symphony is more cohesive and unified as a work. Written against the background of the first world war, the work is a celebration of life itself. Just before the premier in 1916, Nielsen described it as: ‘Music is Life, and, like it, inextinguishable.’ Composed in the usual four movement form, each movement continues from the last without a break. The final movement features two sets of timpani battling each other across the orchestra.
Edward Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra - Jean Sibelius: Luonnotar; Tapiola & Spring Song (2021)

Edward Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra - Jean Sibelius: Luonnotar; Tapiola & Spring Song (2021)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 289 Mb | Total time: 72:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHSA 5217 | Recorded: 2018, 2021

Following their acclaimed recordings of Schoenberg with Sara Jakubiak and Britten’s Peter Grimes with Stuart Skelton, Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic turn their attention to the music of Sibelius. Written in 1913 for the diva Aino Ackté, the tone poem Luonnotar draws on text from the Finnish national epic poem, the Kalevala. Its virtuosic demands are ably met here by award-wining soprano Lise Davidsen, who also feature in the Suite from Pelléas and Mélisande, music re-worked by Sibelius from his incidental music written for the first performances of Maeterlinck’s play in Helsinki, in 1905, in Swedish. The tone poem Tapiola, from 1926, is Sibelius’ last great masterpiece and evokes the forests of his native Finland.
Edward Gardner, Bergen PO - Janacek: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 (2014) [Official Digital Download 24-88] **[RE-UP]**

Edward Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra - Janáček: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88.2 kHz | Artwork: d.booklet, front cover | RAR | 1.07 Gb
Classical | Label: Chandos - CHSA 5142

Conductor Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic here commence their series devoted to Leos Janaceks orchestral works. This opening salvo features three works from Janaceks late, great period: The Sinfonietta, one of the composers most successful and popular works; the Capriccio, with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet taking on the left-hand solo part, and, restored to its original, striking orchestration by Sir Charles Mackerras, the suite of instrumental interludes from Janaceks 1923 opera The Cunning Little Vixen.
Edward Gardner, BBC Symphony Orchestra - Verklärte Nacht: Schoenberg, Fried, Lehár, Korngold (2021)

Edward Gardner, BBC Symphony Orchestra - Verklärte Nacht: Schoenberg, Fried, Lehár, Korngold (2021)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 275 Mb | Total time: 63:36 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos Records | # CHSA 5243 | Recorded: 2020

Hot on the heels of their acclaimed recording of Britten’s Peter Grimes, Stuart Skelton and Edward Gardner join forces with Christine Rice and the BBC Symphony Orchestra for this fascinating programme of early twentieth-century works. Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht needs no introduction, but far rarer is Oscar Fried’s contemporaneous setting of the same poem. Composed in 1901 for soloists and orchestra, Fried’s version is a true setting of (as opposed to Schoenberg’s reflection on) the text by Richard Dehmel. Lehár wrote Fieber in 1915 as the closing part of his song cycle Aus eiserner Zeit – he then made the orchestral setting a year later. Korngold’s Lieder des Abschieds (Songs of Farewell) date from the early 1920s, whilst he was still in Vienna, and shortly after he had completed the opera Die tote Stadt. Setting poetry by Christina Rossetti, Edith Ronsperger, and Ernst Lothar, the cycle is a poignant reflection on the Great War.
Louis Lortie, Helene Mercier, BBC Philharmonic, Edward Gardner - Francis Poulenc: Piano Concertos; Aubade (2015)

Francis Poulenc: Piano Concertos; Aubade (2015)
Louis Lortie, piano; Hélène Mercier, piano; BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Edward Gardner

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 265 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 175 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN10875 | Time: 01:12:43

After a successful cycle of Chopin works for solo piano, exclusive Chandos artist Louis Lortie plays here works by Poulenc with his duet partner Hélène Mercier. In Aubade and the two concertos they are joined by Edward Gardner and the BBC Philharmonic.
Edward Gardner, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Jennifer Pike - Mendelssohn in Birmingham, vol.4 (2016)

Edward Gardner, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Jennifer Pike - Mendelssohn in Birmingham, vol.4: Violin Concerto; Incidental Music to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (2016)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 282 Mb | Total time: 67:57 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | CHSA 5161 | Recorded: 2015

Felix Mendelssohn did visit the city of Birmingham several times, but the Chandos label's Mendelssohn in Birmingham series refers for the most part to these contemporary performances by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner. If you've been interested in trying out an item from the series, this one can be recommended strongly. The low-key, lyrical approach of conductor Gardner works beautifully in these two pieces. Especially effective is the Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, in the hands of violinist Jennifer Pike: she catches the novel role of the soloist in this concerto in a way that bigger performances do not.