Latest News: Classical, London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
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Recording of the Week,
Simon Rattle conducts Janáček's Sinfonietta and The Cunning Little Vixen 4th September 2020Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and a cast including Lucy Crowe and Gerald Finley in an exquisitely characterful performance of Janáček's opera.
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Recording of the Week,
John Eliot Gardiner concludes his cycle of Schumann symphonies with the LSO 28th February 2020With sparkling, joyous performances of the Spring and Rhenish symphonies, John Eliot Gardiner and the LSO bring their Schumann cycle to an exuberant conclusion.
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Recording of the Week,
Simon Rattle and the LSO dazzle in Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town 14th September 2018Bernstein's 1953 musical receives a sparkling performance from the London Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle, with a cast led by Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, and Nathan Gunn.
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Recording of the Week,
The LSO performs orchestral works by Thomas Adès 3rd March 2017James listens to a selection of fascinating and mould-breaking works by Thomas Adès, with the composer conducting the LSO.
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Recording of the Week,
John Eliot Gardiner conducts Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream 3rd February 2017James listens to John Eliot Gardiner's recording of Mendelssohn's delightful incidental music, with the LSO and Monteverdi Choir.
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Recording of the Week,
John Eliot Gardiner conducts Mendelssohn symphonies with the LSO 9th September 2016James listens to John Eliot Gardiner's latest volume of Mendelssohn with the LSO.
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Recording of the Week,
Valery Gergiev and the LSO perform Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette 8th July 2016James enjoys Berlioz's dramatic setting of Shakespeare's immortal love-story with Valery Gergiev and the LSO.
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Recording of the Week,
Simon Rattle conducts Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri 9th October 2015James listens to Simon Rattle's new recording of Schumann's rarely-heard Persian gem with Sally Matthews, Mark Padmore, Kate Royal and the LSO.
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Recording of the Week,
John Eliot Gardiner conducts Mendelssohn and Schumann 20th October 2014James listens to John Eliot Gardiner and the LSO's new disc of Mendelssohn and Schumann, with pianist Maria João Pires.
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Recording of the Week,
Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex from the LSO 7th April 2014James takes a trip to Ancient Greece with John Eliot Gardiner and the LSO’s muscular renditions of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Apollon musagète.
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Recording of the Week,
Valery Gergiev and the LSO begin a cycle of Szymanowski symphonies 3rd June 2013The richness of the London Symphony Orchestra’s string section is showcased to great effect in the tender, lyrical slow movements of both symphonies, whilst Gergiev responds to the music’s more volatile moments extremely well.
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Recording of the Week,
Weber's Der Freischütz from Sir Colin Davis and the LSO 6th May 2013Fresh, full-bodied and raucous when required, the conductor’s final opera recording is a fitting valedictory tribute to a great man, with Christine Brewer on sublime form as Agathe and Simon O’Neill a steely and secure Max.
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Recording of the Week,
Tchaikovsky’s Early Symphonies 17th September 2012Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra makes hugely persuasive cases for Tchaikovsky’s neglected first three symphonies, Winter Daydreams, the ‘Little Russian’ and the ‘Polish’, in live performances given in London and Zurich last spring.
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Recording of the Week,
Britten: War Requiem 7th May 2012Gianandrea Noseda leads an Italianate performance of Britten’s great depiction of ‘the pity of war’, with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists Sabina Cvilak, Ian Bostridge and Simon Keenlyside.
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Recording of the Week,
Bruckner and Mahler from Haitink and Pappano 14th November 2011Haitink conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, whilst Pappano and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia tackle Mahler’s Sixth in their first-ever recording of the composer’s music together.
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Recording of the Week,
Gergiev and the LSO conclude their Mahler cycle 5th September 2011The Russian conductor’s painstaking attention to tiny issues of orchestral balance and uncharacteristic willingness to allow the music breathing-space make for a tremendously moving Ninth Symphony.
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Recording of the Week,
Nielsen Symphonies from Colin Davis and the LSO 10th January 2011At the grand old age of 83, the British conductor ventures into new territory by embarking on a complete cycle of symphonies by the Danish, whose music he has only rarely conducted in the course of his long and illustrious career.
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Recording of the Week,
Verdi's Otello from the LSO and Colin Davis 1st November 2010Simon O’Neill is the jealousy-wracked general, Gerald Finley his nemesis, and Anne Schwanewilms his ill-fated wife in this edge-of-the-seat live recording, made at the Barbican last year and full of ‘savage and terrifying playing’ from the LSO.
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Recording of the Week,
Strauss: Alpine Symphony 22nd February 2010Bernard Haitink and the London Symphony Orchestra celebrate the awe-inspiring force of nature and Strauss’s ability to depict that in his writing.
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Recording of the Week,
Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet 18th January 2010A ‘superb reading of Prokofiev's supreme masterpiece’ from Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, two decades after the conductor’s landmark account of the piece with the Kirov Orchestra.