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Leopold Stokowski, New Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons; Handel: Messiah (2004)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Leopold Stokowski, New Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons; Handel: Messiah (2004)

Leopold Stokowski, New Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons; Handel: Messiah (Highlights) (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 565 Mb | Total time: 45:50+58:05 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Cala Records | # CACD0538 | Recorded: 1966

As the notes to this welcome release make clear Stokowski had never conducted The Four Seasons before the Phase Four series of LPs of which this is so engaging an example. He, soloist Hugh Bean and the New Philharmonia went to the BBC’s Maida Vale studios and taped it for later broadcast (in the end it wasn’t until 1968 that it hit the airwaves), recording it the following day. The late Hugh Bean has recalled that it was in the can in one session – Stokowski remaining the professional to his batonless fingertips.

London SO & Chorus; Mstislav Rostropovich, Soloists - Sergey Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible; Alexander Nevsky (1992) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
London SO & Chorus; Mstislav Rostropovich, Soloists - Sergey Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible; Alexander Nevsky (1992) 2CDs

Sergey Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible; Alexander Nevsky (1992) 2CDs
Christopher Plummer (narrator), Tamara Sinyavskaya, Sergei Leiferkus, Dolora Zajick
New London Children’s Choir, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; Mstislav Rostropovich

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 552 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 325 Mb | Scans included
Classical, Oratorio | Label: Sony Classical | # S2K 48387 | Time: 02:14:45

The famous Russian director Sergei Eisenstein held Prokofiev the film composer in the highest regard, and to couple their two celebrated collaborations, Ivan the Terrible and Alexander Nevsky, in a two-disc set is therefore entirely appropriate. Ivan the Terrible, however, is a problematic score. Assembled by Abram Stassevich after the composer’s death, the oratorio lacks the large-scale balances and tensions of Prokofiev’s own Nevsky cantata, relying on narration to hold the structure together. This substantial English version by Michael Lankester, intended to ‘compensate for the lack of visual image’, is well projected by Christopher Plummer. Rostropovich directs a vivid performance of Alexander Nevsky, and only the rich tone of Russian voices is lacking. The LSO plays brilliantly, while the recording does full justice to one of Prokofiev’s finest scores.

Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra - Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra - Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (2006)

Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra - Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 1.55 Gb | Total time: 6 hours 37 minutes | Scans included
Classical | Label: LSO Live | # LSO0598 | Recorded: 2005-2006

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.

Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra - Vaughan Williams: Hodie, Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1990)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra - Vaughan Williams: Hodie, Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1990)

Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra - Vaughan Williams: Hodie, Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1990)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 268 Mb | Total time: 69:21 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # CDC 7 54138 2 | Recorded: 1990

In 1990, Richard Hickox recorded Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Hodie: A Christmas Cantata for EMI, two holiday choral favorites that complement each other well, despite having been created more than four decades apart. The subdued, folk-inspired quality of much of Vaughan Williams' music remained more or less constant through the years in his choral writing, so even though he adopted a more sophisticated and sometimes astringent style in later years, including irregular rhythms and spiky dissonances that never would have passed in the music of his youth, there is a common thread in his choices of modes and harmonies that unites both cantatas.

Sir Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra, Elsa Dreisig - Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives (2020)

Posted By: delpotro
Sir Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra, Elsa Dreisig - Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives (2020)

Sir Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Pavol Breslik, Elsa Dreisig & David Soar - Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives (Christus am Ölberge) (2020)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 193 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 105 Mb | 00:45:21
Classical, Opera | Label: LSO Live

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.