LSO Live
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Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta
RecommendedLucy Crowe (Vixen), Gerald Finley (Forester), Sophia Burgos (Fox), Jan Martiník (Badger/Parson), Peter Hoare (Mosquito/Rooster/Schoolmaster), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Harašta)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
If this Vixen is good, the Sinfonietta is outstanding – arguably the best on disc, though you need to experience the work in a concert hall with the nine trumpets blazing. They’re supremely... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th September 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2020, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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Grammy Awards, 64th Awards (2022), Nominee - Best Opera Recording
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Janáček: Katya Kabanova
RecommendedAmanda Majeski (Katya), Katarina Dalayman (Kabanicha), Simon O'Neill (Boris), Andrew Staples (Tichon), Magdalena Kozená (Varvara), Ladislav Elgr (Kudrjas), Pavlo Hunka (Dikój)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Simon Rattle
Rattle and his recording engineers have produced a Katya that sound s magnificent both in its attention to musical detail and in those sudden orchestral climaxes that seem to sweep nature itself... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 23rd February 2024
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2024, Recording of the Month
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Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Sz. 48, Op. 11
RecommendedElena Zhidkova (Judith) & Sir Willard White (Bluebeard)
London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev
…Gergiev and his superlative orchestral forces and vocal soloists, supported by magnificent sound quality, present the enigmatic piece with great power, leaving us, as adequate performances... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 10th August 2009
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BBC Music Magazine, September 2009, Opera Choice
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Opera, December 2009, Recording of the Month
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Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex & Apollon Musagète
RecommendedJennifer Johnston (Jocasta), Stuart Skelton (Oedipus), Gidon Saks (Creon) & Fanny Ardant (narrator)
Gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Johnston's superb interpretation lifts the whole performance up a couple of notches...But John Eliot Gardiner's conducting somehow misses the work's elusive power. — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 7th April 2014
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Building a Library, May 2018, Recommended Recording
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Verdi: Falstaff
RecommendedMichele Pertusi (Falstaff), Carlos Alvarez (Ford), Bülent Bezdüz (Fenton), Ana Ibarra (Alice Ford), Maria Josè Moreno (Nannetta), Jane Henschel (Mistress Quickly), Marina Domashenko (Meg Page)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Colin Davis
By all accounts the performances at the Barbican were among the most enjoyable of their kind in London for a long time, and certainly the enjoyment comes across on disc. The 'how' of it isn't... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, April 2016, Also Recommended
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2004, Editor's Choice
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Grammy Awards, 48th Awards (2005), Best Opera Recording
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Verdi: Otello
RecommendedSimon O’Neill (Otello), Gerald Finley (Iago), Anne Schwanewilms (Desdemona), Allan Clayton (Cassio), Ben Johnson (Roderigo), Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Lodovico), Matthew Rose (Montano), Lukas Jakobski (Herald) & Eufemia Tufano (Emilia)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Colin Davis
everything contributes to accentuating extremes: Colin Davis gets the LSO, in shattering form, to play chords like cannon shots...The two male leads are superb: Simon O'Neill is the most complete... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st November 2010
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Gramophone Awards, 2011, Finalist - Opera
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2010, Editor's Choice
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Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
RecommendedChristian Gerhaher (Pelléas), Magdalena Kožená (Mélisande), Bernarda Fink (Geneviève), Franz-Josef Selig (Arkel), Gerald Finley (Golaud), Elias Mädler (Yniold), Joshua Bloom ((Shepherd/Doctor)
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
Kožená’s Melisande has a firm streak of red-blooded coquettish defiance that is effective, even if it belies the character’s customary blanched fragility. Christian Gerhaher’s Pélleas is similarly... — More…
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 13th October 2017
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2017, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2018, Finalist - Opera
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2018, Winner - Opera Recording (20th/21st century)
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2018, Nominated - Opera
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Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Bryan Hymel (tenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), Gábor Bretz (bass)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Guildhall School Singers, Tiffin Children's Chorus, Tiffin Girls' Choir, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Sir Simon Rattle
The work and its style – especially the virtuosity and panache required – have clearly remained in the orchestra’s collective memory…Overall it’s a tightly organised and carefully paced achievement... — More…
Awards:
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Record Review, 23rd March 2019, Record of the Week
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
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Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
Gregory Kunde (Cellini), Laura Claycomb (Teresa), Darren Jeffery (Balducci), Andrew Kennedy (Francesco), Isabelle Cals (Ascanio), John Relyea (Pope Clement VII), Peter Coleman-Wright (Fieramosca), Jacques Imbrailo (Pompeo)
London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
The combination of technology and the conductor's unimpaired élanmakes for glowing textures and shattering climaxes. — More…
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2008, Editor's Choice
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Berlioz: Les Troyens
RecommendedBen Heppner (Enée), Michelle DeYoung (Didon), Petra Lang (Cassandre), Sara Mingardo (Anna), Peter Mattei (Chorèbe), Stephen Milling (Narbal), Kenneth Tarver (Iopas), Toby Spence (Hylas), Alan Ewing (Priam), Guang Yang (Hécube), Isabelle Cals (Ascagne), Tigran Martirossian (Panthée), Bülent Bezdüz...
So what's so special about the performance? Try Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, outdoing his fellow countryman Jon Vickers on Sir Colin's first recording of Les Troyens. The other principals are... — More…
Awards:
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Building a Library, November 2012, First Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2002, Winner - Opera
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2001, Editor's Choice
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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