ica classics

These performances, taken from 1960 radio broadcasts, were the last Mitropoulos gave. During the symphony’s huge first movement, he suffered a heart attack; and, though he went on conducting,... — Sunday Times, 8th May 2011, 2 out of 5 stars More…

Barbirolli's Haydn from 1969 is very much of its time, and not without some fine qualities. One can sense the affection in which the conductor held this work...The Symphonie fantastique finds... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2013, 3 out of 5 stars More…

The present disc has indisputable documentary significance. With Soviet bloc tanks newly arrived on the streets of Prague on August 21, 1968, the Shostakovich...risked being seen as 'oppressor's... — Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 More…

Jurowski’s characteristically no-nonsense and sometimes rather brisk approach informs this account by the Moscow-based State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia…Throughout, the playing is... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2018, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Rozhdestvensky shows a master’s touch – not a whiff of vulgarity – and the orchestra plays with finesse and brilliance. Janácek’s Taras Bulba, recorded at a 1981 Prom, is another sizzler. — Financial Times, 7th December 2013, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" is a powerfully emotional piece under any baton, but in this shattering interpretation Bashmet digs down to its darkest depths to reveal its true Slavic soul. And... — The Observer, 8th May 2011 More…

His Brahms Third Symphony is idiomatic in a traditional German way, while his Debussy La Mer has a thrilling boldness that does not preclude many subtleties. Best of all is Janet Baker singing... — Financial Times, 22nd February 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…