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Krystian Zimerman joined forces with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra last December in Beethoven’s five piano concertos. Their spellbinding performances, streamed on DG Stage from LSO St Luke’s and recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon, harvested a bumper crop of critical superlatives.
This film captures Rattle's very first performance as Music Director; a programme in which British composers took centre-stage. The world-premiere of Helen Grime's Fanfares, which became the first movement of the work Woven Space, opened the concert before violinist Christian Tetzlaff took to the stage to perform the concerto written for him in 2010 by Harrison Birtwistle. Two more works close to Rattle's heart followed: Thomas Adès' Asyla and the pocket-sized Symphony No 3 by the late Oliver Knussen. Finally, Rattle's stunning interpretation of the Enigma Variations brought the concert to a close and then the audience to its feet, filling the Barbican Hall with rapturous applause.
Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO are joined by revered French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in a concert film that brings together music by Anton Bruckner and Olivier Messiaen: two composers as united in their devotion to the Catholic faith as they are divergent in their approaches to writing music.
Recorded in January 2016, this beautiful programme of French music was chosen by Music Director Designate Sir Simon Rattle and features world class soloists Leonidas Kavakos and Julia Bullock.
A one-hour documentary on the making of Frank Zappa's bizarre 1971 comic musical. Vintage private footage from Frank's personal archives plus behind-the-scenes of the actual shooting and recording. With Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and such songs as "Sleeping in a Jar," and "Strictly Genteel." The inside history of the first feature-length film to be shot on video in 6 days.
Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are immersed into Frank Zappa’s world while experiencing two distinct facets of his complex character. At once Zappa was both a charismatic composer who reveled in the joy of performing and, in the next moment, a fiercely intelligent and brutally honest interviewee whose convictions only got stronger as his career ascended.
The LSO’s Principal Guest Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas celebrated his 70th birthday in 2015 with a concert focusing on British and Russian music, but with a nod to his native USA. He’s joined by the sensational young Chinese pianist Yuja Wang in Gershwin’s popular Concerto. Michael Tilson Thomas gave the US premiere of Colin Matthews’ Hidden Variables, an LSO commission during Matthews’ time as an Associate Composer with the LSO.
Sir Simon Rattle is joined by virtuosic soprano Barbara Hannigan for a modernist programme that showcases the immense capabilities of the London Symphony Orchestra. At the heart of this concert is The Rite of Spring. Once decried, it is now a cornerstone of orchestral repertoire and considered by many to be the greatest work of the 20th century. Its elemental nature is best summed up by Stravinsky, who, in an unaccustomed moment of humilty, said that he didn’t feel he was the composer of the piece, but simply the vessel through which it passsed. Sir Simon Rattle says: ‘I’ve been conduting it since I was 19...it’s one of those pieces that reminds you what the shock of the new is about and it’s still one of the great challenges and one of the great thrills to perform.’
This box set brings together Valery Gergiev’s acclaimed cycle of the complete Rachmaninoff symphonies, which were recorded with the Orchestra across 2008 to 2015. These masterful accounts of the composer’s complete symphonies are accompanied by his 1940 composition Symphonic Dances, while two symphonic poems by Mily Balakirev echo the luxurious textures present throughout Rachmaninoff’s music. Release date: 20 April 2018 LSO0816 | 822231181620 3 SACD Hybrid + 1 Pure Audio Blu-ray | Digibox Booklet notes in English, French and German 2.0 stereo | multi-channel 5.1 Total playing time: 3h 35m Producer: James Mallinson Engineering: Classic Sound Ltd Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London September 2008 - February 2015
These recordings, made during Sir Colin Davis’ ‘Indian summer’ with the orchestra, are acknowledged to be amongst the finest recordings ever made of this repertoire, receiving numerous awards. The symphonies were originally released between 2011 and 2013 and will now be made available together for the first time as a beautifully packaged 3 SACD box set, including one Pure Audio Blu-ray disc. Despite giving titles to the majority of his symphonies, Danish composer Carl Nielsen was often vague about what influenced each work. Nevertheless he was a master symphonist and his music is mesmerising, combining propulsive energy with lyrical invention. LSO0789 | 822231178927 3SACD + 1 Blu-ray audio / digital Total playing time 3h 21m Producer: James Mallinson Engineering: Classic Sound Ltd DSD recording, live at the Barbican in October 2011 (Symphony No 1), December 2011 (Symphony Nos 2 & 3), May 2010 (Symphony No 4), October 2009 (Symphony No 5), May & June 2011 (Symphony No 6).
Promises: Through Congress is a collaboration between Julie Mehretu, electronic music composer Floating Points aka Sam Shepherd, and filmmaker Trevor Tweeten. This 46-minute film features Mehretu’s expansive painting Congress (2003) and Promises (Luaka Bop, 2021), the acclaimed album from Floating Points and jazz titan Pharoah Sanders featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. Filmed on location at The Broad in Los Angeles.
In 1570, widowed Princess Ana de Mendoza becomes the love object of a deadly rivalry between her cousin Don Inigo, King Philip II of Spain and his secretary of state Antonio Perez.
France, 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIII. When a dear friend, the Duke of Nevers, is treacherously assassinated by a powerful relative, a skilled swordsman, the noble Henri de Lagardère, seeks his rightful vengeance as he tries to protect the innocent life of the duke's last heir.
The world premiere of composer Kaija Saariaho's opera, "Innocence", at the 2021 Aix-en-Provence Festival. Finland is the setting but the protagonists come from the four corners of Europe: a Finnish groom and his Romanian bride, a French mother-in-law and a Czech maid. Around them memories unravel in a contemporary tragedy of guilt and lost innocence.
Dennis O'Shea joins a gang of smugglers in order to raise the money to pay for his brother, who is fleeing from the IRA, to move to the USA. But after he accidentally kills a constable during a smuggling trip, the policeman's dog begins to follow him.
When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.
John Wilson and the London Symphony Orchestra present the hit Broadway musical On the Town live from the Royal Albert Hall. With classic numbers such as New York, New York and l Can Cook Too and a star-studded line-up of singers including Nathaniel Hackmann and Louise Dearman, this concert performance launches a packed bank holiday weekend of Proms tributes to the late composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who would have been 100 years old on 25 August 2018. Katie Derham presents, with special guest Clarke Peters.
Three years have passed since Alec and Eddie began their work at City Defense Force Headquarters, leaving Pete and Carson in charge at New Haven. After receiving a series of cryptic messages from Pete, Alec and Eddie return to New Haven to find Pete and Carson missing and the town full of unrest. In their quest to defend the city, the crew finds themselves in an unexpected hunt for treasure that points them to the most important focus in life. Mystery, adventure, and humor abound in this sequel to The Defense of New Haven, filled with boats and crossbows, tunnels, and treasures, and engaging characters the whole family will enjoy.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ben Gernon, performs Gustav Holst’s masterpiece, The Planets, at the Barbican, 100 years after its composition. Professor Brian Cox introduces each movement against a backdrop of the very latest in planetary imagery.
Luke Skywalker leads a mission to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, the Emperor prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, and the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.