Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
Holst: The Planets
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Britten: Variations & Fugue on a Theme of Purcell Op.34
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky never recorded Holst’s Planets. This Royal Festival Hall performance from 1980 is a freshly conceived interpretation which is both exciting and superbly played. The stereo recording has a spectacular dynamic range. The performance of Britten’s Variations & Fugue on a Theme of Purcell was given on a Far East tour in Osaka, Japan one year later. Osaka’s Royal Festival Hall has a wonderful natural acoustic which invests each instrument with great clarity and warmth.
Catalogue Number: ICAC 5053
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February new releases now available
30 Jan 2012
The latest set of CD and DVD releases are now available from ICA Classics, comprising 3 CDs and 3 DVDs. These new releases are all being made available on CD and DVD for the first time and feature...
GUSTAV HOLST 1874–1934
The Planets op.32
1 I Mars, the Bringer of War: Allegro 7.46
2 II Venus, the Bringer of Peace: Adagio 8.34
3 III Mercury, the Winged Messenger: Vivace 3.50
4 IV Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity: Allegro giocoso – Andante maestoso 8.16
5 V Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age: Adagio 9.05
6 VI Uranus, the Magician: Allegro 5.54
7 VII Neptune, the Mystic: Andante* 7.59
BENJAMIN BRITTEN 1913–1976
8 Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell op.34 16.32
(The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra)
*Ladies of the BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
GENNADI ROZHDESTVENSKY
Holst: The Planets - Mars
Duration: 7:46
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
These Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev recordings in stereo have never been issued before on CD while the Mussorgsky was released on the defunct BBC Radio Classics series over 15 years ago. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.4 from the 1979 Leeds Music Festival is one of the conductor's most inspired performances treating the work as a broad tragedy of the highest order without sentimentalising it. The Mussorgsky is a rarity, taken from the 1981 Proms in stereo - the version of A Night on a Bare Mountain used in the composer's Sorochintsy Fair which includes a chorus and a bass-baritone (David Wilson- Johnson). Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges Suite was given on a Far East tour in Kurashiki, Japan in 1981 and benefits from Rozhedestvensky's acclaimed experience in ballet with a performance of wit and excitement.
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky at the BBC Proms
Performed during his tenure as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony, the Proms performances featured on this DVD represent Gennadi Rozhdestvensky at the highest point of his relationship with the orchestra. One of the premier conductors of Russian repertoire, Rozhdestvensky is well known for his interpretations of ballet music - this performance of the second act of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker perfectly demonstrates his affinity with the genre.
The ICA Classics Legacy series presents a collection of historic performances by some of the world’s greatest artists. These performances are released on DVD for the first time, incorporating rare archive footage that has been expertly and lovingly restored.
