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Legend of Butterfly Lovers
MP3 Album:Susanne Hou’s father Bo Zhi (Alexander) Hou was the top violinist at the Shanghai Conservatory at the time this concerto was written, going on to lead major orchestras in China before and during the Cultural Revolution. Mr Hou was asked to make the world premiere recording of The Butterfly Lover’s Concerto but, due to sensitive political and societal circumstances, he ultimately left the country without having had the opportunity to make the recording. He therefore now passes the torch of his legacy in China, and his unfulfilled destiny of recording The Butterfly Lovers Concerto, to his daughter Susanne Hou.Buy | Stream | Download -
Otto Klemperer (Richard Itter Collection Vol.1)
MP3 Album:Despite there being a large number of Otto Klemperer recordings on the market, these Richard Itter tapes of live broadcasts from the Royal Festival Hall and the BBCs Studios in Maida Vale between 1955 and 1956 have never, as far as is known, been released before. Klemperer was always more exciting when caught live and had added urgency as compared to his studio accounts, particuarly at this time before his health deteriorated in later years. His Philharmonia concerts were hugely successful in the mid 1950s when Walter Legge was looking to replace Herbert von Karajan, who was in the process of leaving for the Berlin Philharmonic. As Richard Osborne states in his notes, The winter of 1955-56 marked a new dawn for Klemperer.Buy | Stream | Download -
Vladimir Jurowski: Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty
MP3 Album:Jurowski's interpretation is based on his view that Acts 1 & 2 inhabit a Romantic sound world and then between Act 2 & 3, the sound changes completely becoming drier with much sharper outlines. He has said that if it were not for Tchaikovsky's untimely death, he would have developed a similar style of composition to Stravinsky between 1917 and 1928, around the time of Pulcinella. The Sleeping Beauty recorded here is performed complete. This release includes notes by David Nice and an interview with Jurowski about his interpretation.Buy | Stream | Download -
Guido Cantelli (Richard Itter Collection)
MP3 Album:Guido Cantellis live recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra are exceptionally rare because the BBC seldom broadcast any of his concerts. ICA Classics released Cantellis live concert from the Edinburgh Festival in September 1954 on ICAC 5081 but there has been nothing else. Toscanini was Cantellis mentor and there is no doubt that he would have continued in the great conductors footsteps had he not been tragically killed in an air accident in Paris on the 24th November 1956. He was 36 years old. The Royal Albert Hall recording made by Richard Itter in May 1953 is very well recorded for the period and preserves the palpable excitement of the whole concert.Buy | Stream | Download -
Herbert von Karajan (Richard Itter Collection)
MP3 Album:This release has been sourced from the Richard Itter archive. The collection is very important for collectors because it has never been released before onto the market. Herbert von Karajan’s association with the Philharmonia Orchestra started in 1948 and continued to 1960. Despite this long relationship, there are practically no live recordings from London’s Royal Festival Hall of Karajan and the Philharmonia caught on the wing.Buy | Stream | Download -
BBC Legends Vol. 2
MP3 Album:ICA Classics are proud to release a second volume of the best selling BBC Legends box, featuring 20 CDs of some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. Volume 1 was released in 2013 and comprised 20 CDs taken from the award winning BBC Legends catalogue (unavailable since 2010). Here is the follow-up with a further 20 CDs. The artists include Arturo Toscanini, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Kirsten Flagstad, Victoria de los Angeles, Sir Thomas Beecham, Carlo Maria Giulini, Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Monteux, Yehudi Menuhin, Andres Segovia, Dame Myra Hess, Nathan Milstein, Walter Gieseking, Arthur Rubinstein, Geza Anda, Claudio Arrau, Eduard van Beinum, Sir William Walton, Pierre Fournier, Benjamin Britten and the Borodin Quartet. Contains interviews/memories of Kirsten Flagstad and Carlo Maria Giulini.Buy | Stream | Download -
The Dream of Gerontius
Filmed in colour from Canterbury Cathedral in 1968, this DVD represents the only existing film of Sir Adrian Boult conducting The Dream of Gerontius. Sir Adrian Boult championed Elgar’s music throughout his life, following the composer’s prophetic words in a letter to the conductor: ‘I feel that my reputation in the future is safe in your hands’. Featuring a stellar cast of soloists including Dame Janet Baker, this performance is redolent of Sir Adrian Boult’s ‘commendable energy and typical humanity’ (The Gramophone Guide review of Boult’s 1975 studio recording of The Dream of Gerontius). This DVD also features a 60-minute documentary on Sir Adrian Boult produced by the BBC in 1989 to celebrate the centenary of his birth.Buy | Stream | Download -
Antonio Pappano: Schumann Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4
MP3 Album:ICA Classics is proud to present the first recordings of Pappano conducting two of Schumann’s most popular symphonies, No.2 in C major op.61 and No.4 in D minor op.120. Symphony No.2 was sketched out in 1845 but its completion was greatly prolonged by nervous exhaustion which some years later was to decline into mental instability. This personal struggle evokes Beethoven, while the tremendous energy in the work recalls Schubert. Symphony No.4 was composed in 1841 but revised in 1851 (the version heard here) and consists of four continuous movements, an innovation at the time.Buy | Stream | Download -
Antonio Pappano: Elgar Symphony No. 1 & In the South
MP3 Album:Elgar Symphony No.1 in A flat major op.55 & Concert Overture ‘In the South’ op.50 with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Recorded live in the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, 21, 23 & 24 January 2012 (Op.55) & 18 March 2013 (Op.50).Buy | Stream | Download -
A Tribute to Rudolf Barshai
MP3 Album:A 20 CD set in tribute to Russian-born Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010), possibly the most famous viola player of all time. He performed as a soloist and in chamber groups with Shostakovich, Richter, Oistrakh and Rostropovich and later with Kogan and Gilels. He won numerous Soviet and international competitions.Buy | Stream | Download -
Classic BBC Proms (5 DVDs)
Garrick Ohlsson BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.2 Works by CHOPIN and LISZT ICAD 5013 - Viennese Night Works by J. STRAUSS I, J. STRAUSS II, LEHÁR and SUPPÉ ICAD 5026 - Gennady Rozhdestvensky GLINKA Ruslan and Lyudmila – Overture Three Dances from ‘A life for the Tsar’ TCHAIKOVSKY The Nutcracker, Act II ICAD 5027 - Yuri Temirkanov BERLIOZ Le Corsaire – Overture TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Symphony Encores by TCHAIKOVSKY, ELGAR and PROKOFIEV ICAD 5065 - Sir Georg Solti MOZART Symphony No.39 TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.4 DEBUSSY Fêtes ICAD 5100Buy | Stream | Download -
Masterworks: Strauss and Mahler (5 DVDs)
Buy | Stream | DownloadR. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel • Ein Heldenleben
Bonus introductions and educational guides
Michael Tilson Thomas
ICAD 5031 (2DVDs)
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MAHLER Symphony No.6
Hartmut Haenchen
ICAD 5018
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MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde
SCHUMANN Symphony No.4
Kurt Sanderling
ICAD 5042
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MAHLER Symphony No.1
MAHLER Symphony No.5 – Adagietto (Bonus)
R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel
Erich Leinsdorf
ICAD 5051