Sir John Eliot Gardiner

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex, Apollon musagète (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · September 29, 2023 · Comments off

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the LSO on this his first release for LSO Live, Stravinsky’s ‘Oedipus Rex’ and ‘Apollon musagte’. Also featured on the release are the gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir, considered one of the world’s leading choirs, and a mix of international and home-grown soloists including Jennifer Johnston and Stuart Skelton. French actress Fanny Ardant, who has appeared in more than 50 motion pictures, takes the rle of narrator.

‘Oedipus Rex’ and ‘Apollon musagte’ are both ancient Greek-themed works by Stravinsky. The rich string harmonies and textures in the ballet score of ‘Apollon musagte’ are pleasantly mesmerising, expressive and calmly indulgent. In contrast, the dramatic and hauntingly compelling opera-oratorio ‘Oedipus Rex’ is composed of an assemblage of monumental and powerful sounds, such as playful woodwinds, robust brass and agile strings, with magnificent vocals from the choir and soloists.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is touring a programme of Mendelssohn Symphonies with the LSO to France and Switzerland during January and March, after which the orchestra head, with Daniel Harding, to the Far East. Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2014 in March with concerts in France and Spain, performing Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers’.

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Sir John Eliot Gardiner, London Symphony Orchestra – Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 “Scottish”, The Hebrides Overture – Schumann: Piano Concerto (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 1, 2023 · Comments off

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, London Symphony Orchestra – Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 “Scottish”, The Hebrides Overture – Schumann: Piano Concerto (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:17 minutes | 1,63 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © LSO Live

Inspired by his travels to the British Isles and full of the influence of the rolling Scottish landscape, both Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 3 ‘Scottish’ and his overture The Hebrides (‘Fingal’s Cave’) are amongst the composer’s most popular and admired works. The London Symphony Orchestra present us with inspiring performances of these works, as well as a performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto, featuring the celebrated pianist, Maria João Pires.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner writes of this coupling; ‘Even if they spoke with different accents these genial Romantics were united in their ambitious fervour for ‘abstract’ music to be acknowledged as having the same expressive force as poetry, drama or the literary novel. The three works on this album exemplify the endeavour and range of invention of two of them, friends and colleagues in Leipzig’.

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London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 ‘Reformation’ & Overtures (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 1, 2023 · Comments off

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 ‘Reformation’ & Overtures (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:09 minutes | 840 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © LSO Live

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the London Symphony Orchestra join forces once again in the latest instalment of their exploration of Mendelssohn’s symphonies.

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 5, commonly known as the ‘Reformation’ Symphony, was written in 1830 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Augsberg confession – a seminal event in the Protestant Reformation. Allusions to the symphony’s title and inspiration can be heard throughout the music itself; the Dresden Amen is cited by the strings in the first movement whilst the finale is based on Martin Luther’s well-known chorale Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’).

Coupled with this are two of Mendelssohn’s overtures, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage and Ruy Blas, both of which were inspired by literary works. Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, based on two short poems by Goethe, depicts the journey of sailors at sea with a still adagio opening ultimately giving way to a triumphant homecoming. Completing the album, the overture Ruy Blas was commissioned by the Leipzig Theatre as an overture to Victor Hugo’s tragic drama of the same name.

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London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Mendelssohn: Symphnies Nos. 1 & 4 ‘Italian’ (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 1, 2023 · Comments off

Constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation, Sir John Eliot Gardiner stands as a leader in today’s musical life. His award-winning Mendelssohn cycle on LSO Live showcases his period performance expertise, the musicians standing to play, highlighting their individual musicianship. As Gardiner explains: ‘It gives a different type of dynamism and energy… it means that the fiddles are freer in the way that they attack the extremely virtuosic lines and it gives a tremendous sense of occasion to the music making.’

Dramatic and harmonically adventurous, Mendelssohn’s First Symphony is presented here in an exceptionally unique format, with both the original and revised versions of the third movement. As Gardiner said when introducing the work in concert:

‘It’s not every evening that you get to hear a symphony by a fourteen-and-a-half year-old genius and there’s an intriguing complication to this piece. When Mendelssohn came to London in 1829, he performed the symphony and he wrote back to his parents saying: “well, I looked over my symphony and, lord, the minuet bored me to tears! So what I did was to take the scherzo from my Octet and I added a few airy trumpets and it sounded lovely.” Well, actually he did an awful lot more than that; he re-orchestrated absolutely brilliantly. And it’s so good, we thought you should hear that version. But what about the minuet and trio? Why, when he came to publish the symphony did he use that version and leave out the scherzo? I happen to think they’re both really remarkable, as is the whole symphony, and perhaps you’d let us know which you prefer…?’

The Fourth Symphony is inspired by the sights, sounds and atmosphere of Italy and is among the best loved of all the composer’s works. Mendelssohn described it as: ‘the jolliest piece I’ve written so far.’ John Eliot Gardiner says of the work: ‘Mendelssohn threw everything, in terms of virtuosity and risk-taking, at the Italian Symphony and it’s remained incredibly popular…

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Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra & Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017) [High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc]

Blu-Ray Audio By admin · May 31, 2023 · Comments off

Сomposer: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Artist: Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Title: Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Genre: Classical
Label: © LSO Live
Release Date: 2017
Recorded live 16 February 2016 in DSD 128fs, at the Barbican, London
Quality: Blu-ray Audio

BD Audio:
Duration: 00:55:13
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 950 kbps / 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 10478 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit

BD Video:
Bonus HD video footage of the full concert performance on 16 February 2016, at which this recording was made, additionally containing the concert’s first half (Mendelssohn Symphony No 1).
Duration: 01:37:26
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 22000 kbps / 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

BD ROM:
Digital files: Stereo files in DSD / 24bit 96kHz FLAC / 16bit 44.1kHz WAV / 320kbps MP3

Continuing his award-winning cycle of works by Felix Mendelssohn, Sir John Eliot Gardiner leads the LSO, his Monteverdi Choir and three talented young actors from the Guildhall in a landmark performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, which was performed as part of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. To mark the celebrations, Gardiner produced a special version of the work featuring some cuts to the original movements that, in his words, “remove all of the music relating to the Mechanicals and thus focus on the world of the fairies and the human lovers”.
Mendelssohn, who adored Shakespeare’s writings, composed his concert overture based on ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in 1827 aged 17, after having read a German translation of the play. The overture was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece and quickly became a popular favourite throughout Europe. Years later in 1843 he was asked by the King of Prussia to provide a score for an entire production: 14 short works based on themes and moods from the original overture, with a broadly romantic sound although classical in style and structure.
The Pure Audio Blu-ray disc includes bonus footage of the concert performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 1, alongside high resolution master audio. (more…)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra – MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 30, 2023 · Comments off

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra – MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:08 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © LSO Live

Continuing his award-winning Mendelssohn cycle, John Eliot Gardiner leads the London Symphony Orchestra, his Monteverdi Choir and three aspiring actors from the Guildhall School in a landmark performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was performed and recorded live as part of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Gardiner produces a personal version of the work featuring some cuts to the original melodrama movements (of course, nothing gets cut in the main movements, or those purely musical with no spoken text), in his words, ‘removing all of the music relating to the Mechanicals and thus focusing on the world of the fairies and the human lovers.’ Mendelssohn composed his concert overture based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1827 at the young age of 17. The overture was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece and quickly became a popular favourite throughout Europe. Years later, namely in 1843, he was asked by the King of Prussia to provide a score as the incidental music to an entire production. It’s made of fourteen short numbers based on themes and moods from the original overture, with a broadly romantic sound although classical in style and structure. According to the Evening Standard’Gardiner’s Mendelssohn with the LSO packs a surprisingly hefty punch’, while Classic FM reports thats ‘as you might expect, Gardiner brings his love of authentic performance into his approach – the LSO strings sound bright and breezy as they evoke Mendelssohn’s Scotland.’

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Sir John Eliot Gardiner, London Symphony Orchestra – Mendelssohn – Symphnies Nos 1 & 4 (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 30, 2023 · Comments off

Constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation, Sir John Eliot Gardiner stands as a leader in today’s musical life. His award-winning Mendelssohn cycle on LSO Live showcases his period performance expertise; the LSO muscians standing to play, highlighting their individual musicianship. As Gardiner notes: “It gives a different type of dynamism and energy… it means that the fiddles are freer in the way that they attack the extremely virtuosic lines and it gives a tremendous sense of occasion to the music making.”

Dramatic and harmonically adventurous, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 1 is presented here in a unique format, with both the original and revised versions of the third movement. As Gardiner said when introducing the work in concert: “It’s not every evening that you get to hear a symphony by a 14-and-a-half-year-old genius and there’s an intriguing complication to this piece. When Mendelssohn came to London in 1829, he performed the symphony and he wrote back to his parents saying: “well, I looked over my symphony and, lord, the minuet bored me to tears! So what I did was to take the scherzo from my Octet and I added a few airy trumpets and it sounded lovely.” Well, actually he did an awful lot more than that; he re-orchestrated absolutely brilliantly. And it’s so good, we thought you should hear that version. But what about the minuet and trio? Why, when he came to publish the symphony did he use that version and leave out the scherzo? I happen to think they’re both really remarkable, as is the whole symphony, and perhaps you’d let us know which you prefer…?”

The Fourth Symphony is inspired by the sights, sounds and atmosphere of Italy and is among the best loved of all the composer’s works. Mendelssohn himself described it as: “the jolliest piece I’ve written so far.” Symphony No 1 was broadcast across Europe on Mezzo TV, alongside Mendelssohn’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and this rich video content will be shared to support the release.

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London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 14, 2023 · Comments off

Following their award-winning Mendelssohn cycle, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the London Symphony Orchestra embark on a new journey through the symphonies of Robert Schumann.

Gardiner feels the Schumann symphonies are criticised unfairly and with these recordings he is on a mission to dispel the cobweb of myths around these symphonic masterpieces.

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