London Symphony Orchestra / Simon Rattle JANÁČEK The Cunning Little Vixen - Sinfonietta

THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN - SINFONIETTA

Berliner Philharmoniker THE JOHN ADAMS EDITION

                                                       THE JOHN ADAMS EDITION

Mitsuko Uchida / Berliner Philharmoniker / Sir Simon Rattle LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Klavierkonzerte 1-5

                                                      KLAVIERKONZERTE 1 - 5

Berliner Philharmoniker / Sir Simon Rattle THE ASIA TOUR

                                                                THE ASIA TOUR

London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle BRUCKNER Symphony No. 6

Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony is one of the most original of all the composer’s symphonic works. Its contrasting moods, and overarching theme moving from darkness to light, can be haunting one moment and ecstatic the next, culminating in one of the most enigmatic symphonic conclusions of the 19th century. 

For this recording Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs Urtext edition of the score.

Magdalena Kožená & Friends SOIRÉE

Soirée captures the atmosphere of informal, domestic music making. Czech star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená offers an intimate and highly personal collection of international songs together with an outstanding group of musical friends, including Sir Simon Rattle, who makes his recording debut as a pianist. The German lied is represented by Brahms (Two Songs, Op. 91 and Five Ophelia Songs, WoO 22) and Strauss (Morgen!), the French chanson by Chausson (Chanson perpétuelle) and Ravel (Chansons madécasses), and 20th-century avant-gardism with Stravinsky’s Three Songs from William Shakespeare. In between these explorations, Kožená revisits her musical roots with a selection of Dvořák songs, arranged by Duncan Ward, as well as Janáček’s Nursery Rhymes.
Soirée is the second release of Magdalena Kožená’s exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, after having presented the baroque cantatas recital album Il giardino dei sospiri in 2019.

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Sir Simon Rattle MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde

Conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, this performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) was recorded at concerts in Munich's Herkulessaal on January 25 and 26, 2018, and features Magdalena Kožená and Stuart Skelton. The work is subtitled 'A symphony for tenor, alto (or baritone) voice and orchestra'. It examines the border between two different genres: the Lied, in its extended form as a song cycle, and the symphony. The entire work is spanned by a taut arc, culminating – in accordance with the principle of intensification – in a huge final movement lasting as long as all the others together, and entitled Der Abschied (The Farewell). Here, Mahler is continuing the genre of the 'Finale Symphony', and the brightening of C minor to C major is even reminiscent of his usual apotheoses. In this symphony, as in his others, Mahler wanted to 'create a world using all existing technical means'.

London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle BERNSTEIN Wonderful Town

Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra pay homage to former LSO President Leonard Bernstein with a new recording of Wonderful Town that captures the energy and excitement of sold-out performances from December 2017. 

Bernstein’s five-time Tony award-winning musical follows sisters Ruth and Eileen on their quest to make it big, pursuing careers in writing and acting from their cramped basement apartment in New York’s bohemian Greenwich Village. Fresh from rural Ohio, the sisters end up getting more than they bargained for, realising that life in the Big Apple is not as glamourous as it may seem.

A bright and cheery love letter to the city that never sleeps and the colourful characters inhabiting it, Wonderful Town draws on Fields and Chodorov’s 1940 play My Sister Eileen, which itself is based on a series of autobiographical short storied by the ‘real-life’ Ruth McKenney.

Bernstein’s infectious score includes classic numbers such as ‘Ohio’, ‘One Hundred Easy Ways’, and ‘A Little Bit in Love’, as well as a riotous conga that had delighted audiences dancing in the aisles of the Barbican hall.

Alfred Brendel LIVE IN VIENNA

Live recordings from Austrian Radio broadcasts (ORF) released for the very first time by one of the greatest musicians of all time.

The Schumann Piano Concerto requires virtually everything a pianist should have to offer: poetry, virtuosity, poised restraint – Brendel passes the test on all accounts with his passionate, insightful and refreshing interpretation.

On this Schumann Piano Concerto performance, taken from Brendel’s 70th Birthday residency in 2001, with the inestimable partners in Sir Simon Rattle and the Wiener Philharmoniker, Alfred Brendel writes that “listening to this live recording I felt that, for once, I heard what I wanted to hear”.

Brahms “Handel” Variations are what many consider to be the most imposing piece of its kind composed in the four decades that separate it from Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations.

A work with a wealth of different characters, colour and masterful disposition. The Fugue in particular is something to marvel at with its contrapuntal and pianistic power. Even Wagner had to concede that the result was impressive, “One sees what can still be done with the old forms when someone comes along who knows how to handle them”.

Brendel has never recorded the Brahms “Handel” Variations in the studio which makes this his first commercially available recording of the work. (Presto Classical)

Simon Rattle / Berliner Philharmoniker THE SOUND OF SIMON RATTLE

The Musical intoxication of a great era: on 7 September, 2002, Sir Simon Rattle was appointed new Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, marking the start of a new and memorable era for the world of music. Rattle has opened up new repertoire channels for the musicians, endowed the tradition-steeped ensemble with a youthful image and established the inimitable 'Rattle Sound'. Great moments – brought together here for the first time on 3 CDs.

Sol Gabetta / Berliner Philharmoniker / Sir Simon Rattle / Krysztof Urbanski LIVE

Sol Gabetta achieved international acclaim upon winning the Crédit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2004 and making her debut with Wiener Philharmoniker and Valery Gergiev. Born in Argentina, Gabetta won her first competition at the a ge of ten, soon followed by the Natalia Gutman Award as well as commendations at Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. A Grammy Award nominee, she received the Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award in 2 010 and the Würth -­ Preis of the Jeunesses Musicales in 2012. 

Sol Gabetta (who starred in this year’s first night of the Proms) releases this album with Sir Simon Rattle, Krzystof Urbanski and the Berlin Philharmoniker. Featuring two treasures of the cello repertoire, Gabetta places Elgar’s stunning Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 alongside Martinů’s first cello concerto, H. 196.