GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)
Requiem

The dramatic intensity of Verdi’s Requiem reflects the composer’s operatic expertise, and expresses the powerful emotions of the sacred texts. His inspiration for the work was his high regard for two fellow Italian artists, composer Gioachino Rossini and patriotic author Alessandro Manzoni, and it became an overnight sensation at its première in Milan. This recording comes from a concert recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in 1983, during López-Cobos’ tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

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EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934)
Sea Pictures
Symphony No. 1 in A flat major

When the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Elgar Society planned a concert to mark the 50th anniversary of Elgar’s death, Vernon Handley was the natural choice of conductor. Handley’s feeling for English music was second to none, and his rapport with Elgar’s music in particular is clear in these performances recorded live at the anniversary concert. Sea Pictures evokes contrasting images of the sea from five poems sung here by Dame Janet Baker, a peerless interpreter of the work. The First Symphony is one of Elgar’s finest works for orchestra – hailed after its première as ‘the greatest symphony of modern times’.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833 -1897)
A German Requiem (Ein Deutsches Requiem)

Newly appointed as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor after just one appearance with the ensemble, Yannick Nézet-Séguin came to London in April 2009 to conduct Brahms’ profound A German Requiem. He presided over a performance of rare reflection and inevitability at the Royal Festival Hall that prompted an extraordinary silence from a capacity audience. In the young Canadian’s hands, Brahms’s uplifting choral masterpiece is marked by astutely judged tempi, delivered with the utmost care, captured live on this recording.

GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911)
Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'

Although serious illness had forced him to relinquish the Principal Conductorship of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1987, Klaus Tennstedt was able to return a number of times in the following years as Conductor Laureate. In February 1989 he conducted two performances of Mahler’s mighty Resurrection Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The concerts quickly acquired legendary status; those present talked of an incredible interpretation shot through with emotion, conviction, musical depth and tangible atmosphere, captured here in this live recording.