Sir Antonio Pappano conducts this dramatic oratorio, with four star soloists bringing the tale of the Prophet Elijah to life. We follow the fortunes of the steadfast, open-hearted Elijah, and encounter ministering angels and the vengeful queen Jezebel.

The London Symphony Chorus, The Guildhall Singers and four electrifying soloists – Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Sarah Connolly, Allan Clayton and Gerald Finley give voice to the oratorio in English, as in its first premiere. Gerald Finley breathes life into the role of Elijah, and the London Symphony Orchestra ramps up the drama without losing sight of the stillness at the heart of the storm. This release also celebrates 25 years of our music label, LSO Live.

NativeDSD brings this all-star performance of Elijah to our listeners in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512 from the Edit Master Source. 

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Soprano (The Widow, Angel)
Sarah Connolly, Mezzo-Soprano (The Queen – Jezebel, Angel)
Allan Clayton, Tenor (Obadiah, Ahab)
Gerald Finley, Bass-Baritone (Elijah)
Ewan Christian, Treble (Child)

The Guildhall Singers
Linnhe Robertson, Vocal Coach

London Symphony Chorus
Mariana Rosas, Chorus Director

London Symphony Orchestra 
Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor 

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Verdi: Otello is a Double Album featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus and 9 Soloists including Simon O’Neill, Gerald Finley and Anne Schwanewilms conducted by Sir Colin Davis.  The performance was called “an electrifying account of a masterpiece, conducted with an explosive energy that belies Sir Colin’s eighty years and pushed the LSO to the top of its game.”

Verdi had retired from opera following the premiere of Aida in 1871 but was eventually persuaded by his publisher to work with the librettist Arrigo Boito. As with Falstaff, Verdi’s final opera on which they would subsequently collaborate, they turned to Shakespeare for inspiration. Otello, which was premiered in 1887, marked a significant evolutionary development in Italian opera and is widely regarded as one of the great operatic masterpieces.

Sir Colin Davis, Conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Chorus

Soloists
Simon O’Neill, Tenor
Gerald Finley, Bass-Baritone
Anne Schwanewilms, Soprano
Allan Clayton, Tenor
Ben Johnson, Tenor
Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Bass
Matthew Rose, Bass
Lukas Jakobski, Bass
Eufemia Tufano, Mezzo-Soprano

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Made almost three decades after the composer’s own iconic recording with the Orchestra, Alsop’s new version was captured during celebratory concerts marking Bernstein’s centenary year, and features an outstanding array of soloists, including Leonardo Capalbo (Candide), Jane Archibald (Cunégonde), Anne Sofie von Otter (The Old Lady) and Sir Thomas Allen (Dr Pangloss, Narrator).

With lyrical contributions from acerbic writers Richard Wilbur, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, and a young Stephen Sondheim, ‘Candide’ marries raucous humor with the extraordinary genius of Leonard Bernstein.

Leonardo Capalbo – Candide
Jane Archibald – Cunégonde
Anne Sofie von Otter – The Old Lady
Sir Thomas Allen – Dr. Pangloss, Narrator
Thomas Atkins – Soloist
Marcus Farnsworth – Soloist
London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Chorus
Guildhall School Young Artists
Marin Alsop, Conductor

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Composed in 1803, while Beethoven was also writing the ‘Eroica’ Symphony, Christ on the Mount of Olives (Christus am Ölberge) is the composer’s only oratorio and combines the emotive force of his later Missa Solemnis with the theatre of a Bach Passion. With orchestra, chorus and soloists, it tells the story of Jesus’ prayer and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and also reflects the emotional pressure Beethoven was under at the time.

“When I came to the Mount of Olives, I immediately was simply puzzled. Why isn’t this piece played? Of course, it’s a mixed piece and there are weird flaws and edges but so there are in the Ninth Symphony, they’re part of the personality.

It’s a fascinating moment in his life when he was starting really to deal with his hearing loss. He’d written the Heiligenstadt Testament, where he really confessed to his suicidal thoughts on losing the single-most important ability a musician could have. There is a kind of unearthly, underground sensation of some of it, there’s also a real feeling of naive belief in the possibility of things being better. I think it is completely heaven.”

– Sir Simon Rattle

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In 1812 he attempted a ’choral overture’ using parts of the text, but it was not for another decade that he was to find a true home for it when he made it the subject of the extraordinary and revolutionary finale to his Ninth and last symphony, the first ever to include a choral movement.

London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Chorus
Bernard Haitink, Conductor

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