Gramophone – September 2019

8 GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk

PHOTOGRAPHY:

BENJAMIN

EALOVEGA,

MICHAEL

MACHALEPIS

FOR THE RECORD

T

he London Philharmonic

Orchestra has announced that

Edward Gardner will be its next

Principal Conductor.

Gardner is the fi rst British conductor

to hold the post since Sir John Pritchard

stepped down in 1966; he will take up the

role at the start of the 2021-22 season,

initially on a fi ve-year contract. He will

succeed Vladimir Jurowski, who has held

the post since 2007, and who will become

Conductor Emeritus.

No stranger to London audiences,

Gardner led English National Opera

from 2007 to 2015, whereupon he

became Principal Conductor of

the Bergen Philharmonic. He’ll be

even less of a stranger to listeners to

recordings: largely stemming from his

relationship with the Chandos label, Gardnercanbeheardin

many superb albums of repertoire including Walton, Grieg,

Britten, Schoenberg and Szymanowski, while his recording of

Elgar’s Symphony No 1 was named as

the top modern choice in our Collection

on the work last month.

The LPO, meanwhile, boasts its

own successful label, its most recent

release being a fascinating performance

of Mahler’s Symphony No 4 under

Jurowski, named an Editor’s Choice in

this issue.

Gardner, who fi rst conducted the

LPO in 2003, described himself as

‘thrilled’ by the appointment. ‘I worked

with the orchestra early in my career

and I was quite overwhelmed by

the brilliance and virtuosity of the

musicians. Returning to the orchestra

recently, I’ve felt a sense of pleasure

and privilege working with this

inspiring group of musicians, and have

relishedthepassionandhunger the LPO brings to performance.

I’m looking forward to our collaboration with huge anticipation

and excitement.’

W

arner Classics has

launched a website to

showcase its new releases

and vast back catalogue.

Visitors to warnerclassics.com are

offered 30-second excerpts of tracks; bythenloggingintotheir

Apple, Spotify or Deezer accounts they can stream whole tracks

from within the site, and there are ‘buy’ links to relevant digital

retailers for CDs or downloads, generated by your geographical

location. The music is accompanied by artists’ biographies,

playlists, articles and concert dates.

The search facility instantly gathers together an artist’s entire

catalogue on the label group, which, as well as new releases

on Warner Classics and Erato, includes the many decades of

legendary recordings on the one-time EMI label.

‘We’re entering a new era for Warner Classics as our repertoire

really starts to reap the benefi ts of digital distribution,’ said

Markus Petersen, the group’s SVP Global Operations and

Business Development. ‘One of our prime objectives is to

provide ready and enjoyable access to new and recent releases

of today’s fi nest classical artists as well as to Warner Classics’

magnifi cent catalogue.’

It’s certainly an attractive and comprehensive attempt by

a major company to address a challenge arguably presented

by online music: that strong label identities – once key to

how collectors thought about recordings – can perhaps feel

less relevant, and certainly less obvious, when listening through

a streaming service.

S

ir Stephen Cleobury CBE has

received the inaugural ‘Lifetime

Achievement in Choral Music’

Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the

500-year-old London-based organisation committed to

preserving music excellence. The award was presented at a July

ceremony in London in recognition of Cleobury’s signifi cant

choral contribution, both in his 37 years as Organist and Director

of Music at King’s, and in his prior roles as Master of Music at

Westminster Cathedral and sub-organist of Westminster Abbey.

Cleobury conducted his fi nal concert at King’s on June 28, and

his last Evensong on July 7. You can listen to our interview with

him, in which he discusses his new Howells recording, by visiting

gramophone.co.uk/podcasts.

D

aniil Trifonov’s 2019 Verbier Festival programme gives

a totally different insight into this remarkable pianist’s

musical tastes. Starting with Berg and Prokofi ev, he

plays a fascinating 20th-century programme that extends to

Corigliano and Adams by way of Cage and Stockhausen.

Another Tchaikovsky Competition laureate, 2015’s Gold

Medallist Dmitry Masleev, plays sonatas by Medtner, Prokofi ev

and Miaskovsky. Opera-wise, catch Glyndebourne’s new

‘Masterchef-meets-Downton Abbey’ Magic Flute and Salzburg’s

Idomeneo conducted by Teodor Currentzis. For our monthly

choice, just go to medici.tv and search for ‘Gramophone selects’.

Edward Gardner is LPO’s new Principal Conductor

Warner Classics launches

streaming website

Cleobury receives

choral music award

Medici’s ‘Gramophone selects’

Gardner is ‘thrilled’ to be taking over from Jurowski in 2021