Adrian Leaper
Adrian Leaper is a conductor internationally known more through recordings than personal appearances, although his career has taken him throughout Europe. Leaper has made more than 100 albums, mostly of large-scale romantic music and British light classics, predominantly for the Naxos/Marco Polo and ASV labels.
Born in the U.K. in 1953, Leaper studied at the Royal Academy of Music and served several seasons as co-principal horn in the Philharmonia Orchestra before switching exclusively to conducting. In 1986, after an international competition, Leaper was selected as assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, a post he held for five years. It was during this period that he began recording, at first mainly with Czech and Slovak orchestras, for Naxos. Upon the expiration of his Hallé contract, Leaper entered a period of extensive guest conducting, making the rounds of European radio and provincial orchestras, as well as the leading orchestras of London. In 1994, he became director of the Orquesta Filharmónia de Gran Canaria, a position he held for seven years. With this ensemble, Leaper became more interested in Spanish repertory and made some 40 recordings. In September 2001, he shifted his activity to the RTVE Symphony Orchestra in Madrid, serving as music director.
Leaper's Nielsen symphony cycle on Naxos was generally well-received in the mid-'90s, and his recordings often find favor with critics for their sense of musical architecture and for Leaper's ability to make secondary orchestras play well. On the other hand, Leaper is sometimes faulted, though not generally by reserved British critics, for somewhat staid readings of passionate music by the likes of Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Sibelius. He continued to record for Naxos into the new century but also released albums on Arte Nova, ASV, and other labels. He has been an enthusiastic champion of British light music (his 1994 album of music by Edward German with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra rose to top classical chart levels in 2022) and of lesser-known repertory. In 2016, Leaper led the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in an album of music by José Luis Greco for Naxos' American Classics series.
© James Reel & James Manheim /TiVo
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Wagner: Orchestral Music from Parsifal, Der fliegende Holländer, Meistersinger, Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin
Adrian Leaper, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria
Classical - Released by ARTE NOVA Classics on 22 Sep 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
Adrian Leaper, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria
Classical - Released by ARTE NOVA Classics on 26 Jun 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6, Sinfonia Semplice
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Symphonic Music - Released by Naxos on 30 May 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Leaper
Classical - Released by Naxos on 14 May 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Russian Spectacular
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Nazareth, Adrian Leaper
Classical - Released by Naxos on 17 Oct 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRIAN: Symphonies Nos. 11 and 15
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Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on 27 Jul 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BOLERO AND OTHER SPANISH FAVOURITES
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Leaper, Kenneth Jean, Keith Clark
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Feb 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gorecki: Symphony 3
Classical - Released by RCA Gold Seal on 26 Jun 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tres Sinfonías (Adrian Leaper, Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española, Sakari Oramo, Ernest Martínez-Izquierdo, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Joven Orquesta Nacional de España)
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Classical - Released by Tritó on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Montsalvatge: Laberinto; Folia daliniana; Sortilegis; Simfonia mediterrània
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Copland: Concertos
Adrian Leaper, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria
Classical - Released by ARTE NOVA Classics on 1 Jun 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony Nr.7 E-minor
Classical - Released by ARTE NOVA Classics on 25 Sep 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best Of Classics 9: Dvorák
Classical - Released by ARTE NOVA Classics on 25 Sep 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo