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Widely recognized as one of the leading conductors of his generation, LSO Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda presents a work of concentrated emotional intensity in the first of a new series exploring Tchaikovsky's final three symphonies. Urgent, supercharged and violent in places, Tchaikovsky's Fourth is said to reflect the turmoil he found himself in while composing: a disastrous marriage, struggles with his sexuality and severe depression. Yet, despite the gloomy outlook, the symphony proves undoubtedly that Tchaikovsky knew how to fill his works with memorable melodies. Known for his mastery of Russian repertoire, for this album Noseda pairs Tchaikovsky with a masterpiece by his fellow countryman, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, performed here in Ravel's iconic orchestration. © LSO Live

Alpha begins a complete cycle of the symphonies by Sibelius alongside some of his symphonic poems with Gothenburg Symphony and its new chief conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. In the great tradition of Finnish conductors, Santtu-Matias Rouvali is known for his extremely physical and organic interpretations: ‘Music unmistakeably flows from him’, commented The Sunday Times. This was evident when, at a very young age, he stepped in to conduct a concert with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra which began the journey to his first tenure as Chief Conductor with the Tampere Philharmonic; a meteoric rise to a career working at the highest musical level internationally; and a third post as Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. When Bachtrack asked him how he shapes the orchestral sound, he replied: ‘I sing it, I move my hands the way I want it (…) the conductor should be able to show tempo somewhere in the body (…) I was also a drum kit player, so my feet and hands can do different things at the same time. When you read the score, you sing it in your head (…) I think it’s the sense of inside groove that you get from playing percussion which is very important in Sibelius’s music.’ In the Gothenburg Symphony he finds a prestigious cohort of musicians with an impressive discography, and joins a line of their illustrious musical directors, notably Neeme Järvi, the orchestra’s principal conductor from 1982 to 2004, but also Gustavo Dudamel, who is honorary conductor. © Outhere Music

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The four Nations by François Couperin (also known as "Couperin the Great") consist of France, Spain, the Empire and Piedmont (Italy, therefore), though it would be rather futile to look for any truly national characteristics in each of the movements of these four suites. And all the more so due to the fact that many of the pieces had already been composed well before the collection’s publication in 1726, and they were simply renamed... Yes, throughout the thirty-six movements of the work we do hear the French style on the one hand and the more Italianising style on the other, but the many interpolations make it, in fact, a kind of mixed European collection. At most, Spain is entitled to a few rare and truly Iberian turns of phrase, even though they are only visible under a microscope. Christophe Rousset and his musical ensemble Les Talens Lyriques approach these "trios" with joy and respect, knowing that the term "trio" does not necessarily imply three musicians; in fact, the melodic parts are entrusted to two oboes, two flutes and two violins, both together and alternately, while the continuo is played by the bassoon, harpsichord, gamba and theorbo, again either together or in various combinations depending on the musical texture. In this way, the thirty-six movements demonstrate the immense musical richness of these various nations, with all the diversity and contrasts that Couperin has assigned to them. © SM/Qobuz

Berlioz's preface for his dramatic symphony Romeo and Juliet reads as follows: "Although voices are frequently used in it, it is neither a concert opera, nor a cantata, but a choral symphony. The reason there is singing almost from the start is to prepare the listener’s mind for the dramatic scenes where the feelings and passions are to be expressed by the orchestra. This latter scene depicts the reconciliation of the two families and is the only one to belong to the genre of opera or oratorio. If, in the celebrated scenes in the garden and in the cemetery, the dialogue of the two lovers, Juliet’s asides and the impassioned pleas of Romeo are not sung, if in short the love duet and the duet of despair are entrusted to the orchestra, the reasons for this are numerous and easy to grasp. First, and this would by itself be a sufficient justification for the author, the work is a symphony and not an opera. Then, since duets of this kind have been treated countless times in vocal form by the greatest masters, it was wise as well as interesting to try another mode of expression. It is also because the very sublimity of this love made its depiction so dangerous for the composer that he needed to allow his imagination a freedom which the literal meaning of the words sung would have denied him. Hence the resort to instrumental language, a language which is richer, more varied, less finite, and through its very imprecision incomparably more powerful in such a situation." This new recording by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra brings together American mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and tenor Nicholas Phan, as well as Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. Some people may disagree with the absence of French voices; it is true that the pronunciation of the soloists is a little wobbly at times, but let’s not forget that this is Berlioz: the overwhelming majority of the score is symphonic, and that is where the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra truly shines through. © SM/Qobuz

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With Symphony No.6 in A Minor "Tragic" written in 1904 (the title, for once, is not a publisher's gimmick, but was indeed given by Mahler in the programme for the first performance in Vienna in 1906), Mahler almost returns to the classical symphony format; we find more voices in the score (a technique that he had already used in No. 5) and a four-movement structure (whereas No. 5 was articulated in five movements thrown into three "parts", with the absence of a programme or philosophical content). Admittedly, the orchestra remains huge, with four woodwinds, eight horns, and six trumpets, not to mention an impressive arsenal of percussion instruments including alpine bells, hammer and xylophone, which he never used elsewhere; in this respect, Mahler contributed to putting an end to the late romantic trend of gigantic works for titanic orchestras. It must be said that the last movement, which lasts at least half an hour, is of a truly tragic expression with its indelible darkness. This frightened the critics, who found the work somewhat bloated. It is therefore up to the conductor to make the score as transparent as possible, the contrapuntal lines readable and the orchestral colours perceptible through the orchestral immensity. Equipped with his MusicAeterna, Teorod Currentzis embarks on the adventure. © SM/Qobuz

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Sir Andrew Davis returns to his exploration of Holst’s orchestral works with the brilliant BBC Philharmonic, a series initiated almost ten years ago by the late Richard Hickox, then taken over by another expert in British repertoire. This selection of orchestral works by Holst provides a remarkable overview of his career, ranging from such early works as A Winder Idyll – composed in 1897 when he was still studying at the Royal College of Music – to the Scherzo of a symphony on which he was working towards the end of his life. None of the music recorded here was published in his lifetime, and the Scherzo – rarely heard though it is – is the only work to have entered the repertoire. A Moorside Suite, originally written for brass band, is featured here in the composer's rarely heard arrangement for strings. The young British cellist Guy Johnston is the soloist in Invocation, one of Holst’s most significant works, calling for a subtle balance of virtuosity and expressive qualities. © Chandos

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Composed against a cataclysmic backdrop of Stalinist oppression and the Second World War, Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony is a deeply affecting poem of suffering. The composer described it as 'an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war', and it contains some of the most terrifying music he ever wrote. Here, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra with intensity and understanding, allowing the music to tell its own story as it travels from darkness into light, yearning more for peace than for victory. One of the leading conductors of his generation, Gianandrea Noseda holds several high-profile international positions in addition to his role as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, including Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. His previous releases on LSO Live include acclaimed interpretations of the Verdi Requiem and Britten War Requiem, and this recording follows the digital release of Shostakovich: Symphony No 5, which will receive a full release in October 2019 coupled with the composer's First Symphony. © harmonia mundi

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To commemorate the centenary of Parry’s death, Rumon Gamba and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales offer this rare album of major works never recorded before, at the centre of which stands the original version of Symphony No. 4. These works highlight Parry’s skills as an orchestrator to supreme effect, the music full of attractive thematic invention, the scores wonderfully expansive, the canvas more intellectual, the many ideas more bold and passionate. The works prove to be a much severer challenge for the musicians but are here masterfully tackled thanks to both orchestra and conductor’s experience performing forgotten or unpublished British repertoire. The Suite moderne was written for the Three Choirs Festival. Despite its popularity, the work remained unpublished at Parry’s death and is performed here in a new edition by Jeremy Dibble. The album is completed by Parry’s one and only ballet score, Proserpine. A triptych in miniature, the colourful score is full of great delicacy. © Chandos