Valery Gergiev conducts a scintillating account of Sergey Rachmaninov's powerful Symphony No 3, often considered to be the composer's most overtly Russian symphony despite being written some two decades after he emigrated to America. Concluding the programme is Mily Balakirev's "Russia", an epic symphonic poem derived from themes collected during an expedition up the Volga river.

Tchaikovsky's early trio of symphonies have long lived in the shadow of the three that followed. Following his acclaimed Mariinsky disc of the final three symphonies, Valery Gergiev conducts outstanding performances of these early works with the London Symphony Orchestra. Tchaikovsky's early symphonies are full of rich expressive melodies something for which he had a natural talent. They contain influences of Russian nationalism and folk tunes, particularly in the second (Little Russian) and the first (Winter Dreams), which hints at a Russian landscape.

Oscar-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith has written scores and themes for well over 250 films and TV shows. His work has been thrilling fans for nearly fifty years. Widely acknowledged by his colleagues as a master of his art, Goldsmith has received (in addition to the Oscar for his score to The Omen in 1976) five Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe nominations, and seventeen additional Academy Award nominations.

Skies of America is the 17th album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, released on Columbia Records in 1972. It consists of one long composition by Coleman taking up both sides of the album, played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by David Measham. Coleman himself only plays on a few segments, and there is no other jazz instrumentation.

Following the success of Die Schöpfung (The Creation), which had swiftly gained popularity throughout Europe, Haydn’s librettist Baron Gottfried van Swieten suggested another project, based on James Thomson’s pastoral epic, The Seasons. One of Haydn’s last major works, Die Jahreszeiten depicts the yearly cycle of life in the countryside through the eyes of three peasants, providing us with music of thrilling vitality and creativity.

The late Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra present a collection of Haydn’s expressive and resplendent London Symphonies alongside the spirited and melodic Oxford Symphony.

Sir Simon Rattle pays homage to a composer he holds close to his heart with An Imaginary Orchestral Journey through the music of Joseph Haydn. Rattle trawls through the great composer’s impressive catalogue, piecing together excerpts from symphonies, oratorios and operas spanning a 40-year period in what the director describes as ‘a kind of greatest hits’ format.

The LSO’s magnificent string sound is world renowned and this recording marks the LSO Live debut of the LSO String Ensemble, led by LSO leader Roman Simovic, who directs a performance of the much loved Tchaikovsky "Serenade for Strings", together with Bartók’s "Divertimento". The Serenade has proved to be one of Tchaikovsky’s most enduringly popular works, a piece he described as being “passionately in love with”. Inspired in part by Mozart, its elegant music weaves Russian folk-song, and a fine example of the composer’s beloved Waltz, with an elegiac musical centrepiece. Also featured on this release is Bartók’s "Divertimento", one of the composer’s last works before leaving Europe for exile in the US. The Divertimento is a highly original work in its own unique idiom, contrasting two buoyant and light-hearted movements with a sombre Adagio in four sections.

This is an amazing recording of two superb performances from many years ago, beautifully remastered from the original source tapes. Josef Krips emphasizes the beauty and optimism in Beethoven's music, as opposed to raw strength and power. The First Symphony, often underrated in comparison to the others, really springs to life here. And the Eighth is a joyous romp from start to finish.

This remastered release is faithful to the original 1960 performances, which were recorded on 35mm film in order to accurately capture the orchestra. The music here is big, bright, and beautiful, with full instrumentation and precise direction. The passionate highs and sweeping lows of "Eroica" is a perfect introduction to Beethoven’s symphony cycle.

In presenting a new recording of one of the world's most popular symphonies, the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, it is fitting that it should be conducted by a musician internationally acclaimed as one of the foremost Beethoven interpreters of our day, Josef Krips. All the dynamism of the music and its performance has been faithfully preserved through the magic of Everest sound.

Josef Krips conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. This beautiful “nature” symphony receives an exquisite performance at the hands of a noted Beethoven interpreter. The composer’s sounds of nature are reproduced with like naturalness in Everest’s incomparable recording.

A ground-breaking new collaboration for fans of African music (Ali Farka Touré, Oumou Sangaré) as well as contemporary orchestral music (Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, the London Symphony Orchestra) Kôrôlén is a very special collaboration between two titans in music: Toumani Diabaté, the Grammy-winning Malian kora virtuoso, and the London Symphony Orchestra, renowned worldwide for their performances of orchestral music on record, film and stage.

Prokofiev’s Symphony No 3 is dedicated to Myaskovsky and first performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris on 17 May 1929. It is one of Prokofiev’s most intense works, unleashing a barrage of confrontational energy that carries with it as much relentless forward momentum as pulverising anxiety. ‘I had never before felt anything similar when listening to music,’ remarked Prokofiev’s colleague, the pianist Sviatoslav Richter, on hearing the piece; ‘it felt to me like an apocalypse’.

These recordings, made during Sir Colin Davis’ "Indian summer" with the orchestra, are acknowledged to be amongst the finest recordings ever made of this repertoire, receiving numerous awards. The symphonies were originally released between 2011 & 2013 & will now be made available together for the 1st time as a beautifully packaged box set, including 1 Pure Audio Blu-ray disc. Despite giving titles to the majority of his symphonies, Danish composer Carl Nielsen was often vague about what influenced each work. Nevertheless he was a master symphonist & his music is mesmerising, combining propulsive energy with lyrical invention.