Before every performance there is a moment of anticipation. The lights dim and the audience eagerly awaits those magical first few notes—the beginning of a story on stage. This selection from the LSO celebrates the very best musical openers, showcasing the magnificent overtures and preludes that have become beloved concert pieces in their own right.

Conductors Marin Alsop, Yuri Ahronovitch, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, John Georgiadis, Bernard Haitink, Richard Kaufman, Wyn Morris, François-Xavier Roth, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Barry Tuckwell
Performers London Symphony Orchestra

1. Euryanthe: Overture - Carl Maria von Weber (John Eliot Gardiner)
2. Egmont Overture - Ludwig van Beethoven (Wyn Morris)
3. Candide: Overture - Leonard Bernstein (Marin Alsop)
4. Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune - Claude Debussy (François Xavier-Roth)
5. Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Allegro di molto - Felix Mendelssohn (John Eliot Gardiner)
6. Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Tempo primo - Felix Mendelssohn (John Eliot Gardiner)
7. The Storm Overture - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Gennady Rozhdestvensky)
8. Tragic Overture - Johannes Brahms (Bernard Haitink)
9. Lohengrin: Act III (Prelude) - Richard Wagner (Barry Tuckwell)
10. Cyrano de Bergerac: Overture - Dmitri Tiomkin (Richard Kaufman)
11. Die Fledermaus: Overture - Johann Strauss II (John Georgiadis)
12. Benvenuto Cellini: Overture - Hector Berlioz (Sir Colin Davis)
13. The Gypsy Baron: Overture - Johann Strauss II (John Georgiadis)
14. The Four Poster: Overture - Dmitri Tiomkin (Richard Kaufman)
15. Ruslan and Lyudmila: Overture - Mikhail Glinka (Yuri Ahronovitch)

Release Date 22 July 2022
LSO5111-D | 0822231511168

Producers James Mallinson (Tracks 8, 10, 12 & 14)
John Boyden (Tracks 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15)
Nicholas Parker (Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6)
Andrew Cornall (Track 3)
Engineers Classic Sound Ltd (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 & 14)
Tony Faulkner (Tracks 7, 9)
Tryggvi Tryggvason (Track 2)
Michael Sheady (Track 11)
Geoff Foster (Track 13)
Robert Auger (Track 15)

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