7 October 2024

Rodzinski conducts Prokofiev (1957-58)


 

Two documents that testify the high level of this orchestra in the 50s: after all, they usually worked with Walter, Furtwängler, Karajan, Barbirolli, Celibidache etcetera... and of course Rodzinski himself. The sound quality is more than good for the period and it's remarkable that Alexander Nevsky is sung in Russian (a few years earlier even the German Requiem had been performed by Walter in Italian!); the reading of the Fifth is perhaps more discontinuous but still remarkable, with beautiful moments and an exciting Finale.


PROKOFIEV

Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78

Irene Companeez, alto

Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Roma della RAI

ARTUR RODZINSKI

May 22, 1958


Symphony No. 5

Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della Rai

ARTUR RODZINSKI

May 11, 1957

 

FLAC 

30 September 2024

Oskar Fried & Berliner Philharmoniker (the 1928 recordings)


 


LISZT

Les Préludes


RIMSKI-KORSAKOV

Shéhérazade, Symphonic Suite op. 35


STRAVINSKY

L'Oiseau de feu, suite


Berliner Philharmoniker

OSKAR FRIED


Polydor studio recordings 1928


FLAC + Scans with details

17 September 2024

Brahms PC2 Pollini-Ormandy live 1971


 


Here we are again! And here's something interesting, in really good sound. In addition, the first mov. performed during the Geneva Competition in 1958, when Pollini (16 year old) won the second prize.



BRAHMS


Piano Concerto no. 2

Maurizio Pollini, pf

Philadelphia Orchestra

Eugene Ormandy

Philadelphia, October 1971 *


Piano Concerto no. 2 (I. Mov)

Maurizio Pollini, pf

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Edmond Appia

Genève, 1958


* The Philadelphia Orchestra chronology gives the following dates: 22, 23 & 25 October 1971


FLAC separated + cover/back




30 July 2024

Weber, Brahms - Mravinsky

 





An interesting Mravinsky rarity: mainly because we can listen here some of his early recordings (not much remains of him until the mid-50s) and above all because he's not on the podium, as usual, of the Leningrad Philharmonic.



WEBER

Oberon, Overture

Invitation to the Dance, op. 65

Der Freischütz, Overture


BRAHMS

Symphony no. 4


USSR Symphony Orchestra

EVGENI MRAVINSKY


Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory - December 29, 1954


FLAC + complete scans

18 July 2024

Ancerl conducts Beethoven 6 & Martinu 5




Another rare Ancerl live. A delightful Beethoven 6, in search of simplicity rather than the timbral ecstasy (in opposite ways) of Karajan and Celibidache, or Scherchen's analysis, or the "cosmic" solemnity of Bernstein, Giulini, Furtwängler, Klemperer... And it really works, perhaps because of the "Bohemian sweetness" of the conductor. It just flows so naturally... Wow. 

I don't particularly like Martinu's 5 (maybe you could suggest a very "catching" version), but even here Ancerl is excellent. Really good stereo sound, by the way.


FLAC & Complete scans with details

11 July 2024

Oistrakh conducts Tchaikovsky 6 & Grieg PC (Richter)

 



In the RR series I forgot this: an addition that is certainly not negligible, also for Grieg! But there is another version of Tchaikovsky's Sixth conducted by Oistrakh that I prefer to this one, I will make it available as soon as I can. If you missed the other Russia Revelation take a look in the previous posts... all still available.


TCHAIKOVSKY

Symphony no. 6


GRIEG

Piano Concerto

Sviatoslav Richter, pf


DAVID OISTRAKH, conductor


FLAC + scans with details


20 June 2024

Schumann - Piano Concerto op. 54 - Pollini, Karajan live 1974


 


Well, these two audio documents are full of questions that I turn to you, if you have any opinions  or if you know anything about it.

It is quite well known that Pollini was a rather shy man and apart from Abbado, Böhm (his favorite conductors: I know he also appreciated Jochum very much), followed by Boulez, Muti and a few others, he never established large and continuous collaborations... Perhaps some of you have news about the meeting with Karajan. Very interesting document, anyway: it is a nervous and sensitive reading by Pollini (particularly in the Finale) that I have not always found in his other live/studio recordings of the Concerto.

There are also doubts about the authenticity of this Beethoven 4 by Michelangeli... Perhaps someone better informed can clarify.


SCHUMANN

Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54

 

Maurizio Pollini, pf

Wiener Philharmoniker

Herbert von Karajan 

Salzburg, 15 August 1974 



BEETHOVEN 

Piano Concerto N. 4, Op. 58

 

(Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, pf - wrong attribution)

MARIA TIPO, pf

Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra

Zivojin Zdravkovic

Belgrade, 7 October 1973  


FLAC + Scans

6 June 2024

Mahler 5 - Ancerl - Toronto, live





MAHLER
Symphony No. 5

Toronto Symphony Orchestra
KAREL ANCERL

Live - November 4, 1969

FLAC + Scans





 

29 May 2024

Mitropoulos rarities


 

I fished out this CD bought several years ago, I don't remember where (maybe in a used record store?) I take the opportunity to "save" it by making a digital copy and here it is!

A group of little-known recordings by Mitropoulos, in good sound for the period. 

The most interesting are the Spanish Rhapsody (with Egon Petri) and the Bach-Casella Ciaccona from the Partita II. The "Orchestra of Radio Italiana" is the Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI (2 June 1950)

Complete booklet with details included.


FLAC


28 May 2024

Mozart - Requiem - Ancerl 1966 live

 



MOZART

Requiem KV 626


Agnes Giebel, soprano

Vera Soukoupova, alto

Georg Jelden, tenor

Heinz Rehfuss, bass


Czech Choir

Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

KAREL ANCERL

14 September 1966 (live in Montreux)


FLAC + Cover & Back




BTW, two more great Ancerl live concerts are still available here:


https://laureateconductor.blogspot.com/2020/09/karel-ancerl-czech-po-live-1958.html


https://laureateconductor.blogspot.com/2019/05/karel-ancerl-live-in-koln-1970.html

12 May 2024

Bach-Scherchen - Die Kunst der Fuge - Scherchen (1965)


 



BACH-SCHERCHEN

"L'art de la Fugue"

Orchestra della Radiotelevisione della Svizzera Italiana

HERMANN SCHERCHEN

Recording: 14 May 1965


2 CD - FLAC - Complete scans with details included





25 April 2024

Enescu - Complete Columbia recordings 1924-29





The previous post dedicated to Enescu was very well received, so I'll add this. 

A very rare OOP CD.


Enescu - Complete Columbia Recordings (EMI/Shellman, Japan, 1995)


FLAC - Scans, tracklist & infos included




13 April 2024

Beethoven 2 and Brahms 4 - Knappertsbusch 1952


 

A long time OOP CD which contains a 1952 concert 

(with extremely good sound for the period).

Kna's severe and "massive" style is perfectly recognizable even on the podium of an orchestra that is certainly not among the most famous; indeed, these are more energetic and "focused" interpretations than many others left by the german conductor. So I would recommend the listening even if this repertoire offers hundreds (if not thousands, by now) of alternatives: in particular for the powerful overhang given to the Passacaglia that closes Brahms' Fourth.


Beethoven 2 and Brahms 4

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Bremen

HANS KNAPPERTSBUSCH

Live -  12 XII 1952 - Grosser Glockensaal


FLAC

 

11 April 2024

Bruckner 2 - Giulini, BSO Live 1974

 



The studio recording of the Second with Giulini on the podium 

of the Wiener Symphoniker is generally considered one of the best in the catalogue: 

very interesting, therefore, also listening to a live version in good sound like this one.



Bruckner Symphony no. 2


Boston Symphony Orchestra

CARLO MARIA GIULINI


Live recording - Boston, 29 march 1974


FLAC





27 March 2024

Shostakovich 5 (Yuri Temirkanov) & Prokofiev 3 ( Gennadi Rozhdesvensky)




Another album in the series (one of the last at my disposal) 
also in homage to Temirkanov, recently passed away. 



SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony no. 5

URSS State Symphony Orchestra
YURI TEMIRKANOV
14 june 1981

PROKOFIEV
Symphony no. 3

URSS State Symphony Orchestra
GENNADI ROZHDESTVENSKY
6 january 1961


FLAC + complete scans


I'm really sorry, but I don't have time to restore old posts at the moment. The Toscanini series, at the time, was very popular, with many downloads. Those who were already here know this. There's also a problem with hosting sites: I don't have the slightest intention of asking you for money, but on the other hand, it's not fair that I spend it. The Blog was born to share great music with an "invisible pact", not to put money in the way. I have done and will do what I can, I hope to choose and make available in the future interesting recordings, little known and so on... many times I avoid because I see that they are already somewhere, they are on the market, or they are too recent, or my source is not better. The only thing I can tell you is that even if you see moments of "stasis", I'try to continue. Sometimes I make a mistake believing that something is unwelcome or vice versa...  For this reason Your feedback is always very important!
 




20 March 2024

Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony - Rozhdestvensky



TCHAIKOVSKY

Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-overture

Orchestra of the Leningrad Kirov Theatre
YURI TEMIRKANOV
recording 6 apr 1983


"Manfred" Symphony, op. 58

Grand Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television
GENNADI ROZHDESTVENSKY
recording 10 oct 1965


FLAC - Separated tracks




 

20 February 2024

Klemperer in Budapest - live 1948-50


 


Bach - Magnificat & Brandenburg Concerto no. 5

Wagner - Lohengrin Preludes I-III, Meistersinger Preludes I-III


Budapest Symphony Orchestra

Hungarian State Opera Orchestra

OTTO KLEMPERER

Budapest 1948-50


FLAC + Complete scans & Details

9 February 2024

Mahler 6 - Abbado, WS 1967




A little late (but the last few weeks have been very busy), 

a small tribute on the tenth anniversary of his death (20 January 2014). 

CD Hunt, of course OOP.


MAHLER

Symphony no. 6


Wiener Symphoniker

CLAUDIO ABBADO


Live - Wien. May 24, 1967




FLAC (separated tracks) + complete scans



28 January 2024

Rachmaninoff 3 & The Rock - Rozhdestvensky






And another one: 


RACHMANINOFF
 
The Rock, Symphonic Poem, Op. 7  
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44  

State Symphony Orchestra
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky

Recording: 12 March 1991.


FLAC - Scans

 

16 January 2024

Rozhdestvensky conducts Rimski, Taneyev, Arensky

 



I continue with this series of CDs, this time "escaping" from the more usual repertoire. Even Rimski-Korsakov's Third is hardly ever performed, but at least there are some versions on record. I listened to the other two works here for the first time... but I admit that for me these were not great "revelations" :)


RIMSKI-KORSAKOV

Symphony no. 3, op. 32 (revised edition 1886)


TANEYEV

Overture to "Oresteya", op. 6


ARENSKY

March in memory of Suvorov


Grand Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Television

GENNADI ROZHDESTVENSKY

recordings 1962-1973 (further details in the booklet)


FLAC + Scans







12 January 2024

Shostakovich 8 - Alexander Gauk (1959)

 



Returning to the Russia Revelations series to start this year posts, 

here you can find an important DSCH 8 recorded in 1959: 

plus the Festive Overture, composed only five years earlier.



SHOSTAKOVICH

Festive Overture

Symphony no. 8


Grand Symphony Orchestra of  State Radio

ALEXANDER GAUK

October 7, 1959 



FLAC & Scans

29 December 2023

Kodrashin conducts Prokofiev & Bartók



PROKOFIEV

Scythian Suite

BARTOK

Music for strings, percussion and celesta


Moscow Philharmonic

KIRILL KONDRASHIN

Melodiya, 1974


FLAC and scans







18 December 2023

Bruckner 9 - Lovro von Matačić





Among Matacić's many Brucknerian documents, I propose one of my favorites. 

A recording that did not have a great circulation, 

but a profoundly honest and thoughtful approach to Bruckner's symphonic last word.



Anton Bruckner - Symphony No.9

 

WIENER SYMPHONIKER

 Lovro von Matačić


 Recorded: 12 & 13 march 1983. - TT: 59'34''.


FLAC with Scans




10 December 2023

Rachmaninoff PC 2&3 Gieseking, Mengelberg (1940)


 



Two live recordings (1940) released several times, 

but I don't think currently available on CD. 

This is the 1997 Da Capo transfer.



RACHMANINOFF

Piano Concertos 2&3


Walter Gieseking

Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam

WILLEM MENGELBERG

Live October 31, 1940 (no. 2) and March 28, 1940 (no. 3)


FLAC




22 November 2023

Bruckner 4 - Solti & CSO live in Salzburg


 

Here you can find a remarkable Bruckner Fourth captured during the big CSO Europe Tour in 1981. As always is matter of taste: anyway, if you like Solti's style here you will find rush, compactness and energy but also breathing space, without that almost "brutal" and dismissive tone of some of his later Brucknerian recordings (impression I also had listening to him live in the Fourth and Eighth in the early 90s).


Bruckner

Symphony no. 4


Chicago Symphony Orchestra

SIR GEORG SOLTI


Live, 30 august 1981

Salzburg, Großes Festspielhaus



FLAC - 4 separated tracks






27 October 2023

Copland, Thompson & Sousa - BSO Koussevitzky


 


Another rare OOP Koussevitzky CD with an all-american program.

The narrator in "A Lincoln Portrait" is Melvyn Douglas (1901-1981).

works by Aaron Copland, Randall Thompson and John Philip Sousa


Boston Symphony Orchestra

SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY


FLAC



9 October 2023

Haydn, Strauss, Mahler - Schwarzkopf, Cleveland Orchestra, Szell - live 1968

 




You may have already heard this Schwarzkopf-Szell 1968 Fourth live. Anyway, here you can also find the first part of that concert: surely no less interesting, speaking of one of Haydn's greatest interpreters and an equally renowned Straussian singer.



HAYDN - Symphony no. 93


STRAUSS  - 4 Orchesterlieder 

(Ruhe, meine Seele - Meinem Kinde - Morgen - Wiegenlied)


MAHLER - Symphony no. 4


Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano

The Cleveland Orchestra

GEORGE SZELL

July 26, 1968 - Blossom Festival


FLAC (6 files)








30 September 2023

Beethoven Triple Concerto in C, op. 56 - Trio di Trieste (2 performances)





Unfortunately the activity of the Trio di Trieste is not as widely documented on record as it deserves (considering a repertoire that included over 80 compositions), but what remains is very important. It is hoped that sooner or later the live recordings preserved in the radio archives will resurface, like the two proposed here.



BEETHOVEN

Triple Concerto op. 56 

(two recordings, 1954 and 1966)


TRIO DI TRIESTE

Dario De Rosa (1919-2013), pf

Renato Zanettovich (1921-2021), violin

Libero Lana (1921-1989), cello


In the 1966 recording the cellist is Amedeo Baldovino (1916-1998).



FLAC 








21 September 2023

Mahler 3 - Martinon (Live 1973)





The Martinon/Chicago live recording made a few years earlier is quite well known and appreciated; this Paris performance is less widespread, but not less important. It's not so easy to find real continuity conducting a such vast work, but the French master does it very well - there are no flat or boring moments - doing justice to both the most delicate or intimate passages and the grandest ones, without exaggerations and extremisms but with all the necessary intensity. The stereo recording is good, although the sound is a little congested in the fortissimo. 
All considered, a remarkable Third indeed.

(Of course thanks for all your interesting and kind comments, always appreciated!)


GUSTAV MAHLER 
Symphony No. 3 in D minor
Hildegarde Ruetgers, mezzosoprano

Choeurs de I'ORTF, Maîtrise de I'ORTF
Orchestre National de I'ORTF (Radio France)
JEAN MARTINON 

Paris, Live - October 3, 1973
  



FLAC - 6 separated files











 

13 September 2023

Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem - Celibidache 1960


 



Brahms

Ein Deutches Requiem, op. 45


Agnes Giebel, sp - Hermann Prey, br


Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Milano della Rai

SERGIU CELIBIDACHE

Milano - February 19, 1960


Listening to this EDR after several years, I appreciated it again (and more than I remembered!) for the extreme concentration of all the performers, as well as for a better sound quality than the average Rai recordings of the period. I therefore recommend it to those who don't know it.



FLAC - Separated tracks