Hard to imagine anything more gorgeous than Jessye Norman's singing alongside Tennstedt's conducting: a great all-Strauss concert indeed.
Have a Good Year!
See you here in 2023.
STRAUSS
Der Bürger als Edelmann, Suite op. 60
5 Orchesterlieder
(Cäcilie, Zueignung, Wiegenlied,
Ruhe meine Seele, Meinem Kinde)
Salomes Tanz & Final Scene
Jessye Norman
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Klaus Tennstedt
London, Royal Festival Hall
Live - May 4, 1986
Very different from the more sober Mahler-Leinsdorf studio recordings (I like his Boston Third, but meh... not so much nn. 1, 5 & 6). This Fifth is more intense and rich of contrasts; the CSO offers great moments. Fast tempos (the total duration is 65 minutes) and an extremely exciting finale.
Mahler
Symphony no. 5
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
ERICH LEINSDORF
Orchestra Hall, Chicago
January 19, 1978
FLAC
Bernstein had already performed his Chicester Psalms in Rome with the same orchestra (1967, recording previously posted here); he also presented his work many years later, conducting the Santa Cecilia Orchestra. The curious fact is that at the opening of this 1973 concert - in the presence of Pope Paul VI - for the first time a musical page with a Hebrew text was performed in Vatican City
BERNSTEIN
Chichester Psalms
BACH
Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243
soprano I, soprano II, elements of the children's choir
controtenore, William Zukof
tenore, Eberhard Buchner
basso, Kurt Moll
Harvard Glee Club and Newark Boys Chorus
choir masters: James Mc Carthy, F. John Adams, Gianni Lazzari
Orchestra e Coro di Roma della Rai
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Live - June 23, 1973
Sala Nervi, Città del Vaticano
FLAC
SCHUBERT
Octet in F major, D. 803 (arr. Szell)
Members of the Cleveland Orchestra
GEORGE SZELL
December 16, 1965 - Severance Hall, Cleveland
The work is performed in a "enlarged" version prepared by Szell:
Horn, clarinet, bassoon and a small string orchestra (17 players, 4-4-4-3-2).
Gluck
Iphigénie en Aulide, Overture
Rimskij-Korsakov
Sheherazade, Op. 35
(Mischa Mischakoff, violin)
NBC Symphony Orchestra
ERICH LEINSDORF
17 april 1948 - NY, studio 8H
FLAC (commentary included)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony no. 6 in B Minor, op. 74
STRAVINSKY: Le Sacre du Printemps
Romanian National Radio Orchestra
IGOR MARKEVITCH
Mihail Jora Concert Hall
Bucharest - November 5, 1965
In very good sound quality, a concert recorded for the Romanian Radio.
FLAC
Béla Bartók
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz. 106
Igor Stravinsky
The Firebird, suite
NBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ERNEST ANSERMET
New York - NBC - Studio 8H
January 8, 1949
(announcements included)
FLAC
Webern: Passacaglia op. 1
Berg: Der Wein (*)
Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande
Dorothy Dorow, soprano (*)
Wiener Philharmoniker
Karl Böhm
Wiener Konzerthaus - Live, 1 June 1969
MAHLER
Symphony no. 2
Veronica Tyler, soprano
Helen Watts, contralto
Cleveland Orchestra & Chours
Eugene Ormandy
Cleveland, 2 november 1972
FLAC (Separated files)
Arnold Schönberg: Variations for Orchestra, op.31
Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto no.2, Sz.95 (Theo Bruins, pf)
Claude Debussy: Jeux
Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam
Pierre Boulez
Amsterdam, Concertgebouw - February 5, 1967
BEETHOVEN
Egmont, overture op. 84
Piano Concerto no. 4, op. 58 (*)
Symphony no. 7, op. 92
Wilhelm Backhaus, pf (*)
Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
Karl Böhm
Live in Montreux - 11 September 1959
FLAC
Three unpublished live recordings. In addition to the rarity of the material, the evolution of the conductor is very impressive: the London performance shows a true "possession" of the complex score, certainly not achieved in the previous two.
FLAC
Berg - Sonata op, 1
Bach - Concerto Italiano
Mozart - Fantasy In F Minor, K.594
etc.
Material published for the first time in the second half of the '80s and reprinted in the early '90.
Detailed tracklist & recording infos included
FLAC + Scans
MAHLER
Symphony No. 8
Liane Synek, soprano drammatico
Colette Herzog, soprano
Ruth Hesse, mezzosoprano
Helga Jenckel, mezzosoprano
William Blankenship, tenore
Hans Otto Kloose, baritono
Gerd Nienstedt, basso
Maîtrise de l'ORTF, Orchestre National de l'ORTF, Choeurs de l'ORTF
Georges Sébastian
November 26, 1964
First Performance in France
FLAC
BRUCKNER
Symphony no. 7
Berliner Philharmoniker
Karl Böhm
March 24, 1977
FLAC
I don't know if it's the same for you ... anyway, Böhm for me is sometimes the most boring, other times the most sensational. In particular with Mozart and Bruckner.
For example, the 4th Decca is one of my ten favorite studio symphonic recordings ever (and maybe number 1 for recording quality). At the same time, listening to his Bruckner 7&8 DG I almost fall asleep.
Let me know, if you like. :)
MOZART
Requiem KV. 626
Margareta Hallin, sopran.
Gurli Plesner, alt.
Claes-Hakan Ahnsjö, tenor.
Ulrik Cold, bass.
DR Symphony Orchestra & Concert Choir
Sergiu Celibidache
Copenhagen - Radiohusets Concert Hall, 9 novembre 1972)
A little digression.
I'm not going to stop. I hope you enjoy the news.
But I have several commitments.
Also I try not to put "anything", "something"... "thing", here. I am lazy, I am limited, idiosyncratic, but I also have flaws.
Sometimes I make a mistake in understanding what you may like, what is "rare" or not.
We're all dinosaurs here, in a way, so I trust you will understand.
I would just like to tell that you are rightly disappointed when I'm not present enough, but consider that I think and I care a lot about you and what to do here. Sometimes I try to surprise you, other times just to give you something just discovered right away.
As you well know, the pleasure of appreciating together things of which just "the last human beings" know the value is truly the only reason to go on.
All this to say that I may be absent for weeks, but always expect a new post at any moment. ;)
MARIO CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO
Piano Concerto n.2
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, pf
Live - November 2, 1939 - World Premiere
MISCHA PORTNOFF
Piano Concerto
Nadia Reisenberg, pf
Live - February 23, 1941 - World Premiere
NYPO - John Barbirolli
FLAC
BERLIOZ
Harold en Italie, op. 16
Rudolf Barshai, vla
URSS State Sympnony Orchestra
David Oistrakh
Recording 1969
FLAC - Cover & Back
BRAHMS Violin Concerto in D major, op. 77
Arthur Grumiaux, violin
STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements
DEBUSSY Ibéria
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
ERNEST ANSERMET
LIVE - 27 January 1960
Victoria Hall, Genève
FLAC
BACH
St. Matthew Passion BWV 244
Tenor [Evangelist]: Eric Greene; Bass [Jesus]: Gordon Clinton; Soprano: Pauline Brockless; Contralto: Nancy Evans; Tenor: Wilfred Brown; Bass-Baritone: John Carol Case
Eric Gritton, piano - Dr. William Cole, organ (electric).
Leith Hill Music Festival Chorus & Orchestra
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Mar 5, 1958 - Recorded at Dorking Halls, Leith Hill, England.
Many numbers omitted, sung in english, a famous and admired composer but not a "great" conductor in the sense commonly given to this appellation, "old fashioned" and anti-philological (piano and electric organ for the continuo!), an obscure orchestra and singers certainly not as famous as many who recorded Bach's masterpiece... everything seems to suggest that we are in front of something "avoidable": a curiosity, at best, due to the prestige of RVW. It is just the opposite. Like the older Mengelberg recording, this one has something magnetic, absolutely unique and unrepeatable. Published on 4 LPs, then on 2 CD Pearl out of print.
FLAC - Scans with tracklist & infos
Following the Quartetto Italiano rarities previoulsly uploaded,
here you can find 4 unpublished live recordings:
TARTINI Sonata a Quattro in Sol Maggiore
(January 29, 1951)
BOCCHERINI Quartetto op. 6 n. 1
(March 23, 1966)
CHERUBINI Quartetto in Fa Maggiore op. posth
(April 15, 1959)
HAYDN Streichquartett op. 76 n. 2
(March 18, 1970)
QUARTETTO ITALIANO
Paolo Borciani vl I, Elisa Pegreffi vl II
Piero Farulli vla, Franco Rossi vc
FLAC
I continue with some recordings by Oistrakh as conductor...
SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony no. 9
STRAUSS
Till Eulenspiegel
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
DAVID OISTRAKH
Live 1970
FLAC + Cover and back
A truly "historical" collection, realized under the supervision of the composer.
The 2 disc set includes, in the appendix,
interventions by Schoenberg and the members of the quartet.
FLAC - Complete scans included
2 CD - FLAC - Scans & infos
An exciting performance in very good sound.
BERLIOZ
Symphonie Fantastique
New York Philharmonic
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Live in Montreux - September 13, 1968
FLAC
HAYDN
Symphony no. 88 in G
STRAUSS
Tod und Verklärung
SCHUMANN
Symphony no. 4
Wiener Philharmoniker
HANS KNAPPERTSBUSCH
Live - Wien, Musikverein
16 december 1962
FLAC
PROKOFIEV
Symphony No. 5
Semyon Kotko, suite op. 81 bis
GENNADI ROZHDESTVENSKY
FLAC + scans & infos
BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 6
SCHOENBERG
Variations for Orchestra, op. 31
Orchestre National de l'ORTF
HERMANN SCHERCHEN
Live - Paris, January 20, 1964
Flac & scans
An unpublished concert by Mravinsky in Vienna:
no news regarding the repertoire, but extraordinary performances.
PROKOFIEV
Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2, Op. 64c
(Contains: The Montagues and the Capulets; Juliet-the litle girl; Friar Laurence; Dance; Romeo and Juliet before parting; Dance of the maids from the Antilles; Romeo at the Juliet's grave)
Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
YEVGENY MRAVINSKY
LIVE - Wien, Musikverein
June 3, 1982
Another couple of CDs out of print
(although the recordings have been reissued by other labels).
MAHLER
Symphony no. 1
SWR Baden-Baden
HANS ROSBAUD
September 13, 1961
FLAC
