Kodrashin conducts Prokofiev & Bartók

PROKOFIEV

Scythian Suite

BARTOK

Music for strings, percussion and celesta

Moscow Philharmonic

KIRILL KONDRASHIN

Melodiya, 1974

FLAC and scans

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

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

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

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

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)

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 

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

 

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

Saygun - Yunus Emre - Stokowski

 

Here 2 of the rarest Stoky recordings I have. 

A veeeeery old post reuploaded on request (and sorry for the delay).

Ahmed Adnan Saygun (7 September 1907 - 6 January 1991)  composer, musicologist and writer on music, is acknowledged as one of the most important composers in Turkish music history.

His works are rooted in Western musical practice; yet they incorporate traditional Turkish folk songs and culture. He usually adds this folk element by picking one note out of the scale and weaves a melody around it using a Turkish mode. His  output includes five symphonies, five operas, two piano concertos, concertos for violin, viola and cello, and a wide range of chamber and choral works. The London Times called him "the grand old man of Turkish music, who was to his country what Jean Sibelius is to Finland, what Manuel de Falla is to Spain, and what Béla Bartók is to Hungary."

Sincerely I ignore if this tape contains the entire performance - no applause at the end - but according to wiki "is an hour-long work" (and here the duration is 58.35):

"Saygun's international acclaim flourished with his oratorio Yunus Emre in 1946. This is an hour-long work written for four vocal soloists, a full chorus and full orchestra that sets a number of poems by the 13th century Anatolian mystic poet Yunus Emre. This work captures Yunus Emre's legacy with the use of Turkish modes and folk melodies, although it is written in the post-romantic style. Since its premiere in Ankara in 1947, the oratorio has been translated into five languages and performed worldwide, including a performance in English at the United Nations led by conductor Leopold Stokowski with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1958. This same year he won the Stella della Solidarietà and the Jean Sibelius composition awards".


In theme of oddities, as fill-up for an hypotetical CD  I propose a coupling with the Concerto for Theremin & Orchestra by Anis Fuleihan (1900 - 1970), a Cypriot-born American composer, conductor and pianist.  The orchestra is not (as frequently indicated for this recording) the NYPO, but the NY City SO.

"In 1944, on the recommendation of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Stokowski helped form the New York City Symphony Orchestra, which they intended would make music accessible for middle-class workers. Ticket prices were set low, and performances took place at convenient, after-work hours. Many early concerts were standing room only; however, a year later in 1945, the board wanted to trim expenses even further and Stoky resigned. Stokowski made three 78pm sets with the New York City Symphony for RCA: Beethoven's 6th Symphony, Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration, and a selection of orchestral music from Georges Bizet's Carmen".



Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907-1991)
"Yunus Emre" oratorio op.26

Janice Harsanyi
Carol Wolf
James Wainner
Scott Gibson

Crane Chorus of the Potsdam State University
Symphony of the Air
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Live - New York, United Nations - 25/11/58


ANIS FULEIHAN (1900-1970)
Concerto for Theremin and Orchestra
(1st world performance)

Clara Rockmore, theremin
New York City Symphony
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Live - February 1945
(with announcements)

 FLAC

Furtwängler conducts Wagner (1952)

Furtwängler conducts Wagner

1) Der Fliegende Holländer, Overture

2) Siegfried-Idyll

3) Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt

Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della Rai

Live - Torino, 6 June 1952

4) Siegfrieds Trauermarsch

Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della Rai

Live - Roma, 31 May 1952

5) Tristan und Isolde, Prelude & Liebestod

Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della Rai

Live - Torino, 11 March 1952

I "fished out" from my collection and ripped this CD which contains some of Furtwängler's lesser known Wagnerian postwar documents. Luckily it still works, so I can offer it to you. Of course the Trauermarsch is not part of the complete Ring cycle in Roma (performed in 1953): so this 1952 recording is quite rare. 

FLAC - 5 Separated tracks + Scans

Bruckner 5 - Jochum, live 1982

 

I don't know if it's the same for you, but for me every new "live" discovery of Jochum is a reason for a great joy, never for disappointment. Especially from the 70s onwards... and especially if we are talking about Bruckner! I don't even try to describe. Just listen for it. So, like last summer, I greet you wishing you happy holidays with Jochum. Thanks for staying here, see you in September.

ANTON BRUCKNER

Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major (1878 Version Ed. Leopold Nowak)

Berliner Philharmoniker

EUGEN JOCHUM

Live - October 6, 1982 - Berlin, Philharmonie

FLAC - 4 separated tracks

Richard Strauss - Giulini, Live

 

Still no Wagner-Giulini, at the moment... :)  Anyway, another "almost-avoided" great composer: during his entire activity, Giulini conducted only these two works by Richard Strauss (the Vier Letzte Lieder several times). Here they are gathered. An opportunity to meet again two other beloved artists. Lucia Popp - in the same period of the famous Emi recording with Tennstedt - and the great konzertmeister (or better "Concertgebouw-meister") Hermann Krebbers.

STRAUSS

Violin Concerto

Hermann Krebbers, violin

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam

Carlo Maria Giulini

Live in Amsterdam - August 27, 1982

Vier Letzte Lieder

Lucia Popp

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Carlo Maria Giulini 

Live in Los Angeles - November 6, 1981

FLAC - 7 separated tracks

Enescu plays Bach and Beethoven (1949)

Also available on YT, but this is the complete concert in a better source 

(very good for a live recording of the late 40s).

Beethoven's Concerto, performed with extreme freedom and intensity, 

not only highlights the musicality but also the humanity and even the fragility 

of an immense musician perhaps still underestimated as a composer.

Maybe it helps us understand why Menuhin, despite his relationships 

with Elgar, Bartók (!), Furtwängler - and many others - considered Enescu 

to be the greatest musician he ever met.

BACH Violin concerto n. 2, BWV 1042

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto op.61 (cadenzas by Joseph Joachim)

BACH Fugue from Violin Sonata n. 1 BWV 1001

George Enescu, violin

University of Illinois Orchestra

John Kuypers

 

Live - Smith Music Hall, University of Illinois

February 16, 1949

FLAC - 7 Separated tracks

 

Mengelberg - Strauss & Wagenaar

 

I've always appreciated this particular restoration 

of the famous Mengelberg 1928 recording: 

undoubtedly one of the best and most important of that period. 

I've been listening to it again these days 

and since this Pearl CD is now very difficut to find...

Well, here it is.

FLAC with complete scans & details

Webern, Mahler, Brahms - Giulini, RCO

 

As in the previous Szell post, two works (Webern and Mahler, of course) absent from the conductor's "official" discography.

Anton Webern - Five Pieces for Orchestra, op. 10 

Gustav Mahler - Adagio from Symphony no. 10

Johannes Brahms - Symphony no. 4, op.98  

Royal Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam

CARLO MARIA GIULINI

Live, 9 June 1979 - Amsterdam, Concertgebouw  

FLAC - 6 separated files

Kubelik live in Amsterdam

 

A complete concert in great sound, 

with the best performance of this Martinu's Concerto that I have heard so far.

Bohuslav Martinu

Concerto for piano, timpani and string orchestra, H.271  

Hölzl, Hans (timpani), Kahl, Gernot (piano)

Leos Janácek

Taras Bulba  

Johannes Brahms

Symphony No. 1, Op. 68 in C minor  

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

RAFAEL KUBELIK

Live recording - October 24, 1970

Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

FLAC

Prokofiev, Mozart, Franck - Szell 1969

 

A concert of great interest to all admirers of Szell, as he has left us no studio recordings of Prokofiev's First and Franck's Symphony.

 

PROKOFIEV

Symphony no. 1 "Classical"

MOZART

Piano Concerto n. 27, KV. 595

Robert Casadesus, pf

FRANCK

Symphony in D minor

Blossom Summer Music Festival

August 14, 1969  

FLAC

Dorati conducts Bartók - Live in Paris

 

Béla Bartók

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz. 106, BB 114 

The Miraculous Mandarin

Orchestre National de France

ANTAL DORATI

(Live, Paris - Salle Pleyel, 29 november 1980) 

About The Miraculous Mandarin, I don't remember who said that listening to the suite one misses the excluded parts, listening to the complete work one misses the incandescent closure of the suite. 

Well, here The Mandarin is presented in a version (prepared by Dorati himself?) that I have never heard before. A sort of hybrid between the complete score and the suite, with the presence of the choir but the closure of the suite. All in very good sound.

FLAC

Britten - War Requiem - Haitink 1964

 

The Dutch premiere of Britten’s War Requiem in 1964, 

with the composer himself conducting the additional chamber orchestra

and the three singers for whom this great work was conceived.

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

War Requiem, Op. 66

Galina Vishnevskaya, Soprano

Peter Pears, Tenor

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Baritone

Groot Omroepkoor

Jongenskoor van de St. Willibrorduskerk buiten de Veste

NCRV Vocaal Ensemble

Chamber Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Bernard Haitink, conductor

Holland Festival 1964 - Friday, 3 July 1964

Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal - Amsterdam

 

FLAC - separated files

Prokofiev 5 - David Oistrakh

 

Another recording by Oistrakh as conductor: never available on CD, as far as I know. It goes without saying that from Koussevitzky and Szell to Celibidache, Bernstein, Jansons etcetera there are sharper, virtuoso or monumental interpretations of it, but this remains a very well shaped and authoritative reading.

To complement it I have added one of his lesser known recordings of the Violin Concerto No. 1

Prokofiev

Symphony no. 5 

Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra

DAVID OISTRAKH

Studio recording, 1967

 

Prokofiev

Violin concerto n°1 op.19

 

DAVID OISTRAKH, vl

Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

RAFAEL KUBELIK 

Prague - May 15, 1947

FLAC

Mahler 7 - Bernstein ODP 1981

 

Every Mahlerian recording by Bernstein is important, but in this case we add the interest of the unusual French timbre for a Mahlerian conductor that we know above all in American, Dutch and Viennese interpretations: the result is very particular and suggestive, especially in the three central movements.

GUSTAV MAHLER

Symphony no. 7

Orchestre de Paris

LEONARD BERNSTEIN

Live - Paris, Palais des congrès - 13 may 1981

FLAC - Separated tracks

Bruckner 4 - Sawallisch - live 1975

 

Not always considered among the great Brucknerians, but his Orfeo recordings and some live documents say otherwise. 

BRUCKNER

Symphony n. 4 in E-flat major “Romantic” 

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

WOLFGANG SAWALLISCH

Live recording - Genève 

December 3, 1975

FLAC - Separated tracks

Brahms - Ein Deutsches Requiem, op. 45 - BSO, Munch - Tanglewood 1958

 

BRAHMS

Ein Deutsches Requiem, op. 45

Hilde Gueden, sp

Donald Gramm, br

Tanglewood Festival Chorus

Boston Symphony Orchestra

CHARLES MUNCH

July 19, 1958

Live - Tanglewood 

FLAC - Separated tracks