Mendelssohn, Bartók, Debussy - Szell live

Another complete Szell concert featuring a great work not included in his "official" discography: Bartok's Violin Concerto no. 2. Also an opportunity to listen to an important soloist who passed away in 2023 and is not remembered as much as she deserves: the german violinist Edith Peinemann, who collaborated with Szell on several occasions.

MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night's Dream

(Overture, Scherzo & Notturno)

BARTOK Violin Concerto no. 2

DEBUSSY La Mer

Edith Peinemann, vl

Cleveland Orchestra

GEORGE SZELL

Live, 12 january 1967

FLAC

Mahler 9 - Giulini WS, Live 1975

 

It is certainly not usual to precede a performance of Mahler's Ninth with a piece by Johann Strauss II, but it is precisely the complete program of this 1975 concert at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. 

However, Giulini treats "An der schönen blauen Donau" as a tone poem and above all as a symbol of the "Austria Felix" as opposed to the "Finis Austriae" represented in Mahler's last completed work.

As in the famous recording with the CSO (made the following year), the tempos are very wide: also the expressive climate is the same. A live recording that "compensates" at least in part for the absence of a reading with the Wiener Philharmoniker, because the Symphoniker are at their best.

JOHANN STRAUSS II

"An der schönen blauen Donau", Waltz op. 314

GUSTAV MAHLER

Symphony No. 9

Wiener Symphoniker

CARLO MARIA GIULINI

LIVE Wien, Konzerthaus - 27 may 1975

FLAC - 5 Tracks

Rostropovich and Kondrashin in Prague, Live 1960

To immediately capture the attention there is of course an early performance of DSCH Cello Concerto no. 1, created in Leningrad (october 4, 1959) with  Mravinsky, presented two days later in Moscow under the conducting of Alexander Gauk, then recorded in Philadelphia with Ormandy (november 8, 1959). 

The rest is no less interesting, however, considering the caliber of the orchestra and the conductor: listen to the spooky elegance in the central part of La Valse!

Also singular is the fact that the three scores performed on this occasion, although so different, are nevertheless subtly linked by a sinister, restless and disturbing nature - which of course Kondrashin knows how to highlight perfectly - that somehow unites them.

Rachmaninoff

Symphony No. 3

Shostakovich 

Cello Concerto no. 1

Ravel

La Valse

Mstislav Rostropovich, cello

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Kirill Kondrashin

Prague Spring Festival (29 May 1960)

FLAC

Schumann, Bruckner - Giulini LAPO 1980

 

Of course Giulini is best known for his work on Bruckner with the Chicago and Vienna orchestras, but this Ninth in Los Angeles is no less impressive, in perfect balance between lyricism and grandiosity. Also interesting is the collaboration with Radu Lupu in a Concerto that Giulini loved deeply (as other Schumann scores) and performed with many important pianists, from Rubinstein and Annie Fischer to Pollini, Perahia and Kissin. Very good source. BTW.

SCHUMANN

Piano Concerto op. 54

BRUCKNER

Symphony No. 9

Radu Lupu, pf

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

CARLO MARIA GIULINI

Live, LA - March 8, 1980 

 

FLAC 

Mozart 3 Piano Concertos - Pollini pf & conductor

 

MOZART 

Piano Concerto no. 12 K. 414

Piano Concerto no. 14 K. 449

Piano Concerto no. 20 K. 466

Wiener Philharmoniker

MAURIZIO POLLINI, piano & conductor

Live in Wien, Konzerthaus - November 15, 1981

FLAC

Shostakovich 4 - Karel Ančerl live 1962

A great broadcast recording in very good sound.

SHOSTAKOVICH

Symphony No. 4 

Czech Philharmonc Orchestra 

Karel Ančerl 

Live - Smetana Hall, Prague, 13 May 1962

(Prague Spring Festival, 12 May / 04 Jun 1962)

FLAC

Strauss, Mendelssohn - Mitropoulos

 

Here another long time out of print CD in a new rip. The mid-price "Virtuoso" label didn't have a long life, but in the late 1980s recovered several interesting unreleased historical recordings, even if more or less everything later reappeared in other reissues. These, in particular, are available also on two different Medici Masters CDs. Anyway, the source is enough good. As you'll see from the scans, it was the period when the durations of the tracks were sometimes not reported. This thing annoyed me a lot and I took care to mark them (ruining the booklets in a completely unnecessary way). 

STRAUSS

Also Sprach Zarathustra

(September 7, 1959)

MENDELSSOHN

Symphony no. 3 "Scottish"

(October 24, 1960 - misdated on the booklet)

Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester

DIMITRI MITROPOULOS

FLAC & Complete Scans

Munch conducts Roussel - Live 1964-66

 

Another superb Munch CD "brought to safety". As in the previous case, new rip with full scans.

But in THIS case, since it's a much less popular repertoire (and for which there are not so many recordings of high artistic level), it is of course an even more precious document. Very nice and vivid sound for live material of the period.

ROUSSEL

Symphony No. 3

Symphony No. 4

Bacchus et Ariane, Suite no. 2

CHARLES MUNCH, conductor

Live Recordings

N.3 Edinburgh Festival, August 19, 1964.

N'4 19th Festival international de musique, Besançon, France, September 13, 1966.

Bacchus recorded at Théâtre des Champs Elysées, November 22, 1966.

FLAC & Complete scans

Mahler 3 - Erich Leinsdorf - live 1990

I really enjoyed this 1990 Leinsdorf live recording: but above all the SOBR offers a particular lush, opulent, really fantastic sound; from this point of view it is one of the most gorgeous versions of the Third I know. 

As always I checked and there is an upload on YT, but - sound quality aside - in that source the introduction of the IV movement is missing.

MAHLER 

Symphony no. 3

  

Marjana Lipovšek, ms

Tölzer Knabenchor   

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

ERICH LEINSDORF

    

Live recording - Herkulessaal - October 10, 1990

FLAC

Note: It was a very old post, so at the moment I don't know where is my original Gershwin CD and where is the digital copy. I'll try to find it and I hope to prepare a reupload.

 

Munch conducts Berlioz - live 1963-67

 

I don't think I've seen this wonderful CD around, at least not recently: so I propose it to you a new rip, complete with scans. Like other French Munch live recordings of this period, it has a very special nervousness and electricity, which are particularly suitable for this repertoire.

Fortunately, everything is well picked up by a sound quality that is up to the situation. 

BERLIOZ

Symphonie Fantastique (Live june 23, 1963)

Le Corsaire, ov (Live september 25, 1967)

Benvenuto Cellini, ov (Live september 13, 1966) 

CHARLES MUNCH

FLAC & Complete Scans