ギウィにgiulini

The Viena Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini performing Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 in D minor. The reissue of classical music masterpieces by Esoteric has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound. This series marks the first hybrid SACD release of historical recording selections. These new audio versions feature Esoteric’s proprietary re-mastering process to achieve the highest level of sound quality.

Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) was music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1978-1984, beginning upon the departure of Zubin Mehta (mus. dir. 1962-1978) to be the New York Philharmonic's music director.

Recently deceased conductor Carlo Maria Giulini had a long and distinguished career and many regard his years at the helm of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as among his most inspired. The work receive appropriately expansive readings with Giulini taking great care in drawing out the orchestral sonorous and chromatic potential. Giulini's judicious moderate tempos particularly in the Mahler, are especially well suited to the composers spiritual grand plan. Deutsche Grammophon's sound is remarkably good with exceptional presence and detail.

"The trouble with Mozart recordings is that there are so many great ones to choose from. But when it came to Mozart's darkest opera, no-one handles it better than the Philharmonia and Giulini." – 100 Classical Music Recordings You Must Own

Carlo Maria Giulini conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a Grammy winning performance of Gustav Mahler’s four-movement Symphony No. 1 in D. If you want a Mahler First above all for beauty of tone and phrasing and precision of ensemble, then this is a plain first choice. In addition Giulini’s qualities suit this work. For all the orchestral sophistication, he has a transparent honesty which accords well with Mahler in ‘Wayfaring Lad’ mood. Nor does he use the Chicago orchestra’s virtuosity to whip up excitement in fast tempo.

Except that the playing is nowhere near at the same level as the conducting and the recording is nowhere near at the same level as the playing, this disc of early recordings of the great Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini would be a success. And despite the orchestras' extremely limited capacities, Giulini's charismatic personality, intrinsic sense of drama, and sheer strength of will achieve much: his 1954 Schubert B minor Symphony is almost entirely convincing and his 1956 Brahms E minor nearly totally persuasive.