Brahms Schwarzkopf

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

This 31 CD box set is being released to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday in December 2015. The set contains all the recital programmes of song, opera and operetta tha t she recorded for EMI between 1952 and 1974, and also included two live recitals.
All the recordings have been newly remasteredto the highest standards by various studios including Abbey Road.

This 31 CD box set is being released to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday in December 2015. The set contains all the recital programmes of song, opera and operetta tha t she recorded for EMI between 1952 and 1974, and also included two live recitals. All the recordings have been newly remasteredto the highest standards by various studios including Abbey Road. A reigning soprano of her era, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915-2006) remains renowned for her vocal beauty and elegance and for her acute interpretative insight – above all in the music of Mozart, Wolf and Strauss.

The sound of these Philips remasterings is very good for being almost fifty years old, and though the recording, true to its origins in the early 60's, is fairly closely mic'ed it is never too much. The various instrument sections are remarkably well defined.

Johannes Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem Op.45 / A German Requiem (1962)
Otto Klemperer - Philharmonia Orchestra - Philharmonia Chorus
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) - Ralph Downes (organ)
EAC | FLAC+log+cue | full scans | EMI 5 66955 2 | 1CD | 342 MB

This account of the German Requiem really is one of the great recordings of the century. Even today, Otto Klemperer's monumental interpretation with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, recorded in 1961, remains unmatched among readings that emphasize the spirituality of the score. Sober and sustained, but not unduly slow, it places Brahms on the continuum of German sacred music going back through Beethoven to Handel, Bach, and Schütz.

Introuvables les Quatre chants sérieux par Hermann Prey en 1958 ? Hélène Cao les place au cœur d'une anthologie amoureusement composée.

For too long a gap in the Brilliant Classics catalogue,we are happy to present a superb recording of Brahms’ sacred masterwork, Ein deutsches Requiem. Brahms’ Requiem, written in German and presenting bible texts selected by Brahms himself, was composed after the death of Brahms’ mother, a shattering experience for him. The dark aspects of Death are relieved by music of great tenderness and intimacy.