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.
Eugen Jochum (1 November 1902 – 26 March 1987) was an eminent German conductor. He became famous primarily as an interpreter of Anton Bruckner's works. He became the first conductor to perform a complete recording of the nine symphonies of this composer.
Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler 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 Furtwängler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part of the music scene.
We're talking the mid-1950s when Germany was working her fingers to the bone and trying to reconcile herself with a huge collective guilt. Musical standards were uncommonly high and DG's chosen selections attest to the highest levels of care and devotion. Rehearsals were plentiful, stretching to 22 hours spread over six days for Igor Markevitch's Berlin Philharmonic "Symphonie fantastique". Few versions have married temperament and formal argument as successfully, the sudden rushes of adrenalin used to intensify rather than distort Berlioz's endless melodic lines. Some of these recordings have been hugely influential, Furtwängler's passionate yet malleable Schumann No. 4 for example. Jochum's Mozart is supplemented by his deeply devotional and occasionally raging Bruckner Ninth, while in addition to Berlioz, Markevitch offers us perceptive early Schubert (the sorrowful opening of the Fourth is unforgettable) and Bizet's witty suite "Jeux d'entfants". There's a slowbreathing Beethoven Second under Kurt Sanderling, a stolid pairing of Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 and a beefy Brahms Second from Karl Böhm, and a thoughtful trio of Haydn symphonies (Nos. 44, 94 and 98) under Ferenc Fricsay. But the gem of the collection, where pondered musicianship and painstaking preparation reach the same exalted goal, is Fritz Lehmann's selection from Schubert's "Rosamunde" . . . It's style through and through – as music, performance and presentation, a superb production, hopefully to be followed by a second volume.Record Review / Rob Cowan, Independent (London)
Orange Mountain Music presents this new limited edition 11 disc boxed set - The Symphonies by Philip Glass. This collection features conductor Dennis Russell Davies who has arranged the commission of nine of ten Glass symphonies, leading the orchestras over which he has presided during the past 15 years including the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. This collection is the fruit of a 20 year collaboration between Glass and Davies and showcases a wide variety within this surprising body of work by Glass.
Though it lacks a first movement, the 1944 Karajan Bruckner Eighth is both a notable performance and an astonishing piece of engineering. The finale, which was recorded in the studios of Berlin Radio in September 1944 in experimental 'two channel' sound, has occasionally been available on LP or CD, though never in such spectacular sound. For what we have here, as I understand it, is not the reproduction of a rough dubbing of the original mastertape but a transfer from the 30ips mastertape itself, part of a recently released hoard of tapes the Russians confiscated after the fall of Berlin in 1945. As for the second and third movements, recorded in mono towards the end of June 1944, these have never previously been released.
In 1926 Eugene Jochum made his successful concert debut as a conductor. He acquired a repertory of over 50 operas and conducted concerts all over Germany. The acknowledgment of his excellence led to his appointment as musical director for Berlin radio. His reputation grew particularly in the field of the German Romantic Symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner and was presented with the Brahms medal by the city of Hamburg. This series is a compilation of his complete EMI recordings delivered with exceptional audio quality and artistic integrity.
• 55 CD original jacket, original couplings collection celebrating Maestro Riccardo Chailly’s 40 years on Decca
• Includes complete cycles of Beethoven, Brahms (x2), Schumann (x2), Bruckner and Mahler
• Featuring the orchestras with whom Chailly has been most closely associated: the Gewandhausorchester, the Royal Concertgebouw, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
• 55 CD original jacket, original couplings collection celebrating Maestro Riccardo Chailly’s 40 years on Decca
• Includes complete cycles of Beethoven, Brahms (x2), Schumann (x2), Bruckner and Mahler
• Featuring the orchestras with whom Chailly has been most closely associated: the Gewandhausorchester, the Royal Concertgebouw, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin