Destined to Die Young

NOW is proud to present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series – and takes a look back 31 years ago – with 78 tracks on 4 CDs, to celebrate a stellar year of Pop singles… NOW – Yearbook 1993.

Fritz Reiner was one of the foremost conductors of his time. Crowning his long career in Europe and America was the decade from 1954 to 1963 as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – an illustrious partnership that ranks along such other historical tenures as Karajan’s in Berlin, Szell’s in Cleveland and Bernstein’s in New York.

NOW is proud to present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series – and takes a look back 31 years ago – with 78 tracks on 4 CDs, to celebrate a stellar year of Pop singles… NOW – Yearbook 1993.

This is a very satisfying account of ‘Die Zauberflöte‘, principally on account of Böhm’s handling of the score. He inspires the Berlin Philharmonic to convey a Masonic ‘gravitas’ which is in keeping with the philosophy of Enlightenment Reason which lurks behind the pantomime elements of this unusual work. You will certainly find deliberate speeds here, which may not be to your taste if you like fleet, revisionist, original-instrument Mozart. Vocally it’s the women in this recording that have had a bad press: but Evelyn Lear has some lovely tones in her voice even if there are occasions when Pamina’s music presents her with challenges.