Mozart; Serenade No. 10 "gran Partita" Schubert; 6 German Dances Orchestrated by Anton Webern

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.

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.

The Juilliard String Quartet was one of the pioneering string quartet formations of the 20th century. Virtuosity in playing technique, sovereign creative power and precisely coordinated tonal balance with X-ray-quality intonation purity characterized the playing of the New York formation around founder and primarius Robert Mann. Indulging in tonal beauty was not their priority. In this way, they moved somewhat outside of what was customary in Central Europe at the time. Their complete recordings for the RCA label, for which they recorded in the short period from 1957 to 1960, appear for the first time bundled on 11 CDs.

If you are only ever going to listen to one disc of the music of Anton Webern, make it this one. It has more of his appealing orchestral music on it than any other disc. There is the Passacaglia, Op. 1 - the finale of Brahms Fourth meets the finale of Mahler's Sixth. There is the Movements (5), Op. 5 - angular, aggressive, and rapturous. There is the Pieces (6), Op. 6 - tender, mysterious, and tragic. There is his pointillistic orchestration of Bach's Ricercar a 6 voci - cool dots of color illuminating a mathematical proof. There is his affectionate orchestration of Schubert's German Dances - lightly lyrical peasant dances done with loving care. There is even his Im Sommerwind - a Romantic tone poem describing his trysts in the Austrian alps.

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalog. In this 12-CD box Karajan conducts the Philharmonia and the Berliner Philharmoniker in Austro-German repertoire symphonies, symphonic poems, operatic music and other orchestral works, from the epic to the light-hearted. Among them are rarely-released stereo versions of symphonies by Brahms and Schubert.