Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (1953)

The Romantic Violin Concerto series reaches Belgium and the music of Joseph Jongen, a composer more celebrated for his organ music now, but who was equally admired in his day for his orchestral and chamber works. Jongen studied at the Liège Conservatoire where he heard the great violinist Eugène Ysaÿe and composer-conductors Vincent d’Indy and Richard Strauss.

Gulda, a brilliant master of rhythm, uncompromising Bach interpreter and jazz musician, is heard at his best when performing Chopin, whose works appear in Guldas earliest concert programmes. His secret in playing Chopin with so much vitality lay in the inimitable mix of rhythmic strictness, cantabile tenderness and controlled outbursts. Beethoven was an important composer for Gulda. The theme and variation form afforded both of them the opportunity to demonstrate their respective abilities and showcase their remarkable skills. And what better showcase than the Diabelli Variations? Although this fourth instalment of the SWR Gulda Edition includes only well-known compositions, Friedrich Gulda's extraordinary sense of sound, sophisticated touch and rhythmic vitality coax new facets out of these works so that we hear them from a fresh perspective.

It is perhaps the songs of Hugo Wolf that most closely define Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s subtle art as a recitalist. At the Salzburg Festival in 1953 she marked the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in a memorable collaboration with Wilhelm Furtwängler, who – having conducted her frequently in opera and oratorio – here became her accompanist. As the producer Walter Legge wrote: “We must be grateful that this extraordinary occasion was recorded not only for us but also for posterity.”

She is a piano legend, he has collaborated as a soloist with all leading conductors and orchestras around the world. Now Martha Argerich and Guy Braunstein come to the Pierre Boulez Saal with their first-ever duo program—an artistic encounter that promises to be an extraordinary musical experience.

Recorded - Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna 27th May 1953. During the 1950's, Karl Böhm made a handful of orchestral recordings for Decca with the Wiener Philharmoniker of, music by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Weber. Reappearing here, for the first time on CD, internationally, are his swift recordings of Beethoven's Eighth and of two Schubert symphonies (Nos. 5 and 8). Never imposing his will too strongly on his Viennese orchestra - and they had these classics in their blood - he directs performances that are fresh and gives full rein to the Vienna Philharmonic's wonderful tonal resources. Add the acoustic of the Grosser Saal at the Musikverein, familiar as daily bread to all the participants, and you have the best kind of tradition.