The Berlin Concert

Johann Pachelbel - Canon & Gigue - T. Pinnock, The English Concert
Baroque | Easy CD-DA, APE, Cue | No Log | 1 CD, covers, booklet | 329 MB | RS
ARCHIV Produktion 415 518-2 | 1985

Johann Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg and was both a gifted organist and composer. He wrote prolifically not only for his own instrument but also for chamber ensembles of various kinds. His celebrated Canon and Gigue in D major for three violins and basso continuo come from a manuscript collection preserved in Berlin.

The radio recordings between 1939 and 1945 with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wilhelm Furtwängler are among classical music’s most compelling sound documents. Created at the peak of the collaboration between orchestra and conductor, Furtwängler’s artist personality is conveyed more vividly than anywhere else. What can be heard is music in which inspiration and the expressive will know no bounds and in which, not least, the existential experience of the Second World War reverberates. For the first time, the Berliner Philharmoniker are releasing a complete edition of these recordings on 22 CD/SACD.

Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings has released, on 22 hybrid SACDs, its Wilhelm Furtwängler edition, the first complete collection of all the surviving radio broadcast recordings of the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Furtwängler during the period 1939 to 1945. From a total of 21 concerts, most complete and some in part, these recordings were originally produced by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG) and are the first high resolution digital transfers from original monaural analogue sources.