Furtwangler Record

This box set contains the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms, the later symphonies of Mozart, symphonies of Mahler and Bruckner, CDs with rehearsals and many more. The German born conductor Bruno Walter (1876-1962) was known primarily for his interpretations of the Viennese school. Though out of step with 20th century trends he was such a fine musician that he became a major figure - filling the wide gulf between the extremes of his day - Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler.

The Radio Legacy is a compilation of the seven part Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the four box sets devoted to the orchestra s chief conductors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly, and also featuring more recent recordings with Mariss Jansons.

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor - Wiener Philharmoniker; Leonard Bernstein
Recorded at performances in the Grosser Saal of the Musikverein, Vienna during February and March 1990.
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 309 MB | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Covers | RS links
Publisher: DGG

…It is, above all, a triumph for the Vienna Philharmonic: their second memorable live Bruckner Ninth in so many months. …Given my reservations over Bernstein's handling of the first movement, this is obviously no front-line library recommendation. But, Bernstein being Bernstein, he can misdirect parts of the first movement and still go on to conduct an utterly memorable performance. As Schumann said of Chopin in a rather different context: "Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!".
Richard Osborne, The Gramophone

As with many of the BBC Legends issues, it seems clear enough who the target audience is. Beechamites will want to acquire this recording as a matter of course, and for serious students of the Ninth, this is the only opportunity to hear it performed by one of the most fascinating conductors of the 20th Century. ’Nuff said. – FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan

Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960) was a Greek conductor who came to America in the 1930s and made many recordings with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Like Wilhelm Furtwangler of Arturo Toscanini, Mitropoulos' height of popularity came just before the advent of modern sound technology, so that many of Mitropoulos' finest recordings are marred by distortion and background noises that may make those recordings practically un-listenable to some classical music enthusiasts (although the new Sony Mitropoulos set has advertised that most of those very rough recordings have been "remastered").