For 150 years Albert Lortzing was, after Mozart and Verdi, the most performed composer on German stages. He was a multifaceted man of the theatre who wrote his own libretti, and his works follow in the tradition of Mozart and Weber but explore a variety of subjects, from romantic fairy tales to heroic calls for political freedom, which inevitably led to bans on performance. His opera overtures reflect the liveliness of his imagination and orchestration, and the exceptionally tuneful nature of his writing, as the music traverses imposing grandeur and lighter motifs alike.
2010 ten CD set. Vocalist Fritz Wunderlich's legacy is an impressive quantity of recordings, from popular music to Operetta, German and Italian operas and German Lied, additionally he sang baroque and spiritual works.
The German baritone Hermann Prey was born in Berlin in 1929. In a career that spanned some 48 years, he became one of the most popular singers of his time and formed a great bond with his audiences through his unaffected and natural style of singing and his personal charm and acting ability. His repertoire was extremely wide and encompassed all the classic German Lieder, as well as a whole range of operatic roles from the lively Figaro of both Mozart and Rossini to more serious baritone parts in Verdi and Wagner, although it is in the lighter roles that he is most affectionately remembered. He enjoyed great success in the world's major opera houses including Vienna, Bayreuth, Salzburg, Munich, Milan and New York, and also appeared frequently on German TV and in opera films. He died in 1998.
Vocalist Fritz Wunderlich's legacy is an impressive quantity of recordings, from popular music to Operetta, German and Italian operas and German Lied, additionally he sang baroque and spiritual works.
This is glorious compilation of Mr. Wunderlich's astounding recordings. To my knowledge, this 10 CD box set has not been available in America. Here, as never before, we find most of the recordings being made when he was 26 years old! I highly recommend purchasing this for your collection!
September 17, 2016 marked 50 years since the death of one of the worlds greatest tenors, Fritz Wunderlich. Blessed with a crystal-clear voice, exquisite diction and a natural lyricism, Wunderlichs DG recordings form a special chapter in the labels history.
"The Austrian conductor Karl Böhm is one of the towering conductors of the 20th Century. As the embodiment of the long Austro-German musical tradition, he helped to write musical history. This 19-CD set assembles all the extant recordings he conducted for EMI (notably its German Electrola label) over the period 1935 to 1949 in Dresden, Berlin, Vienna and London includes a number of rarities and the world premiere release of a version of Mozart’s Serenata notturna recorded in Vienna in 1947. It was during these years that Böhm cemented his reputation as a major conductor of Austro-German repertoire. Collectors will also be pleased to know that this set contains all the recordings that featured in the now-iconic series of Dresden-themed LP boxes released by EMI to mark Böhm’s 85th birthday in 1979. "