Weber Overture

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.

Zubin Mehta's reputation is an (undeservedly) mixed one. Following an excellent term as director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mehta's career was marked by a rocky period with the New York Philharmonic in which he was caricatured by the NY press as a showman with little substance to his music making. A series of lackluster recordings with that group did not help. This wonderful collection goes a long way to demonstrating how incorrect this assessment is. The six CD set highlights some of Mehta's best music-making in performances captured in wonderful sound by Decca. Appropriately enough, most of the recordings are with Los Angeles, where Mehta made his reputation.

Back by popular demand, The Toscanini Collection is a reissue of RCA's 1992 compendium that encompassed all of the recordings Toscanini made with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and NBC Symphony. A new addition to this amazing collection is his approved recordings with the BBC Symphony from the 1930s that were not included in the 1992 edition.

“this DVD brings compelling accounts of the master at work, visually as well as aurally. There is a powerful intensity to the Beethoven overtures and the opening of William Tell is beautifully done, with glorious playing from the Berliners…There is plenty of fascinating archival material to see; and within the maestro's obviously glamorous, jet-set lifestyle, he emerges as a musical communicator of warmth - and humour too. A most revealing issue.” (The Penguin Guide)

200 years ago, on May 26th 1821, today's Berlin Concert Hall was inaugurated as “Königliches Schauspielhaus”. Destroyed as “Preußisches Staatstheater” during World War II, the building, located in eastern Berlin, was rebuilt during GDR times and reopened as “Konzerthaus” in 1984. The premiere of Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz on June 18th 1821 was a highlight of the opening year. The work became his most popular opera and one of the key works of the 19th century. A few days later, the composer (who died at the age of only 40 in 1826), had another piece premiered at the “Königliches Schauspielhaus”: his brilliant Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra op.79.

This cd is a passionate plea on behalf of this brilliant composer, whose virtuosity is never empty but always inspired, glowing with dramatic tension. particularly in slow movements there is a menacing depth to his tonal colours and atmospheres, whose originality and sheer joy in experimentation still fascinates us today. Weber knew and loved the clarinet like no other, excepting only Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. the works gathered together on this cd are all declarations of love to the clarinet. and so i join in, unisono, with berlioz’s enthusiastic cry from the heart:o Weber!!!