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ARTISTS TRACKLISTING 'Géza Anda (1921-1976) was the epitome of keyboard elegance' wrote the renowned piano music critic Bryce Morrison. Wilhelm Furtwängler, no less, referred to him as a 'troubadour of the piano' on the occasion of a joint concert they gave in 1943, around the time of the earliest recordings in this set. No glad sufferer of fools or tolerator of slovenliness, Anda worked painstakingly at his interpretations, his technique and the master classes he gave. This CD set provides a nearly-complete overview of the Hungarian pianist's career from his earliest recitals in wartime Berlin almost up to his premature death of cancer in early 1976. Dashing early Liszt performances remind us of his Hungarian background, while the other early Romantics also feature strongly. As Morrison puts it, 'Anda's Chopin, Liszt and Schumann - and, most particularly, his Schumann - were all enlivened and illuminated by his magic, his coruscating wit and refinement, the products of a phenomenally acute ear and of the reflexes of a born musical athlete.' Separate interpretations of Schumann's Études symphoniques from 1943 and 1963 provide the opportunity to appraise Anda's artistic development. Nearly all of the recordings in this set were either deleted or have never been available on CD internationally, and the 1942-3 recordings, apart from the Schumann, are all receiving their first official CD release. In the case of the Franck Symphonic Variations with Eduard van Beinum we were able to locate a tape copy from the since-destroyed original metal parts, permitting optimum sound quality. The concerto recordings in the set benefit from distinguished partnerships with van Beinum, Rafael Kubelik and Ferenc Fricsay. The last movement of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto with Fricsay has long been famous for its authentic Hungarian atmosphere. Of the solo works, Anda's reflective version of Schubert's famous posthmous B flat Sonata is now appearing on CD for the first time. |
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ARTISTS TRACKLISTING The first British artist to appear in DG's Original Masters series, Reginald Kell was born in York in 1906. After playing for some years in the famous pre-war London Philharmonic under Sir Thomas Beecham and making a still-unrivalled recording of Brahms's Clarinet Quintet with the unsurpassable Busch Quartet, he emigrated to the USA soon after the war where he forged a successful concert career in addition to giving Benny Goodman some clarinet lessons! At first under contract to EMI/Columbia in the UK, after the war he transferred his allegiance to American Decca where he made almost all his subsequent recordings before retiring at the early age of 51. He died in 1981, so next year will mark both his birth centenary and the 25th anniversary of his death. Who was Kell, many may ask. He was arguably the first clarinettist both to play his instrument in tune from top to bottom and to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on his fellow LPO principal the oboist Leon Goossens. Wilhelm Furtwängler said on one visit, 'Mr. Kell, I would like you to know that you are the first clarinettist I have heard who plays from the heart.' As we can hear from this complete survey of his American Decca discs, few of which have been issued outside the USA before (although a couple of the Mozart and Brahms works found their way onto the DG label in Germany and onto Decca/Brunswick in the UK in the 1950s), Kell's tone was unusually alluring and his sense of style across all repertoires - whether classical, crossover or jazzy - unusually assured. His participation in Bartók's Contrasts is remarkable for its ease of execution and almost trumps Goodman's playing in the famous recording with fellow-dedicatee Joseph Szigeti and Béla Bartók himself. There is hardly any competition for such a comprehensive box devoted to nearly all the highlights and many attractive byways of the clarinet repertoire. It will be the perfect gift for any aspiring clarinettist, who will enjoy getting to know the jazzy Templeton Pocket-Size Sonata No.1, the atmospheric crossover pieces with orchestra by Walter Mourant, or even the hilarious Dance of the Three Old Maids by Reginald Porter Brown. The Saint-Saens Sonata is a neglected masterpiece, at least as infused with Kell's baleful vibrato. Beethoven and Brahms trios are performed with distinguished partners Frank Miller (principal cellist of the NBC Symphony Orchestra) and Mieczyslaw Horszowski (Pablo Casals' favourite chamber music pianist), while the Fine Arts Quartet lend distinguished support to the Mozart and Brahms quintets. |
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ARTISTS TRACKLISTING At the heart of this release is Karl Böhm's own disarming account of his life up to 1960, 'A Life Retold', a narrated autobiography in German (with detailed English and French summary in the booklet) containing fascinating stories about his friendship with Richard Strauss and his connection with the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the two composers with whom he was most closely associated and early recordings of whom are included in this box. The recordings here are taken from the Philips, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon catalogues. Most have never or only sporadically been available on CD before. Here is the chance to get to know Böhm's 1950s Mozart symphony recordings with the Wiener Philharmoniker and his famous LP of Weber Overtures with the same orchestra (all for Decca - all receiving their first international release on CD), or his distinguished early version of Mozart's Requiem featuring the ethereal Teresa Stich-Randall and his atmospheric mono recording of Strauss's Tod und Verklärung with the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam for Philips. Famous DG recordings of Ein Heldenleben and Eine Alpensinfonie with the stunning Staatskapelle Dresden, an orchestra that Böhm had conducted since the 1930s, are also included in the set, not to mention two collectors' items. Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Serenata Notturna with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Böhm's 1958 account of Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra with the same orchestra was the first stereo recording of the work. |
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ARTISTS TRACKLISTING Fritz Wunderlich was the greatest German tenor of the 20th century, who died tragically young at the age of 35 in 1966. He would have celebrated his 75th birthday on 26 September this year: we are marking this occasion with three important releases. This 7-CD Original Masters set presents the widest selection ever of his DGG, Polydor and Philips recordings: sacred music, opera arias and duets, lieder, popular songs and the first time international release of his Viennese songs. It offers an exceptional documentation of Fritz Wunderlich life and career, including rare photos and documents never previously published, made available from the Wunderlich Archive by the family. A forthcoming parallel release is The Magic of Wunderlich (477 5575), a deluxe 2 CD & DVD of his most celebrated tracks, with previously unreleased material, both audio and video. Also planned is a DVD of The Barber of Seville (sung in German) from Munich, 1959 (see 073 4116) |
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