ARTISTS
Berliner Philharmoniker
Orchestre Lamoureux, Paris
Igor Markevitch

TRACKLISTING
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Ravel)
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Russian Easter Festival Overture
May Night
Golden Cockerel Suite

Igor Markevitch, one of the staples of 1950s Deutsche Grammophon's roster, made a big impression with his recordings in both the first volume of Musik...Sprache der Welt and in the Original Masters box dedicated to him.

Here is his very first recording for the company, a blistering account of Mussorgsky's colourful masterpiece, previously available only in the Centenary Collection of 1998.

ARTISTS
Diana Eustrati, contralto
Berliner Philharmoniker
Bamberger Symphoniker
Fritz Lehmann

TRACKLISTING
FALLA: El amor brujo · El sombrero de tres picos - Dances
DEBUSSY: Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faune
CHABRIER: España
SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre Op. 40 · Bacchanale (Samson & Dalila)
 
The disc is the first release on CD of Fritz Lehmann's fantastic-sounding Falla ballets, with Diana Eustrati the characterful soloist on El amor brujo . The generous and very attractive fillers include Debussy's Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune , Chabrier's España , and Saint-Saëns' Bacchanale and Danse macabre .

ARTISTS
RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ferenc Fricsay

TRACKLISTING
HARTMANN: Symphony No. 6
HARTMANN: Adagio appassionato (Finale, Symphony for Strings)
FORTNER: 4. Finale (Symphony (1947))
BLACHER: Variations on a Theme of Paganini Op. 26

More than any other German composer after World War II, Karl Amadeus Hartmann represented the liberal, humanistic tradition of German culture. His Sixth Symphony was especially celebrated, and championed by Ferenc Fricsay, who conducts here.

The Sixth Symphony was included in the first batch of Musica Nova releases (1956), Deutsche Grammophon's remarkable initiative to encourage contemporary composers in post war Germany.

A group of fascinating smaller works and extracts by Hartmann, Boris Blacher and Wolfgang Fortner fills out the CD - many of them discographical rarities.

ARTISTS
Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Berliner Philharmoniker
Eugen Jochum

TRACKLISTING
SIBELIUS: *Der Sturm Op. 109 No. 1: Overture · *The Oceanides Op. 73
Nächtlicher Ritt und Sonnenaufgang Op. 55
WAGNER: Prelude to Act I · Prelude to Act III (Lohengrin)
Prelude · Good Friday Spell (Parsifal)

*First Releases on CD

Complete on CD for the first time, Eugen Jochum's highly evocative Sibelius tone-poem recording, were originally released on a 10' LP. The Tempest and The Oceanides have never been available on CD before. The Sibelius is coupled with extracts from Wagner's Lohengrin and Parsifal . The cover is taken from the original UK release of the Sibelius - hence the English titles!

ARTISTS
RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ferenc Fricsay

TRACKLISTING
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring
Petrushka

Ferenc Fricsay's recording of The Rite of Spring was one of the first ever made. For a recording of 1953, the sound is overwhelming, with features like the timpani absolutely in the demonstration class. Technical difficulties are seemingly brushed aside. The Rite is coupled with Petrushka (1947 Version), recorded in lifelike sound the following year. These recordings, especially the Rite , caused a sensation at the time, and drew rave reviews from the critics: 'A freshness and ferocity that remind one of the first encounter with this extraordinary score.' - Penguin Guide Yearbook 1995/6

ARTISTS
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Franz Konwitschny

TRACKLISTING
STRAUSS: Sinfonia domestica
'BEETHOVEN' (WITT): 'Jena' Symphony (formerly attrib. Beethoven)

Another new name to the conductors' roster in the series: Franz Konwitschny. The opposite of a dictator of the baton, he was nevertheless able to bring out details in a work overlooked by colleagues.

Richard Strauss's Sinfonia domestica provides the main fare: a completely over-the- top ego trip on the part of the composer, here realized in a brilliantly virtuosic manner by the Staatskapelle Dresden. The sound is revelatory. Definitely one for the audiophiles.

The Strauss is complemented by the curious (and rare) 'Jena' Symphony, formerly attributed to Beethoven as one of his youthful works, but since the end of the 1950s known to be by Friedrich Witt. It may not sound much like Beethoven (it's actually put together from a large number of Haydn bits and pieces), but it's a fun listen.

ARTISTS
Bamberger Symphoniker
Ottmar Suitner

TRACKLISTING
GRIEG: Peer Gynt Suite Nos. 1 & 2
LISZT: Orpheus · Mazeppa

A new name to the series, Otmar Suitner was one of the leading figures in the cultural life of the former German Democratic Republic. He was the Artistic Director of the Berlin State Opera in Unter den Linden for 27 years from 1964.

This issue features the two popular Suites from Grieg's Peer Gynt , played with great sensitivity by the Bamberger Symphoniker and also two rather more seldom played symphonic-poems by Liszt: an atmospheric Orpheus and an exciting Mazeppa .

ARTISTS
RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ferenc Fricsay

TRACKLISTING
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4 in F minor Op. 36*
Suite (Swan Lake)
Waltz from (Sleeping Beauty)
Waltz of the Flowers (The Nutcracker)
Waltz (Eugene Onegin)
  * First International Release On CD

Famed for his various recordings of Tchaikovsky symphonies, many of which have been released on CD, here is the first international release of an early recording of the Fourth, previously available only in Japan.

The remastering has brought out an amazingly powerful, lifelike sound, in which Fricsay's control of textures and instrumental colours is very impressive. Coupled with some delightful lighter music by the same composer, also discographical rarities, this is a very valuable addition to Fricsay's legacy of recordings.

ARTISTS
Bamberger Symphoniker
Fritz Lehmann

TRACKLISTING
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 8 in G major
FRANCK: Symphony in D minor

Firtz Lehmann's contribution to Musik...Sprache der Welt I, the complete incidental music to Schubert's Rosamunde, was one of the surprise hits of the first volume. Lehmann, who can be regarded as DG's house-conductor in the early Fifties, now returns with completely convincing accounts of two classic standards, both appearing for the first time on CD.

These are the first recordings in the series to feature the Bamberger Symphoniker, one of the top orchestras in Germany after the war, formed from exiled members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague.

The quality of recording on the Dvorak especially is remarkable, leaving nothing to be desired in terms of clarity and immediacy.

ARTISTS
Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Eugen Jochum

TRACKLISTING
HÖLLER: Symphonische Phantasie über ein Thema von Gerolamo Frescobaldi Op. 20 · Sweelinck-Variationen Op. 56 (1951)

CD PREMIÈRE!

One of two CDs in the current set drawn from DG's remarkable Musica Nova initiative of the later 1950s, fostering the works of postwar German composers.

Karl Höller, an unfamiliar name perhaps, but an attractive composer whose works were championed by Eugen Jochum, whose advocacy of the two pieces of the present CD produces particularly impressive results. Höller enjoyed a distinguished career in postwar Germany; he died in 1987.

His musical style can be related to that of Hindemith, and the basis of both works recorded on melodies by early Baroque composers, Sweelinck and Frescobaldi, makes them approachable and attractive.