Naxos was launched in 1987, when CDs were just four years new and the major labels were busy digitally recording new performances and remastering acclaimed recordings from their archives. New recordings from the major companies retailed for $20+ in Canada. Naxos introduced CDs to retail for about the price of an LP, for which we at The Classical Record Shop were agreeable to allot some space. The Naxos representative insisted on a display dedicated to their product alone, apart from the composer or artist section. Soon customers began asking for the Naxos rack and it was not uncommon to see persons make a beeline for the Naxos display. “What’s new on Naxos?” became an often-heard inquiry. Naxos continues to grow, utilizing today’s (and tomorrow’s) technology to best deliver their performances everywhere. A few years ago, I interviewed the man behind Naxos, Klaus Heymann. When speaking of future developments the one word that did not appear to be in his vocabulary was “if.” Nothing he spoke of was ever if, but when. In the ensuing years many of his prognostications have already come to pass, not the least of which is the revolution in dissemination of the printed word and digital platforms for music.

To celebrate their 30 years of producing a continuous stream of standard and non-standard repertoire in addition to works by lesser-known composers, always in state of the art sound, Naxos has assembled The Anniversary Collection (8.503293). Appropriately containing 30 CDs selected from the 9,000 titles in the company’s archives, The Anniversary Collection offers a selection of performances by prominent artists and others who may not spring to mind immediately but who are informed masters of their repertoire.

Good news for collectors who already own the usual basic repertoire – you will discover many new delights without unnecessary duplications. Here are a few in no particular order: Chopin and Liszt piano concertos; Dvořák and Elgar cello concertos; Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony and Violin Concerto; three Spanish guitar concertos; Glière Symphony No.3; Grieg Peer Gynt Suites; Handel Water and Fireworks Music; Daugherty Metropolis Symphony; Barber of Seville highlights… and many more well-chosen discs including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Naxos’s bestselling recording in the catalogue. It dates from 1987 with Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki and Capella Istropolitana from Bratislava. There is a complete table of contents at arkivmusic.com.

Following the success of Elgar Remastered, the collection of forgotten and priceless recordings conducted by Elgar derived from test pressings sent to Elgar by HMV and never released (SOMMCD261-4, 4CDs), SOMM has issued a follow up, Elgar Rediscovered (SOMMCD 0167), an anthology of forgotten recordings. As before, the transfers and restorations were performed by Lani Spahr. The CD opens with the Elegy for String Orchestra, Op.58 recorded by the BBC Symphony in Abbey Road Studio 1 on April 11, 1933. Test pressings were sent to Elgar, who wrote back that “The records have come and are very good.” However, HMV did not issue them as Elgar had elsewhere expressed the wish to re-record. A new recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was issued by HMV and the premiere version remained unissued until now. A very good case is made for preferring this earlier performance, which is a variant of the published one. This original has a real verve, an ebb and flow and vitality missing in the LPO version. The Coronation March, Op.65, commissioned for the coronation of George V, is played by Landon Ronald conducting the LPO. It is followed, appropriately, by The Coronation March and Hymn composed by Elgar’s contemporary Edward German, who was also commissioned for the occasion. Grandly celebratory, they were both recorded  on March 7, 1935 in London’s Kingsway Hall. The premiere recording of the Violin Concerto, Op.61 was made in April 1916 in a 15-minute truncated version by Albert Sammons, with orchestra conducted by Henry Wood. Thanks to the quality of the original and the technology employed, the violin sound is clear and present with the orchestra not far behind. Also included are some items that must have been popular 78s at the time including Kyrie from Gerontius; Fringes of the Fleet; The Pipes of Pan; Where Corals Lie from Sea Pictures; and others, performed by Alfredo Campoli, Fred Austin, The Black Diamonds Band, John Barbirolli, et al. A genuine curiosity is a private recording of May Grafton playing the Sonatina that her uncle Edward wrote for her in 1889 to encourage the eight-year-old to practise. In this 1960 recording she plays from her 1889 original score, which differs from the published version. The final recording on this unusual collection is Salut d’Amour, Op.12 played to perfection, without the layers of emotion now fashionable, by Albert Sammons with Gerald Moore, recorded in 1940.

Another offering from SOMM, Kathleen Ferrier Remembered (SOMMCD 264) contains a selection of lieder by Schubert and Brahms, Wolf and Mahler together with songs by Stanford, Rubbra, Jacobson and Parry. The 26 tracks were recorded for broadcast by the BBC between November 1947 and September 1952. The accompanists are Frederick Stone, Gerald Moore and Bruno Walter. These are moments to be treasured and some are heartbreaking, notably Urlicht from Des Knaben Wunderhorn accompanied by Frederick Stone. Revelatory are four songs by Schubert and Brahms from September 1951 in which she is accompanied by Bruno Walter, who held her in the highest regard. Following her death on October 5, 1953, Walter wrote: “The greatest thing in music in my life has been to have known Kathleen Ferrier and Gustav Mahler—in that order.” Her voice sits perfectly on the six British songs that are among the 19 previously unpublished recordings.

Volume 5 of the Michael Gielen Edition is devoted to the music of Bartók and Stravinsky. Although his name has appeared on other labels over the years, Gielen’s most consistent recordings have come from the SWR (Südwestrundfunk), who recorded the orchestras of Baden-Baden and Freiburg, Saarbrucken and Stuttgart (SWR19023CD, 6CDs). Collectors who have heard the performances in the four earlier volumes and elsewhere will need no endorsement for Volume 5. Once again we are treated to exemplary and individual readings directed by a figure who had earlier been avoided by the record companies for his out-of-the-mainstream repertoire and individual interpretations, deeming them non-commercial. Thanks to SWR, who recorded his performances over the years with their orchestras, we can enjoy and appreciate those performances... Some of the tracks on volume five, as before, have been available on a few labels but not with the meticulous attention paid to the smallest details in order to extract the most out of the originals. Technically, the recordings are very convincing, the instruments are heard in place and the illusion is of hearing an orchestra rather than the recording of one.

The Bartók scores are: Suite from The Wooden Prince; Concerto for Orchestra; Four Orchestral Pieces, Op.12; Violin Concerto No.1; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Dance Suite Sz.77; Piano Concerto No.2 and The Miraculous Mandarin. The Stravinsky entries are Pulcinella, Apollon musagète, Scherzo à la russe, Le roi des étoiles, Canticum Sacrum, Agon, Requiem Canticles, Aldous Huxley in Memoriam, Symphony in Three Movements, Symphony in C and Symphony of Psalms.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as a body does not appoint a music director in the sense of, say, the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle, the Boston Symphony and Andris Nelsons or the Toronto Symphony and Peter Oundjian where the maestro moulds the orchestra to his preferences. One only has to look at the Boston Symphony. Under Monteux and Munch it was a French-sounding orchestra, but Ozawa wanted a German orchestra, which he achieved at the expense of losing the concertmaster who resigned in protest. Think back to the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell, whose imprint was on every performance regardless of who was on the podium. By contrast, in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, music directors are guests invited by the players, who are all drawn from the ranks of, and continue to be permanent members of, the Vienna State Opera.

Some time ago The WholeNote’s publisher David Perlman and I interviewed Clemens Hellsberg, retiring chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, in his hotel suite. I remarked that the sound of the Vienna Philharmonic is most often unmistakable and as far back as I could remember it has always sounded like the Vienna Philharmonic. Hellsberg was only too delighted to agree and explained why. The players are well aware of this and maintain the highest standards so that after a musician leaves the orchestra his or her replacement is chosen by the orchestra’s elected board. Candidates are selected from players with at least three years’ experience playing in opera and ballet and who are well aware of the orchestra’s heritage and responsibility. Many of the orchestra’s instruments, in particular the winds, are made especially for them to produce the traditional timbre. As for their string sound, Hellsberg told us that they do not look to musicians from Germany because, as I recall, they do not have the Viennese sensibilities. Hungarians are most likely to be a match.

To honour their 175th anniversary, Deutsche Grammophon has compiled a program of outstanding performances selected from half a century of recordings, 1951 to 2004, of works from Beethoven to Weber conducted by maestros from Wilhelm Furtwangler to Christian Thielemann: Wiener Philharmoniker 175th Anniversary Edition (DG 4797090, 44 CDs and one DVD). Each disc is sleeved in a replica of the original issue with a printed spine. The CDs are arranged by composer, making the selection of a work easy. Looking only for an artist will take a little longer. Some recordings are from the ORF (Austrian Radio) archives. There is no duplication of repertoire. It was said of Bruno Walter that he could make any orchestra sound like the Vienna Philharmonic, but here he is with the Vienna Philharmonic in November 1955. Recorded by the ORF in treasured live performances in fine sound, here are Mozart’s Prague Symphony and his friend Mahler’s Fourth with Hilde Gueden. Another conductor no longer with us is Karl Bohm, who is heard in Mozart’s Masonic Funeral Music and Symphonies 38 through 41, also some Waltzes and Polkas by the Strauss family. The late Pierre Boulez helms the Mahler Fifth and the Bruckner Eighth, both from 1966. Leonard Bernstein has only two discs, Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth and the Haydn Symphonies 88 and 92. James Levine does better with the four Brahms symphonies, Tragic Overture and the Alto Rhapsody (Anne Sofie von Otter), Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Posthorn Serenade, Smetana’s complete Ma Vlast and music from The Bartered Bride plus suites from The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Mention must be made of the Brahms Symphonies: except for the First which was recorded live in Salzburg in 1993, the rest were recorded live in the Musikverein in 1994/95. Collectively these are superlative performances, a very rewarding meeting of two cultures, each drawing out the very best of the other.

Von Karajan has four discs: the Brahms German Requiem, the Dvořák Eighth Symphony, the Mozart Requiem and a Wagner disc with Tannhäuser Overture, Siegfried Idyll and the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan. Surprised to see no Richard Strauss from Karajan, but the repertoire is safe in the hands of Thielemann, Maazel and Previn. Sorry to see Kubelik with only the Beethoven Seventh. Anyhow, there’s lots more gems in this box, including the DVD of the joyous 1989 New Year’s concert conducted by Carlos Kleiber. Check the entire contents at arkivmusic.com.

Gidon Kremer is the violinist who was much talked about in 1982 for a recording he made of the Beethoven Violin Concerto playing new cadenzas by Alfred Schnittke. Opinion was that the writing was outrageously anachronistic and that it disfigured the work of the master who would not - could not - write such un-music. Few laid some guilt on conductor Neville Marriner. That was 35 years ago and no one talks about it today. You can listen to that recording in the recently issued boxed set Gidon Kremer Complete Concerto Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (DG 4796316) containing 22 CDs, each sleeved in original cover art.

Although Kremer had won important competitions, he did not enjoy the recognition that he felt he deserved. He certainly was a master with a fine technique but somewhat lacking in feeling. However, he overcame that as he played with Marta Argerich, Kim Kashkashian, Hélène Grimaud and others. His career blossomed after he was discovered by von Karajan, who recorded the Brahms Violin Concerto with him in 1976. As I recall, the performance with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI was a rather wooden affair. Nevertheless Kremer’s career took off, and he went on to champion esoteric works by composers of the day in addition to playing and recording the standard repertoire. This 22-CD set houses acknowledged performances with the world’s great orchestras and conductors of the well-known concertos and concerted works by Bach, Bartók, Berg, Beethoven, Brahms, Chausson, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, Mozart, Paganini, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky (Maazel, BPO) and Vivaldi. In addition there is a unique collection of performances of concertos by many of the worthiest 20th-century composers, including Philip Glass, Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ned Rorem, Arthur Lourié, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli and quite a few more. Check arkivmusic.com for the full details of this distinctive collection.

As an aside, one of my very favourite recordings, one which I listen to often, is the transcription of the Shostakovich 15th Symphony for violin, cello, piano, celesta and percussion played by Kremer and his Kremerata Musica on DG. It is absolutely stunning in every respect. When I was in the business, I sold it with a money back guarantee, and never once did a copy come back. Just checked Amazon US, and it is available under US$20 on a DG twofer as filler on a Shostakovich/Barshai set.

Best Wishes from Plácido Domingo is a well-made presentation box containing three DVDs of two complete operas starring the charismatic tenor in two of the 120 operas in which he has appeared over his operatic career (Arthaus Musik 109327). No, not Puccini or Verdi but Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, recorded live in Vienna in 1986, and Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine live from San Francisco in 1988. In the Ponchielli he sings Enzo with Eva Marton as Gioconda and Matteo Manuguerra as Barnaba. The orchestra, chorus and ballet of the Vienna State Opera is conducted by Adam Fischer. L’Africaine (on two DVDs) stars Domingo as Vasco da Gama, Shirley Verrett as Sélika, Ann Swenson as Inès Ruth and Justino Diaz as Nélesko. The orchestra, chorus and ballet of the San Francisco Opera are conducted by Maurizio Arena. The performances are self-recommending, and the quality of the video is in keeping with the standard of the time.

As the years go by, fewer and fewer people recognize or remember Grace Bumbry. One of her era’s greatest sopranos, Bumbry was born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 4, 1937. Her father was a railroad porter and her mother a schoolteacher. Aged 17, she was awarded the first prize at a local radio station, singing O don fatale from Don Carlos. One of the prizes was a scholarship to the local conservatory that happened to be segregated and declined to accept her. The promoters arranged for her to attend the Boston University College of Fine Arts, later transferring to Northwestern University. There she met Lotte Lehmann with whom she later studied in Santa Barbara, California, Lehmann becoming her early mentor. In 1958, she was a joint winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions with soprano Martina Arroyo and later that year, she made her recital debut in Paris. Her operatic debut was at the Paris Opera in 1960 singing Amneris in Aida. At an audition in Cologne where Wolfgang Sawallisch was looking for a new Carmen, she was passed over but Sawallisch sent her name to Wieland Wagner who was casting a new Tannhäuser. At her audition in Bayreuth she told Wagner that “I didn’t have a single German work in my repertory, to which he replied, ‘That doesn’t matter, just sing what you can do best’ and the best thing I could sing then was O don fatale from Don Carlo. After the audition I was sitting backstage…at the point of gathering my things and leaving when Wagner’s assistant…took me to Wagner’s office…where Wieland asked me ‘Frau Bumbry, can you imagine being our new Venus?’” The 1961 production of Tannhäuser was a triumph all around but particularly for Bumbry, the first black singer to appear in Bayreuth. Conservative opera goers were most offended at the very thought but by the end of the performance she had won over the audience and there followed 30 minutes of applause and 42 curtain calls for “Bayreuth’s Black Venus.” Her career was assured and for decades she was in demand in opera houses around the world including Toronto, where from September 20 to October 4, 1975 we saw and heard her in Richard Strauss’ Salome. I recall it well.

Over her performing career which lasted well into the 1990s she first sang as a mezzo, then a soprano and back to a mezzo although she was sometimes critiqued as not a true soprano. A broad cross-section of her recordings has been collected in The Art of Grace Bumbry (DG 482 7626, 8 CDs and 1 DVD). Quite unexpected are elegant performances of two Handel oratorios produced by Westminster in which she sings as an alto. Handel’s Israel in Egypt (1957) and Judas Maccabaeus (1958) were conducted by Maurice Abravanel and recorded in the Assembly Hall in Salt Lake City with soloists, including Martina Arroyo in Maccabaeus, the Utah Symphony Orchestra and the University of Utah Chorus. The fifth CD features the great arias from the works of Handel, Gluck, Mascagni, Bizet, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky, Falla and Verdi including, as expected, O don fatale. Disc 6 has Verdi and Wagner arias plus six Lieder by Brahms. The seventh is all Lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Liszt, Wolf and Richard Strauss. CD 8, With Love, is a pop collection from 1995 including Just Like a Woman, Smile, My Way and a duet with Dionne Warwick, Sometimes When We Touch.

The final disc is a knockout, a DVD of Carmen, one of her celebrated roles, from 1967 with Jon Vickers, Mirella Freni, et al. with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan. The audio was recorded in the Musikverein in June and the video in August in Munich. The lip syncing is perfect and the illusion of being in the presence of a live performance is utterly convincing. The believable performances by the principals in their heyday and all those on stage backed by the vitality and sonorities generated by the orchestra certainly make this a version to covet.

Theo Adam, the bass-baritone who celebrated his 90th birthday last August, is still to be heard in countless recordings made over the second half of the 20th century. Born in Dresden, he first sang with the Dresden Kreuzchor and later studied with Rudolf Dietrich making his professional operatic debut in 1949, singing the hermit in Der Freischütz at the Semperoper. In 1952 he joined the Berlin State Opera, the same year that he appeared in Bayreuth in a small role. He returned to Bayreuth each year, winning roles in Parsifal and Lohengrin, Fasolt in the 1958 Das Rheingold and, at last, his first of a series as Wotan in the 1963 production of the Ring Cycle. Adam’s voice has a quite recognizable edge and is not fatiguing in any setting from Bach to Mozart to Berg, from grand opera to sacred music to song cycles.

Three of his popular CDs, Bach Sacred Arias, Wagner and Richard Strauss Arias and Mozart Arias, have been collected in a single package, Theo Adam 90th Birthday Edition (Berlin Classics 0300824BC 3 CDs), at what amounts to a surprisingly low price. The Bach disc contains arias from the Christmas Oratorio, the Matthew Passion and six cantatas. The Wagner disc has five top arias, together with Strauss duets from Der Rosenkavalier and Die Frau ohne Schatten with mezzo Gisela Schröter. Finally, the Mozart disc has 17 arias from six operas. A worthwhile collection for a small investment.

The late lamented lyric tenor Fritz Wunderlich was at home in opera, operetta and popular songs and so it was with a great deal of pleasure that I received a copy of Hits from the 50s from SWR MUSIC (SWR 19029, 2 CDs). Unfortunately for me, the 39 songs are popular songs from Germany, sung in German. A disappointment, but friends who have German were happy to hear Wunderlich sing them.

There is a 3-CD collection of songs from the 1940s and 50s that can be recommended without reservation. The Absolutely Essential 3-CD Collection (Big-3, BT 3119) is the aptly titled compilation of 60 items from that era sung by Fred Astaire in his inimitable style and voice that are still universally admired even after so many years. The fact is that he didn’t sound like anyone else nor, it seems, did he have any rivals, nor anyone who cared to emulate him. The closest that anyone came was fellow song-and-dance man Gene Kelly but Astaire’s je ne sais quoi, his panache, was his alone. As far as I can see, every original Astaire recording is here, 60 of them including Cheek to Cheek; A Fine Romance; Puttin’ on the Ritz; Let’s Face the Music and Dance; Dearly Beloved; A Foggy Day in London Town; Top Hat, White Tie and Tails; Night and Day; They Can’t Take That Away from Me; and the rest of his classics. For classics they are, incomparable and timeless.

The awaited Volume Four of the projected ten-volume Michael Gielen Edition contains 24 distinctive performances of works by a dozen composers with, as in the earlier volumes, the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg plus orchestras of Saarbrucken and Stuttgart (SWRMUSIC 19028CD, 9 CDs).

Born in Dresden in 1927, Gielen was répétiteur at the Vienna State Opera in 1950/51 where he encountered Karajan, Böhm and others, then making his first conducting appearance before the orchestra in 1954. A few of his many subsequent appointments included: from 1969 to 1973, conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra; first guest conductor of the BBC Symphony from 1978 to 1981; music director of the Cincinnati Symphony from 1980 to 1986; and music director of the Berlin State Opera from 1991 to 2012.

All of the performances here are of interest and most works hold your attention through to the last bar, particularly to those familiar with the music from other recordings. None are outrageously different. The subtle variations from the usual, both in phrasing and tempi, are most convincing and do not sound affected. Major works are Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust with soloists and choruses, and the Berlioz Requiem; Dvořák’s Violin Concerto (Josef Suk), Cello Concerto (Heinrich Schiff) and the Seventh Symphony; Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and Sixth Symphonies; Josef Suk’s A Summer’s Tale (symphonic poem for large orchestra, Op.29); Schumann’s First Symphony orchestrated by Mahler and Weber’s Der Freischütz Overture and Second Piano Concerto (Ludwig Hoffmann). Adding works by Mendelssohn, Smetana, Liszt, Wagner, Rachmaninoff and others makes this an interesting and noteworthy collection, especially for the recorded sound which is clear and convincingly three dimensional, particularly the winds and brass which, while not spotlighted, are right there.

Back in the Massey Hall days I vividly recall seeing two visiting cellists with the TSO in close enough succession to be struck by their very different stage presence and playing. Jacqueline du Pré swept onto the stage and played with a contagious exuberance while Pierre Fournier walked on wearing a pale grey double-breasted suit, acknowledged the applause, took his chair and played with elegant authority.

It can be well understood why Fournier was dubbed “the aristocrat of cellists,” for as well as looking the part, he was a thorough musician who had divine taste and sensibilities for a broad repertoire. He conducted masterclasses at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, where he was known as a very patient teacher, fussy in a good way and uncompromising. He made recordings for EMI and Columbia, Decca, Philips and DG; it seems that every company needed to have a Don Quixote played by Fournier in their catalogue, Decca with Clemens Krauss, EMI with Karajan, DG with Karajan, Columbia with Szell, DG with Szell and a few more. Deutsche Grammophon has gathered every Fournier recording made by DG, Decca and Philips and issued The Pierre Fournier Edition, in the now familiar cube format (4796909, 25 CDs).

Many collectors will own some of these performances but certainly not all. Here are a few of the meatier works: Don Quixote, two versions: Clemens Krauss and the Vienna Philharmonic (Decca 1953) and Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic (DG 1965); also two of the Dvořák Cello Concerto – Kubelik and the VPO (Decca 1954) and Szell and the BPO (DG 1961). The disc mate of the Szell Dvořák is a mighty version of the Elgar Cello Concerto with Alfred Wallenstein conducting the BPO (DG 1966). The same sessions with Wallenstein produced a favourite version of Bloch’s Hebrew Rhapsody, Schelomo. The Beethoven trios are heard with Wilhelm Kempff and Henryk Szeryng recorded by DG in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1969 and 1970. Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano were recorded by Fournier and Friedrich Gulda in Vienna’s Musikverein in June 1959 and again with Wilhelm Kempff in the Salle Pleyel in Paris during February 1965…there can be few pianists less alike than Gulda and Kempff. Two of my favourite works are the Brahms Cello Sonatas. The version by Fournier and Wilhelm Backhaus (Decca 1955) was almost a permanent resident on my turntable and remains the favourite. There are two other versions, with his son Jean Fonda (Switzerland 1984) and with Rudolf Firkušný (Berlin 1965).

There is such a wealth of music here that just about any appropriate composer that comes to mind is heard, from Bach (the cello suites and sonatas) to Gershwin and Vivaldi, from Boccherini to Stravinsky. Anyone interested in the cello will think they’ve died and gone to heaven (as they say).

Karl Böhm – Great Recordings 1953-1972 is the second collection of the late conductor’s memorable recordings for Deutsche Grammophon (4797021, 17 CDs). The first set of 23 discs, Late Recordings, a limited edition, appears to be almost depleted. Well, are these “Great Recordings” great recordings? For this collection there was a project manager and a man responsible for the compilation who had Böhm’s entire oeuvre at his disposal. Where would they start? Not an enviable task but not as impossible as selecting “Böhm’s Greatest Hit” would be. Of course, if he were totally obsessed with original instrument practice he would be the wrong man for the job. Clearly, he wasn’t and listening through these 17 discs there is no question that almost all of these fit the bill. Touching on a few highlights beginning with CD 1, the Eroica is fresh and dynamic, impeccably played by the BPO in December 1961…before any of the Karajans. The 1955 Missa Solemnis on CD 3 with the BPO and Maria Stader, Marianna Radev, Anton Dermota and Josef Greindl is outstanding; however, the BPO Brahms First Symphony from 1959 on CD 4 simply floored me. It is perfectly balanced, driven and totally irresistible. A juggernaut. CDs 6 and 7 contain Böhm’s captivating spontaneous 1967 vision of Haydn’s Seasons with Gundula Janowitz, Peter Schreier, Marti Talvela, the Vienna Singverein and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. CD 8 has Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin in 1964 singing Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and four Rückert-Lieder. No commentary needed here. CDs 9 to 12 contain Mozart Serenades played by members of the BPO, plus the Haffner, the Posthorn, the Serenata notturna, the Grand Partita as well as some Schubert and music by Böhm’s friend Richard Strauss. There are three CDs of Strauss’ most famous tone poems played by the Dresden Staatskapelle orchestra. Including them was a mistake. The performances and recordings are of a lower order and not worthy of inclusion in this collection. There are two excellent CDs devoted to Böhm rehearsing and performing the Schubert’s “Great” C Major Symphony together with “A Life Retold” all about Böhm in German. Still, 14 out of 17 isn’t bad and, who knows, a lot of people might like the Strauss. The project manager did. Full track details at arkivmusic.com.

The International Classical Music Awards (which replaced the Cannes Classical Awards in 2011), a European organization with a jury of 16 professional music critics from 14 countries including Russia, this year gave an award to a set of CDs simply called Maureen Forrester and issued by Audite (audite 21.437 3 CDs). We thought of this Canadian contralto mainly as a Mahler interpreter, as did Bruno Walter, but there was much more to her repertoire. We remember her as the witch in Hansel and Gretel, in Dialogues des Carmelites and others but she also sang lieder as this collections affirms. Her accompanists were Hertha Klust, Felix Schroeder and the legendary Michael Raucheisen who did much more than accompany: he tutored.

There are songs and cycles by Brahms, Britten, Haydn, Carl Loewe, Mahler, Poulenc, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Johann Wolfgang Franck and Barber, among others. The mono recordings were made in Berlin during 1955, 1958, 1960 and 1963. Most gratifying is the opportunity of hearing and appreciating the purity of her younger voice. It really does bring a smile to your face. Clearly, Forrester was the best of the best. These discs document this.

In 1955 the music world was falling all over itself in admiration of the recently emerged Russian pianist Emil Gilels who countered with “Wait till you hear Richter.” We certainly did hear Richter and through the 1950s and the1960s many other musicians, instrumentalists and singers newly arrived from the Soviet Union. Two such masters were violinist David Oistrakh and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

Oistrakh (1908-1974) was one of the many great violinists from Odessa. He was renowned in his own country but only after WWII was he allowed to travel outside the Soviet Union, giving his first concert in Helsinki in 1949. He was permitted to visit the United States in 1955 and was lionized worldwide.

All Oistrakh recordings for DG, Decca and Philips are contained in The David Oistrakh Edition, a collection that also includes the treasured Westminster discs licensed from Melodiya (DG 4796580, 22 CDs, 70-page booklet). Assisting artists include Igor Oistrakh, Frida Bauer, Lev Oborin and Vladimir Yampolsky (pianists), Sviatoslav Knushevitsky (cello) and Hans Pischner (harpsichord). Conductors are Eugene Goossens, Bernard Haitink, Paul Hindemith, Jascha Horenstein, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Kirill Kondrashin, Franz Konwitschny and Gavril Yudin. The works for two violins find the two Oistrakhs, father and son, playing together; works by Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Sarasate and Wieniawski, and in Vivaldi’s Concerto Op.3 No.8, which David also conducts. From 1962 there are the complete Violin Sonatas of Beethoven with Lev Oborin recorded in Paris, formerly released by Philips. The Stravinsky Violin Concerto and the Mozart B-flat Major K207 were recorded there the next year with Bernard Haitink conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra. This is not a collection of the usual works by the usual composers to be found endlessly duplicated in omnibus packages. There are some favourites but many pieces may be fresh and in these hands, quite engaging. Many musicians, mainly violinists, still hold Oistrakh, all qualities considered, as the greatest master of his instrument. It is easy to hear and know why. Complete contents at arkivmusic.com.

Rostropovich’s story is somewhat different. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR in1927, at the age of four he began learning piano with his mother and a few years later he began studying cello with his father. In 1943 the family moved to Moscow and he entered the Moscow Conservatory studying cello, conducting and composing. One of his teachers was Dmitri Shostakovich. He graduated in 1948 and became a professor of cello there in 1956. He did rather well and composers Prokofiev and Shostakovich dedicated major works to him. He made recordings for Melodiya and some of those were issued in North America by the new and flourishing label, Westminster. The performances were so strikingly powerful that when he debuted in the West he was eagerly awaited. His first concert was at the Conservatoire in Liège in 1963 in association with conductor Kirill Kondrashin. When the word got out his international career took off. Kondrashin himself had achieved international recognition in the West in 1958, conducting for Van Cliburn’s First Prize in the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and later on tour together. Soon audiences around the world were lining up to see and hear that cellist with the big sound, Mstislav Rostropovich.

All the recordings that he made for DG, Decca and Philips are in Mstislav Rostropovich complete recordings on Deutsche Grammophon plus the Russian Melodiya discs that were issued by Westminster (DG 4796789, 37 CDs, 72-page booklet). It is not possible to list all the extraordinary performances gathered here but there are some timeless performances, newly remastered: the Beethoven String Trios with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Bruno Giuranna; Beethoven’s Five Cello Sonatas with Richter; the two Brahms Cello Sonatas with Rudolf Serkin; conducting Schumann and Chopin Second Concertos with Argerich and the National Symphony Orchestra; Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with Karajan and the BPO; Rachmaninoff, Glinka, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev songs as pianist with Galina Vishnevskaya. And finally, lest this begins to resemble a laundry list, three different performances of the heavenly Schubert String Quintet in C Major D956: with the Taneyev Quartet, Leningrad, 1963; with the Melos Quartet, Zurich, 1977 and with the Emerson Quartet, Speyer, 1990. Each performance is better than the other two. Again, check arkivmusic.com for complete contents.

For over half a century serious collectors have sought out recordings by the late Yevgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988) conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. It didn’t matter the repertoire, just seeing Mravinsky on the record cover was usually all that mattered. We heard them here In November 1973 when they played Toronto’s Massey Hall to overwhelming success, in spite of an organized protest. Profil has launched a Yevgeny Mravinsky Edition with Volume 1 containing a cross-section of the issued recordings from Haydn to Shostakovich (PH15000, 6 CDs). This is at least the third label to have such a collection. BMG’s collection amounted to only 20 CDs, Erato managed to issue 10 CDs. This new edition contains Tchaikovsky’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth, Haydn 101, Mozart 39, Shostakovich 12, Debussy’s La Mer and two Nocturnes and Ravel’s Boléro and Pavane pour une infante défunte. In complete editions of any artist or ensemble, correct recording dates are important. Unless my records are in error, there are three entries new to these former collections: the Brahms Second and the Tchaikovsky First Concertos with Richter from May 14, 1951, and July 24, 1959, and a Shostakovich Sixth from 1946.

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For The Complete Chopin – Deluxe Edition (DG 4796555, 20 CDs, one DVD, large 108 page book) DG has assembled an outstanding collection of well-chosen performances from its archives together with new recordings by many contemporary artists.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth in 1810, DG issued Chopin, The Complete Edition on 17 CDs (DG 4778445) that certainly was complete as claimed and contained acclaimed performances of, well, everything. The contents of that edition are pretty well duplicated in this new one… with some changes and four extra discs of some interesting alternative performances. Changes to this set are: The Arrau/Inbal versions of the works for piano and orchestra are replaced by a new June 2016 recording by Canadian Jan Lisiecki conducted by Krzysztof Urbanski; The Rondo for two pianos in C Major Op. posth.73 passes from Kurt Bauer and Heidi Bung to Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan; For the 19 Waltzes, Ashkenazy is replaced by Alice Sara Ott; The Grand Duo concertant on themes by Meyerbeer finds Anner Bylsma and Lambert Orkis replaced by Gabriel Schwabe and José Galiado.

CD 18 in the new set is a live recording from the XVII International Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2015 of the winner, South Korean Seong-Jin Cho who was 21 years old at the time. His artistry came as a pleasant surprise for, unlike many technical wizards, he plays with understanding beyond his years without empty artifice. There are the 24 Preludes, the Nocturne in C Minor Op.48 No.1, the Second Piano Sonata and finally the Polonaise in A-flat Major Op.53. All adding up to an unexpected, insightful and thrilling 73 minutes.

CD 19 has 20 legendary Chopin pianists, the usual suspects and others – Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Adam Harasiewicz, Monique Haas, Julian von Karolyi, Géza Anda and Stefan Askenase – playing familiar shorter pieces from the repertoire. CD 20 has pianists from the younger generation: Lisiecki, Trifonov, Blechacz, Grosvenor, Grimaud, Uja Wang and others. Disc 21 is a DVD of Arthur Rubinstein playing the Second Piano Concerto with André Previn conducting the LSO in 1947 and the Second Scherzo from 1973. Both very worthwhile in very good video.

The new edition is an overtly opulent production in the form of a unique 11” wide x 8” tall “book” bound in burgundy vinyl moleskin, with gold embossed boards. Enclosed is an impressive, well-researched and illustrated 11” x 7 5/8” 108-page book. If you own the earlier set you may not consider this a reasonable purchase. If you don’t, the peerless new edition is certainly the one to have.

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Volume Three of the Michael Gielen Edition from SWR Music is an all-Brahms program featuring the four symphonies, together with The Tragic Overture, The Variations on a Theme of Haydn, First Piano Concerto, Double Concerto, Schicksalslied and the Schoenberg transcription of the First Piano Quartet Op.25 (SWR19022CD, 5 CDs).

Many of us have a favourite go-to Brahms symphony and mine is the Second, listening through to the end and hoping for the extraordinary final movement edge-of-the-chair, breakneck accelerando as heard in the closing pages of the Bruno Walter/New York Philharmonic 1953 recording. Gielen’s Second Symphony finale does not accelerate but maintains a steady forward thrust through to an exultant coda of great power. The Haydn Variations that follow the symphony reflect the same attitude to Brahms even though the symphony dates from 2005 and the Variations from 1996.

The soloist in the First Piano Concerto is Gerhard Oppitz, considered to be one of the leading Brahms interpreters. On the same CD is Schicksalslied Op.54, one of Brahms’ many works for chorus and orchestra. In the summer of 1868, Brahms read and was deeply affected by Hyperions Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny) by Hölderlin, the author of verses set by so many composers. He began setting it in 1868 but was unsure of how to finish and before he directed the first performance in 1871 he had written the Alto Rhapsody. Soloists for the Double Concerto are Mark Kaplan and cellist David Geringas.

Throughout the five discs we are treated to a celebration of Brahms as an inspired, virile composer and not an aging bearded gentleman. Gielen’s Brahms is not lugubrious but is vital and optimistic, the textures throughout are translucent while still maintaining a suitable foundation in the low strings and tympani. The perfectly engineered sound throughout is full-bodied and clearly detailed.

Louis Kentner, the late Hungarian/British pianist (1905-1987), today remembered mainly by collectors, was widely respected across the middle of the last century. Ironically, he had a runaway bestselling recording that sold millions and millions of copies worldwide but did not identify him as the pianist. The producers of the 1941 British film Dangerous Moonlight (aka Suicide Squadron) wanted a Rachmaninoff-like concerto for the plot and commissioned Richard Addinsell who handed his notes to his orchestrator, Roy Douglas who then created The Warsaw Concerto. Kentner forbade his name to appear in the opening credits nor on the 12” Columbia 78 that followed, believing that it would wound his reputation. Columbia continued to record him and the 1940s productions are brought together on a new Appian set in all new transfers (APR 6020, 2 CDs). The most deservedly celebrated entry is the 1949 recordings of the 12 Études d’exécution transcendante Op.11 by Sergy Lyapunov, written as an homage to Liszt’s, completing the tonalities Liszt had not attempted. Newcomers to this monumental opus should be enthralled both by Lyapunov’s invention and the intensity and sensitivity of the playing. The other works on this collection include four by Mili Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B-flat Minor, Reverie, Mazurka No.6 in A-flat Major and the notoriously difficult Islamey. Add to these, Kentner’s very rare 1948 recording of the Liszt Sonata in B Minor. This performance is unusual, if not unique. A cerebral reading compared to the mainstream romantic versions, on first hearing this one seems to have little or no pulse nor phrase-to-phrase continuity, sounding rather static with statements rather than a narrative. However, after listening to it several times over a few weeks it now makes sense in its own right and is arguably persuasive.

Elgar Remastered (SOMMCD 261-4) is a new set of recordings of Edward Elgar conducting his own works. One might have expected new mastering of selected items from the extensive EMI archives of Elgar’s own performances. However, this package of four CDs is a treasure trove of remarkable unissued performances derived from boxes of test pressings sent to Elgar for his approval or not. It seems that Elgar did not always return them and they became part of his estate. Arthur Reynolds of the American Elgar Society secured them and they remained untouched until recently when audio restoration engineer Lani Spahr was given permission to digitalize them and evaluate the commercial possibilities. Lo and behold, through today’s digital restoration, alchemy performances emerged that were, as they say, to die for. But there is more! In many sessions, HMV had their back-up microphones and disc cutters set up at a distance from each other in front of the orchestra. With today’s technology they could become the two channels of a stereo recording. With the vagaries of the exact speeds, the revolutions per minute between two lathes at a nominal 78 rpm presented a very real problem. This and other obstacles are explained in some detail by Spahr in the enclosed 27-page booklet.

From the first notes it is very clear that the theory was correct and now we may all hear, in true stereo, the Cello Concerto played by Beatrice Harrison recorded in 1928 in Kingsway Hall with Elgar conducting the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra. What immediately stands out is the clearly heard figures in the winds, not featured but clearly heard. The dynamics are as they should be. Included on this first disc are shorter pieces including…no, featuring the Cockaigne Overture with the BBC Symphony Orchestra recorded in 1933 in Abbey Road, in mono transitioning to stereo. This truly inspired, grand performance in great sound that still astounds after many hearings has to be the best on record by anyone.

Throughout the set is a bounty of alternate takes of works ranging from a complete 1930 First Symphony and lots more of the cello concerto; two recordings, the 1919-20 acoustic and the 1928, plus many favourite shorter works. Incidentally, alternate takes does not mean second rate. These were all direct-to-disc and uncorrectable for any slight reason. Or Sir Edward simply put them aside unheard.

I should have commented earlier about the qualities of the sound achieved by Spahr. I have no idea how he does it but the effect is to liberate and clarify what is hidden in the originals rather than the all-too-common practice of removing, or attempting to reduce, the artifacts while leaving the sound as is. Spahr’s restorations are revelations.

After all the above is said and done we have a must-have collection for the composer’s die-hard devotees and a should-have for others.

José Iturbi was born in Valencia, Spain, on November 28, 1895, and died, world famous, in Los Angeles, California, on June 28, 1980. He studied piano at the Valencia Conservatory, graduating at the age of 13 with the highest honours. He continued his studies in Barcelona and then at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was awarded first prize for piano. He studied harpsichord technique with Wanda Landowska. From 1919 to 1923 he was head of the piano department at the Geneva Conservatory where he was such a strict teacher that he was referred to by his pupils as “The Spanish Inquisition.” He made his American debut in 1929 in a Carnegie Hall recital and from 1936 to 1944 he was music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1943 he was discovered by MGM for whom he appeared as “Mister Iturbi” in nine major feature films in addition to recording the piano solos for Cornel Wilde to mime as Chopin in the 1945 Columbia Picture, A Song to Remember. He toured extensively in his later years (I heard his Mozart in Stratford). His colleagues regarded him most highly. Julius Katchen called him “the greatest Mozart pianist of his time” and William Kapell revered Iturbi’s Mozart, describing it as “the evenest playing I know.” Iturbi’s recordings for RCA began in 1933 with Scarlatti and concluded in 1952 with Granados, via Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, de Falla, Albéniz and Morton Gould, etc. The transfers from original sources to digital by Mark Obert-Thorn are full-bodied and convincing. Jose Iturbi – The Victor and HMV solo Recordings (Appian APR 7307, 3 CDs, 11 page biographical booklet).

Iturbi’s distinctive, articulate playing, admired by Toscanini, is instantly recognizable. I wouldn’t claim that every track here is definitive but all 53 performances, a cross-section of popular classical works, are congenial and played with authority, without any eccentricities that could be tiring upon repeated hearings. Very fitting to have “Mister Iturbi” back in the stores (as we used to say).

On June 16, 1966, the year after she won the International Chopin Piano Competition at the age of 25, Martha Argerich played the Mozart Piano Concerto No.20 in Hamburg with the NDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Reinhard Peters. Of course many pianists of that age can and do perform this concerto but as we know, technique is only the first essential and as is immediately demonstrated, Argerich exuded such profound sensitivity and inner beauty to offer an extraordinary realization of this deservedly well-loved concerto. On Martha Argerich Volume 5 (DHR-8048), DOREMI has issued this dream performance in excellent sound. From a recital three months earlier, on March 14 in Milan, she inspires us with Bach’s Toccata in C Minor BWV911, Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major Op17 and Chopin’s Three Mazurkas Op.59. Meticulous engineering throughout makes this very a desirable release for collectors.

“No other composer has owed so much to Mother Nature and his own father as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He came into the world endowed with a native genius that probably has not had its equal in the history of music and it was his good fortune to have a father who was able to develop and guide the natural gift.”
– Pitts Sanborn, critic and essayist, 1938.

The very young Mozart was a prodigy, a child prodigy who, as the years passed, became evermore prodigious. In his 35 years he composed 41 completed symphonies, 27 piano concertos, four horn concertos, piano sonatas, violin concertos, works for the theatre including 22 operas, 33 violin sonatas, 23 string quartets, eight piano trios, 14 sonatas for organ and strings, seven string quintets, piano quintets and the list goes on…and on. Terminal illness prevented him from finishing the Requiem Mass K626 that was completed by Franz Xavier Süssmayr after Mozart’s death on December 5, 1791.

Although his influences were Germanic, Mozart was not a composer of national music. His music is arguably the most universal of all and least locally rooted. Broadly speaking, it more reflects the Italian influence in Austria in the 17th and 18th centuries: elegance, refinement and polish.

Michael Gielen, for those who may not recognize his name, is an Austrian conductor whose career has been an interesting one. He was born in 1927 in Dresden and two years ago this month he officially retired from the podium for health reasons. His family moved to Buenos Aires in the 1930s where he studied piano, introducing audiences there to the entire piano music of Arnold Schoenberg in 1954. His uncle was Eduard Steuermann, who was a recognized advocate for Schoenberg and remembered today for his arrangement of the sextet Verklärte Nacht for piano trio. Steuermann was a teacher of Alfred Brendel. Returning to Europe in 1950 Gielen became a répétiteur at the Vienna State Opera coming into contact with Karajan, Bohm and other luminaries of the era. In 1952 he conducted the Vienna Konzerthaus Orchestra and made LPs for American companies. 1954 found him conducting the Vienna State Opera in addition to concerts of contemporary music elsewhere. From 1960 to 1964 he was conductor of the Royal Opera in Stockholm and from 1964 to 1984 he was to be found in Stuttgart conducting the Radio Symphony Orchestra, working for a time with Sergiu Celibidache. During that period he was also principal conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra (1968-1973) and principal conductor of the Dutch Opera in Amsterdam (1973-76). He was first guest conductor of the BBC Symphony (1978-1981) and from 1980 to 1986 he was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony. Later he was principal conductor of the SWF Orchestra in Baden-Baden (1986-1999). He was professor of conducting in Salzburg from 1987 to 1995. He conducted his last concert with the NDR Orchestra in 2014.

Normally the above brief outline of his career would not belong here but as many casual music lovers and collectors are unfamiliar with Gielen, his recorded performances, even if they were noticed, could very possibly be passed by without a second thought.

The American pianist Julius Katchen was signed to English Decca in 1946, just ahead of the LP revolution. As Decca had the very finest engineers behind them in England and elsewhere, they were in the forefront of the trend, getting superior quality discs into the stores with EMI years behind. In the early years of the LP, it seemed that every new Decca release schedule featured Julius Katchen, who it seems could play anything with impeccable authority.

Katchen was born on August 15, 1926, in Long Beach, California. His grandmother, formerly on the faculty of the Warsaw Conservatory, was his first piano teacher and his grandfather taught him theory. His mother was also a concert pianist. In 1937, Eugene Ormandy engaged the 11-year-old to play the Mozart D Minor Concerto on October 21, 1937 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a month later he performed with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony. Critic Lawrence Gilman wrote: “His fingers are fleet, his conceptions clear and intelligent. He has a musicianly feeling for the contour and flow and rhythm of a phrase and a sense of what is meant by Mozartean style.” He continued his scholastic studies majoring in philosophy and English literature.

1946 found him the toast of Europe in Paris, where inexplicably he was more popular than in his own country. That’s when he signed with Decca. He played the entire piano works of Brahms in recitals and that composer was the backbone of his recorded repertoire: concertos, chamber music and solo piano. His artistry was unique including Bartók (no Bach), Beethoven, Britten, Chopin, Gershwin, Grieg, Liszt, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. He died on May 29, 1969, in Paris.

Julius Katchen, The Complete Decca Recordings (4839356, 35 CDs) contains 69 (or more, depending on how you count) performances, every note that he recorded including the 78 rpm discs and an unissued item, Franck’s Prélude, choral et fugue from April 21, 1949. These recordings are clear evidence of his artistry and insights beyond mere technique, documented at the peak of his career. One can only contemplate upon what might have developed in his later years.

Assisting artists include conductors: Karl Münchinger, Peter Maag, Piero Gamba, Ataúlfo Argenta, István Kertész, Pierre Monteux, János Ferencsik, Georg Solti, Adrian Boult, Anatole Fistoulari, Ernest Ansermet, Mantovani, Skitch Henderson and Benjamin Britten; pianists Jean-Pierre Marty and Gary Graffmann; violinists Ruggiero Ricci and Josef Suk; clarinetist Thea King; cellist János Starker; and actress Beatrice Lillie.

Last year Decca issued a 32-CD set of all the Haydn Symphonies that Hogwood and the Academy were able to finish before the project ended. To top that, Decca has issued another box, this one of the Haydn – Complete 107 Symphonies (4989604, 35CDs). This new set incorporates all the Hogwood performances plus recordings by Frans Brüggen directing the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and also the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Neither had set down the symphonies Nos.78 through 81.Decca selected the Accademia Bizantina conducted by Ottavio Dantone to provide them. This orchestra, managed autonomously by its guardian members, was founded in Ravenna, Italy in 1983 with the intention of “making music like a large quartet.” Recorded in 2015, their focus and totally unexpected energy comes as something of a shock as one plays through the set. If you wonder how the accepted 104 symphonies grew to 107 it is because of the inclusion of the “A & B” early symphonies and the Sinfonia Concertante in B-Flat major (Hob.1.105) from the same year, 1792, as the Symphonies 97 and 98. So here it is … the first complete edition of the historically informed performances of the 107 Haydn Symphonies employing “original” instruments. Yet, as performing music is not an exact science, each of the four ensembles is clearly different from the others, making the whole package all the more interesting.

There is a fine collection of “the most beautiful operatic moments” from Decca Records appropriately titled Opera Gold (4788210, 6 CDs). In a box only 5/8 of an inch thick are 100 tracks of superb renditions of all the familiar and some, perhaps, unfamiliar solos, duets and larger ensembles drawn from the treasured archives of English Decca. Decca documented so many of the great ones: Pavarotti, Horne, Sutherland, Freni, Tebaldi, Kaufmann, Bergonzi, von Stade, Nucci, Te Kanawa, Milnes, Ghiaurov, Tourangeau, Fleming and Corelli. Conductors include Mehta, Bonynge, von Karajan, Pappano, Molinari-Pradelli, Serafin and Solti. All are on the first of the six CDs. This elegant little black box with gold lettering would be a thoughtful and lasting house gift instead of wine or flowers to take to an invitation to a friend’s home. Shop around, it can be found for about $20.

Since 2013 when DG issued Archiv Produktion 1947-2013 (4791045, 55 CDs) we have waited for a follow-up set which has now arrived, Archiv Produktion Analogue Stereo Recordings 1959-2013 (4791045, 55 CDs). As a background to Archiv Produktions we should go back to the spring of 1941 when all shares of Deutsche Grammophon were transferred to Siemens AG. Through the 1940s and the 1950s, under Ernst von Siemens, a music lover, the company became the industry leader in Germany and garnered international recognition. Siemens worked passionately, building a spectacular catalogue of impeccable performances of classical music that was supported to a large extent by the company’s catalogue of popular and dance music that was exported to other European countries. Siemens undertook to document Germany’s profound and lasting contribution to music and to do so, in 1947, the Archiv label was born. Bach, of course was the initial focus and the 40-year-old blind organist, Helmut Walcha was chosen to record the master’s works on the 1659 Stralsund Stellwagen Organ in the Church of St. Jacob in Lübeck. Appropriately, some of these very first recordings appear on the first disc of the first box. Sometime after the launch of the Archiv label it was brought to Herr Siemens’ particular attention that Archiv Produktions was not a profitable division for the company, to which he countered most emphatically that Archiv was not conceived as a moneymaker but to document and disseminate German culture. One is reminded of the MGM motto, Ars Gratia Artis.

In the second box, enthusiasts will applaud the return to the catalogue of classic performances by Karl Richter and the Munich Bach Orchestra, the Loewenguth Quartet, Simon Preston, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Pierre Fournier, August Wenzinger, Karl Ristenpart, Marcel Couraud, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Josef Ulsamer, Maurice André, Charles Mackerras, Fernando Germani, Michel Corboz, Edward Melkus, the Melos Quartet of Stuttgart, Jürgen Jürgens, Helmut Walcha, John Eliot Gardiner, Kenneth Gilbert, Jordi Savall and many, many others. The repertoire includes much Bach. Also of special particular interest are performances of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata played on an arpeggione by Klaus Stock accompanied by Alfons Kontarsky and 19 Weber Lieder sung by Peter Schreier with Konrad Ragossnig playing guitar. Also David Munrow leading the Early Music Consort of London in Music of the Gothic Era now complete on 2 CDs. That group, as some remember, included Christopher Hogwood playing harp and portative organ. The curiosity in the mix is Gong Kebyar playing Gamelan Music from Bali, sacred and dance music recorded in there in 1972. The sets have booklets with photos of the artists and recording data. The complete details of both sets may be seen on line at deccaclassics.com.

This second Archiv box contains only performances from 1959 through to 1981. Does this hint of yet a third box?

The art of the late conductor Hans Knappertsbusch is to be heard on countless performances of Wagner’s Ring Cycle from Bayreuth as well as other Wagner music dramas and in performances of the orchestral works of the Romantic composers – all audio discs, with only four works on video. They are Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No.3 and the Fourth Piano Concerto with Wilhelm Backhaus together with the Vorspiel und Isoldes Liebestod from Tristan sung by Birgit Nilsson, all from the Wiener Festwochen in 1962. From 1963, only one item: Act One of Die Walküre in a concert performance sung by Claire Watson (Sieglinde), Fritz Uhl (Siegmund) and Josef Greindl (Hunding). The orchestra throughout is the Vienna Philharmonic.

Arthaus Musik has issued them on a single Blu-ray disc, A Tribute to Hans Knappertsbusch (109213) in a video quality typical of the time or maybe a little better, supplied by the ORF. Filmed in black and white in 4:3 format. Watching Knappertsbusch in action it is easy to see how he achieves those long lines with such ease. He seems to draw the orchestra out rather than imposing on them. Hard to explain but I believe it is there to see. The veteran Backhaus, still well in command of his instrument, and Knappertsbusch are of one mind in this elegant, patrician performance. Nilsson is Nilsson. The Walküre first act is sung flawlessly but today we have been spoiled by so many videos of the actual opera that it is very hard to visualize what they are singing about or to empathize with any confrontation when they are simply standing there awaiting their turn. I think that the disc is still desirable if only to see and hear Knappertsbusch, Backhaus and Nilsson. 

Surely, with a few exceptions, there cannot be unanimity on the very best recording of an instrumental score. Some listen for wrong notes or slurred passages, most for interpretation and some for quality of the recorded sound. We may have our preferred individual performance or performances but there is no finish-line tape to chest. However, in Pollini & Abbado, The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (DG 4821358, 8 CDs) listeners should hear no wrong notes nor slurred passages or anything less than vibrant recorded sound, regardless of the venue. The first three discs of their collaboration contain live performances of the five Beethoven piano concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Philharmonie in December 1992 and January 1993, together with the Choral Fantasy Op.80 for piano, soloists, chorus and orchestra, with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein in 1986. These are all exuberant, festive performances that should excite even the most blasé listener. The body of sound is astounding. The same qualities apply in spades to the two Brahms concertos, live with the BPO (Philharmonie, 1997 and 1995) and an added earlier Brahms Second with the VPO (Musikverein, 1976). Disc seven contains the Schumann Piano Concerto (1989) and the Schoenberg Piano Concerto (1988) both in the Philharmonie. The final CD has their brilliantly articulate versions of Bartók’s first and second piano concertos with the Chicago Symphony in Orchestra Hall in 1977 followed by Luigi Nono’s Como una ola de fuerza y luz (like a wave of force and light) for piano and orchestra, soprano and magnetic tape. Recorded in the Herkulessaal, Munich with the Bavarian Rundfunks Orchestra in October, 1973, this work was written for them by Nono, their friend. “In this piece we find aspects typical of Nono’s maturity, dense accumulations of sound material, explosions and suspended silences, amid violent sounds and clear, enchanted lyricism.” Summing up, it’s pretty unlikely that a seasoned listener would not be captivated and drawn to listen to every note of the above collection. These recordings belong on the shelf of everyone who has a CD player – unless you irreversibly hate the repertoire.

Another collection from DG will be of value to those who are interested in the artistry of noted figures on concert platforms a generation or two ago. The Mono Era 1948-1957 (4795516, 51 CDs) is a well-chosen selection that best represents their artists in their established repertoire or to which they aspired. In 1951, three years after American Columbia originated the long-playing discs pressed on vinylite (RCA had issued several 33 1/3 recordings by Leopold Stokowski in the mid-1930s but they quickly wore out in use) Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft produced the first long playing discs in Germany and confirmed their reputation for excellence. The first few were derived from 78 rpm discs (as were most initial releases by all the majors) and then from tape machines, the newest recording medium developed in wartime Germany. Looking through the list of singers, instrumentalists, ensembles and conductors, I see only one named artist who is still with us. The enclosed 140-page booklet contains, in addition to complete data of each recording, an interesting and informative history of the company’s growth over the years and full-page photographs of each artist at the time.

I assume that I am not alone, when faced with a collection of this magnitude and significance, in sampling works or artists of personal interest. The first out of the box were the two Wagner discs, one with selected scenes from The Ring with Astrid Varnay’s Brunnhilde and Wolfgang Windgassen’s Siegfried winding down with the Immolation Scene conducted by Hermann Weigert, Varnay’s husband. In the 1950s the Swedish-born Varnay was at the very height of her powers and was in demand worldwide. As was Windgassen, a leading heldentenor of the 1950s and 60s. The other Wagner disc is devoted to Windgassen in notable arias from eight operas. Soprano Rita Streich’s disc is a treasure, a potpourri of arias from Mozart to Verdi concluding with Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock. Paul Hindemith conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the Jesus Christus Kirche in 1955 playing Symphony Mathis der Maler, The Four Temperaments and the Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Weber. For many, these remain preferred versions. The 40-year-old, already world famous Ferenc Fricsay conducts the effervescent La Boutique Fantasque and Scheherazade with the RIAS Orchestra in 1955, 1956. The unique artistry of soprano Tiana Lemnitz (Marshallin), the soprano Elfrida Trötschel (Sophie) and mezzo Georgine von Milinkovic (Octavian) are heard in scenes from Der Rosenkavalier from Stuttgart conducted by Ferdinand Leitner. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was a young 24 in September 1949 when he made his debut recording for DGG singing Brahms’ Four Serious Songs, then excerpts from Hugo Wolf’s Italian Song Book in 1950/51 and Schumann’s Dichterliebe in 1957.

I spoke today to a friend who regrets not hearing Polish pianist Halina Czerny-Stefanska live. She can be heard playing Chopin in 1956 (CD6). Also Monique Haas plays Ravel’s G Major Concerto, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Stravinsky’s Capriccio (CD14). Clara Haskil plays two Mozart concertos with Ferenc Fricsay conducting (CD16). Elly Ney plays four Beethoven sonatas, Pathétique, Moonlight, Appassionata and Op.110 (CD40). Other pianists who have their own CD are Stefan Askenase, Shura Cherkassky, Andor Foldes, Conrad Hansen, Wilhelm Kempff and Sviatoslav Richter. Other instrumentalists include David and Igor Oistrakh, Johanna Martzy, Bronislav Gimpel and others. Some mighty conductors recorded for DGG: Eugen Jochum, Karel Ančerl, Ferenc Fricsay, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Paul van Kempen, Ferdinand Leitner, Lorin Maazel, Igor Markevitch, Hans Rosbaud and Kurt Sanderling. Strong quartets include the Amadeus, Koeckert and Loewenguth. A few readers may remember the Don Cossack Choir, 20 of whose energetic performances ring out on CD7.

The Mono Era 1948-1957 is collectively an historic document, a discerning choice of repertoire and performers recorded during the last decade of monaural before the stereo disc. DGGs mono recordings are models of clarity and reality. View the complete details of every track at arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2174287.

The concerts given by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra were always memorable events, thanks to Szell who honed his orchestra to near perfection, the equal of the greatest conductor/orchestras in the world, notably Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic and Mravinsky/Leningrad Philharmonic. On many weekends in the 1960s we made our regular pilgrimage to Cleveland’s Severance Hall. I was not there on Wednesday July 13, 1966 to hear Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose and Eugene Istomin join the orchestra for the Beethoven Triple Concerto and Brahms Double Concerto. Doremi has resurrected a copy of the broadcast tapes of that concert and issued the concertos on a single CD (DHR8047). To hear these lauded musicians, soloists, conductor and orchestra live in these high voltage performances is illuminating, preferable in many ways to their recorded performances of the same repertoire recorded two years earlier with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I trust that there is more to come from Cleveland via Doremi.

A new box of Philips Classics restores to the catalog a wealth of analogue recordings that were, not so long ago, in wide demand by music lovers around the world: Philips Classics The Stereo Years – 50 Analogue Albums in Original Jackets (Decca 4788977, 50 CDs). After WWII Philips entered the blossoming long-playing record business by issuing American Columbia recordings in Europe under their own Philips mini-groove imprint. Columbia, inventors of the long-playing record, owned the LP logo and for many years no other manufacturer could call their product an LP. Very soon LP became generic however and that was that.

Philips productions were of the highest quality, both sonically and in their immaculate pressings. In fact, when their discs were eventually pressed in North America, knowledgeable music lovers sought out the better sounding Dutch pressings in their gatefold covers even though they were marginally more expensive. It may be of some interest to audiophiles that after Ray Dolby developed his noise reduction system that enabled producers and engineers to make more accurate and wider range recordings, Dolby became the universal noise reduction system (and still is). Philips, though, preferred to tilt the high frequencies up in the recording and reverse the process for playback. Simple…tape hiss gone. There’s more to it than that, but that’s how Philips touted it at the time. In 1979 when Polygram bought Decca they owned DG, Philips and Decca, and although each company shared their technologies with the others, each retained its own recognizable sound due to the preferred choice of microphones, set-up and certainly recognizable artistic preferences. Philips, in close cooperation with Sony, devised and perfected digital encoding and in 1979 began recording digitally. The recorded performances in this box are from the analogue era, 50 recordings in replicas of their LP original jackets, often with bonus tracks.

Most music lovers of a certain age – make that of any age – will be thrilled to the teeth to hear the musicians whose artistry lives on in these recordings. Dutch soprano Elly Ameling sings Schumann, Frauenliebe und -leben and Liederkreis, and ten Schubert lieder with Dalton Baldwin and Jörg Demus (1973, 1979). Mezzo Janet Baker sings Handel and Gluck with Raymond Leppard (1972, 1975). Cristina Deutekom, the Dutch coloratura, sings Verdi, Bellini, J. Strauss, etc. (1969, 1971). Dramatic soprano, Jessye Norman sings Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été (1979). Gérard Souzay, the French baritone, sings Handel, Rameau, Lully and Ravel (1963, 1968). José Carreras sings 16 arias from Verdi to Rossini (1976, 1980); and there are others.

Pianist Claudio Arrau, once a towering figure, plays Liszt’s Twelve Transcendental Etudes (1976) and the Concert Paraphrase on Aida (1971), also Beethoven’s Third and Fourth Piano Concertos with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Bernard Haitink (1964). Alfred Brendel plays Schubert’s Sonata D960, The Wanderer Fantasy and Three Klavierstücke D946 (1971, 1974), Liszt’s two concertos and Totentanz (LPO Haitink, 1972), three Mozart concertos, K450, K467 and K488 (1971, 1981) and of course, the Sviatoslav Richter Sofia recital of February 1958. And lots more.

How about symphonies? Brahms’ First and Fourth (van Beinum), Saint-Saëns’ Third (Daniel Chorzempa organ, Edo de Waart). I must mention that this recording was made with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in the organ’s home, De Doelen, Rotterdam. Overwhelming sound. Simply fabulous! Well deserving of mention are the Concertgebouw Orchestra recordings: The Sibelius Second conducted by George Szell, the Dvorak Seventh under Colin Davis, Heldenleben (Haitink), Bruckner Ninth (Haitink), Bruckner Fifth (Eugene Jochum), Schubert Ninth (Haitink) and many other so well-remembered classic recordings.

In this collection there is not a single recording or performance of less than exemplary quality but check them all out for yourself at deccaclassics.com/us/cat/4788977.

Arthaus Musik has issued a Blu-Ray video of a really great live performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Sir Colin Davis, the Bavarian Radio Symphony and soloists Doris Soffel and Kenneth Riegel (ArtHaus Musik 109113). It is fortunate for us that this 1988 event from Munich was flawlessly documented in both audio and video. Davis is not usually remembered for his Mahler, although he has directed impressive productions throughout his career.

Davis was such a natural, intuitive Mahlerian in this performance that it’s a pity that he did not set down a complete cycle of this calibre. Of course he has the redoubtable Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with whom he recorded the First, Fourth and Eighth, who are surely at home in this work. The best news is the choice of soloists because both Riegel and Soffel have not been able to elsewhere demonstrate their mastery of this demanding work. From the first song, Riegel creates a bright, constantly dramatic tone, cutting through the orchestral welter. Here we can see just how fluently he projects every meaning of the text with intense, vehement authority.

Soffel is captured in a role for which she was clearly born. In this production her alto voice is perfect for the role. She comes into her own after the orchestral interlude in Der Abschied where she projects a sense of loneliness and emptiness with the tone of her voice wherein she keeps any warmth under strict control, to crushing effect.

Mahler, deeply superstitious, salted away the finished score and never heard it performed.

Leonid Kogan (1924-1982) was born in Kiev and came to be one of the foremost violinists of the 20th century. From about 1955 on, he was considered to be among the supreme artists of his era. One only needs to hear any of his recordings to agree. Archipel has returned to the catalog the three Brahms Violin Sonatas with his accompanist Andrei Mytnik (ARPCD 03550). The first two are studio recordings and the third live from Moscow in 1956. As a bonus there are the Brahms Hungarian Dances 1, 2, 4 and 17. From the first few bars of the First Sonata, through to an inspired finale we hear totally natural Brahms played with commanding mastery.

The late Leonard Rose was an American cellist who was best known during the 1950s and the 1960s through his Columbia recordings of concertos with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra and later as a member of the very special Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio. Well-respected are his early 1950s recordings with the New York Philharmonic, of which he was principal cellist, of Bloch’s Schelomo with Dimitri Mitropoulos and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations under George Szell. Although many or most of his Columbia recordings remain in print as reissues, collectors are always on the lookout for live performances from around the world residing in radio archives. There are three cello concertos: Dvořák with Charles Dutoit and the ORTF Orchestra (1967); Saint-Saëns No.1 and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with Louis de Froment from Radio Luxembourg (1961); and Beethoven’s Fifth Cello Sonata with Eugene Istomin (Stratford, 1969). From WQXR in NYC, playing with pianist Nadia Reisenberg, Rose plays Beethoven’s Third Cello Sonata and Brahms First Cello Sonata (1973). These performances issued by Doremi (DHR-8038/9, 2CDs) are not intended to replace his commercial recordings but to confirm and enjoy his unmistakable, now legendary powerful sonorities and musicianship.

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The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal was known as the best French orchestra outside France, thanks to their conductor, Charles Dutoit and Decca Records. With the death of Ernest Ansermet in 1969 Decca had lost their man-about-French-repertoire and were very concerned about having no long-term exclusive replacement. Ray Minshull, a producer for Decca was visiting an artist in Montreal in February 1980 and, fortuitously, attended a rehearsal with the Montreal Symphony. “Immediately” he writes, “it was apparent that our search was over and that I had stumbled upon the solution to our problem. Within two days an exclusive contract was agreed and the following July we recorded the OSM in a CD of violin concertos with Kyung-Wha Chung, another of Rodrigo’s guitar concertos and Ravel’s complete Daphnis and Chloe. When the new recordings were launched, the reception from both critics and public was so enthusiastic…especially in France and Great Britain that we knew that, at last, we had found what we had missed for so long.” Decca has issued a boxed set of their recordings, simply titled Dutoit Montreal (4789466) comprised of 35 CDs in replicas of the original cover art, an 83-page booklet with recording details, two essays by Ray Minshull and an appreciation by Andrew Stewart.

Decca proceeded with its original intention, recording the orchestra playing mainly works by French composers while leaving the German repertoire to others in their stable. In this really impressive collection, therefore, there is no Bach, Beethoven or Brahms although there are four Mendelssohn overtures from 1986 and a 1983 reading of Orff’s Carmina Burana.

The discs are arranged by date of recording and here are but some of the highlights. The complete Daphnis et Chloé (1980); Boléro, Rapsodie Espagnole and La Valse (1981); The Three-Cornered Hat and El Amor Brujo (1981); Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 (1982) and Chausson Symphony in B-Flat Op.20 (1995); the two Ravel Piano Concertos with Pascal Rogé (1982); Respighi Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals (1982); Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (1983); Gaîté Parisienne (1983); Le Sacre du Printemps [1921 version], The Firebird, etc. (1984) and Petrouchka (1986); the Fauré Requiem with Kiri Te Kanawa and Sherrill Milnes (1987); The Planets (1986); Bartók Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1987); Debussy Images and Nocturnes (1988); Franck Symphony in D Minor and D’Indy Symphony on a French Mountain Air with Jean-Yves Thibaudet (1989); two Tchaikovsky complete ballets, Swan Lake (1991) and The Nutcracker (1992); Piazzolla Tangazo (2000), etc.

In addition to the above, there are other major works and about 50 other pieces ranging from Hugo Alfrén’s Swedish Rhapsody No.1 to Ambroise Thomas’ once-popular Raymond Overture. A most desirable and attractive collection. Last year Decca signed a five-year contract with Kent Nagano and the OSM.

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Emil Gilels (1916-1985) was one of the very greatest pianists of the 20th century. He was born in Odessa the legendary city that produced so many other extraordinarily gifted musicians. Arthur Rubinstein, after hearing the 16-year-old Gilels play in Odessa, proclaimed that “If that boy ever comes to America I might just as well pack my bags and go.” As the liner notes mention, Gilels did and Rubinstein didn’t. Gilels graduated from the Odessa Conservatory in 1935 and moved to the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with Heinrich Neuhaus and later became a teacher there. He won competitions galore and made his North American debut in 1955 when he played the Tchaikovsky B-Minor Concerto (surprise!) with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His debut in Britain was in 1959.

Acclaimed for his astonishing power and stupendous technique, the depth of his artistry and interpretive insights went unrecognized for a time. He made recordings in Russia and after taking the West by storm in 1955 his name appeared on many labels including EMI, RCA and Westminster (whose issues were of Soviet origin). However, his very best recordings were made with DG who consistently provided the best venues and associates and engineers. They are all in this boxed set, Emil Gilels, The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (4794651) with 24 CDs and a 68 page booklet telling all.

The superiority of these mighty performances and the dynamics of the recordings immediately put these releases in a class by themselves and they happily remain so in these flawlessly engineered reissues. Here are some examples.

All but six of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas. The two Brahms Piano Concertos with Jochum and the BPO; Brahms’ First Piano Quartet with members of the Amadeus Quartet; Chopin, Sonata No.3 and three Polonaises; 20 Grieg Lyric Pieces; Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.27 and Concerto No.10 for two pianos with daughter Elena, both with Karl Böhm and the VPO; Schubert’s Trout Quintet with the Amadeus Quartet.

The last seven discs contain recordings derived from the Westminster copies of the Melodiya originals from which the highlight for me is a sparklingly articulate, Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto with Kondrashin and the USSR Radio Symphony Orchestra recorded in March 1955. As an aside, in 1946 the New York Philharmonic Symphony performed the Prokofiev Third under Artur Rodzinski with pianist Nadia Reisenberg who was the only one of the big name pianists prepared to do so. Other disc-mates include an Emperor Concerto with Kurt Sanderling from Leningrad and Kabalevsky’s Piano Concerto No.3 conducted by the composer. Also a wealth of encore-type solos, sonatas and trios with Leonid Kogan, Rostropovich and Rudolf Barshai.

Known for his poetic approach, pianist Dino Ciani remains a cult figure since his untimely death at the age of 32 in a car accident in Rome in 1974. Ciani’s recordings for DGG are available on CD and, as is usual with cult figures, his followers seek out releases of his live performances. Following Doremi’s Volume One which includes live performances of the Beethoven First and Third Piano Concertos, Volume Two features a newly discovered live performance in excellent stereo sound from the French radio archives of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with Aldo Ceccato conducting the ORTF orchestra in the Salle Pleyel in 1971. The performance is very much his own, sensitive and communicating.

The rest of this edition (DHR-8044-6, 3 CDs) includes works by Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Bartók and Beethoven…all new to CD. His performances of three Beethoven sonatas live from Verona in 1973 reveal Ciani to be an outstanding Beethoven performer.

Some years ago during the intermission feature on a recorded concert heard on the car radio, the conductor, a prominent figure, spoke about his meeting with Igor Stravinsky of whom he asked about interpreting Le Sacre du Printemps. “Do not interpret my music,” he was instructed, “just play what I wrote.” Who better to do that than the composer himself. Igor Stravinsky – The Complete Columbia Album Collection (Sony 502616, 56 CDs, a DVD and an informative 262-page hardbound book) contains every one of his own and supervised recordings made by American Columbia and RCA Victor. In 1991 Sony issued Igor Stravinsky: The Recorded Legacy on 22 CDs and it seemed this was to be the final chapter on the Columbia recordings. In the intervening years many changes have enabled Sony to add 34 new CDs. Included now are all 19 monaural recordings including the three RCA CDs with the RCA Symphony Orchestra and all the pre-stereo recordings with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera and soloists including Joseph Szigeti, Vronsky and Babin, Jean Cocteau, Peter Pears, Mitchell (later Mitch) Miller, Mary Simmons, Marilyn Horne, Marni Nixon, Jennie Tourel, Bernard Greenhouse, Vera Zorina and many, many others. Each of these recordings is a part of the Stravinsky legacy.

Stravinsky’s recording of Le Sacre du Printemps from April 1940 with the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York was the first Stravinsky work I owned. It became my reference performance and is the first disc in this new box. Listening to the 1960 recording of the 1947 version with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (disc 22) is a different experience. After the back-in-time opening, The Augurs of Spring – The Dances of the Young Girls bursts forth unmistakably as ballet music and not simply a concert piece. Stravinsky’s propulsive beat and accents are maintained through Part One, percussive, but not confrontational nor blatantly aggressive, yet very potent and authoritative. Many, perhaps most, who acquire this new set will enjoy comparing the early to the later performances of other works. Several are of particular interest: the Symphony of Psalms (1946, NYC) versus the 1963 recording with the Toronto Festival Singers and the CBC Symphony Orchestra; also the suite from The Soldier’s Tale (1954, NYC) versus the brilliant 1961 Hollywood complete recording, abstracted as a Suite – later the complete score with narration by Jeremy Irons was issued. The Ebony Concerto’s over-rehearsed, uninspired performance from 1946 with the Woody Herman Orchestra is brought to life in 1965 by Benny Goodman and a jazz combo. Stravinsky is also heard in rehearsals, as pianist and in conversation and in a monologue, “Apropos of Le Sacre,” that clears up a few events. All the monaural recordings, from original discs and tapes, have been transferred employing 24/96 technology resulting in the highest fidelity to the originals.

Audiophiles may remember when it was de rigueur to vehemently denigrate Columbia for multi-miking that, they claimed, perverted the real sound. Listening to these priceless, landmark performances in such wide-range, you-are-there 3D realism, will certainly put a lie to that. The accompanying DVD, Stravinsky in Hollywood, is the film by Marco Capalbo that takes us from Stravinsky’s great expectations there in 1939 through to the composer’s last days in 1971 in NYC where he, with his longtime friend Robert Craft, mused over the scores and recordings of Beethoven’s late string quartets.

As the big-band era passed into history through the 1950s, new schools of jazz had already emerged, from bebop at one end of the spectrum to the cool school. Cool was characterized by easy tempos in arrangements that often had a “classical” feel as exemplified by Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Gerry Mulligan and others. Of interest were the various groups formed by Chico Hamilton.

Drummer Foreststorn “Chico” Hamilton (1921-2013), in his early musical career, had played with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon and others. Engagements with Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and six years with Lena Horne attest to his proficiency and the inevitability of him forming his own groups.

After leaving the original Gerry Mulligan Quartet in 1953, Hamilton made his first recordings for Pacific Jazz as the Chico Hamilton Trio with bassist George Duvivier and guitarist Howard Roberts. So successful was that disc that in 1955 the Chico Hamilton Quintet was formed. “At the outset, I didn’t quite know what I wanted. I only knew that I wanted something new, a different and, if possible, exciting sound.” The quintet comprised cellist Fred Katz; Buddy Collette, flute, clarinet, alto and tenor sax; Jim Hall, guitar and Carson Smith, bass. In 1956 Paul Horn replaced Collette and John Pisano replaced Hall. Their arrangements of original and standard repertoire were all in-house and except for their ghastly versions of all the tunes from South Pacific, the performers communicate a joie de vivre as fresh as yesterday and totally satisfying

The1955 to 1959 Quintet recordings are included in Chico Hamilton – The Complete Recordings Volume 1 together with the earlier trio sessions and others totaling 98 tracks (Enlightenment ENSCD9057, 5 CDs). Volume Two contains all 84 recordings by Hamilton’s various groups on assorted labels issued on ten LPs from 1959 to 1962 (Enlightenment ENSCD9058, 5 CDs). Fans of West Coast jazz will get much pleasure from these two sets, as will all those who derive pleasure from cool, chamber jazz. The transfers are exemplary.