Tah 723 - Liszt

Edith Farnadi plays Franz Liszt

Fantaisie hongroise & Danse macabre with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (3.III.1956)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major
- Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major - Vienna State Opera Orchestra (15.III.1959) - Conductor: Sir Adrian Boult

Note : Franz Liszt was born two centuries ago. In order to commemorate that anniversary, we release four works for piano and orchestra with the great Hungarian pianist Edith Farnadi, that were all premiered during the Weimar period, in which his orchestra writing rose to its heights and he tried to find another way to develop musical creativity and to perfect his technique of orchestration.

Date : October, 2011 - Barre code : 3504129072315

Tah 720 - Eugen Jochum: Rare recordings

Maurice RAVEL: Daphnis and Chloë, Suite II(27.X.1950) - Richard STRAUSS: Vier letzte Lieder (Soloist: Annelies Kupper - 1.XII.1950)
Johann STRAUSS: Die Fledermaus, overture (19.I.1951) - Georg-Friedrich HAENDEL: Agrippina, overture (12.III.1954) - Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Rondo for piano and orchestre, KV 382 (Soloist: Edwin Fischer - 26.VI.1954) - Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks conducted by Eugen Jochum

«The Jochum Era» in Munich lasted ten years (1949-1959). Eugen Jochum managed to build a sound body that transformed a simple radio orchestra in an ensemble of worldwide reputation.
These sound archives are first-time releases for two reasons: they have never been released before but above all, no official recording of them exists.

Date : August, 2011 - Barre code : 3504129072018

Furt 2008 - Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Eroica (Hybrid SACD)

L. van Beethoven: Symphonie No. 3, Eroica, op. 55 in E Flat major - W. Furtwängler conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Historic recording made on 19/20.XII.1944 by Friedrich Schnapp in the great Musikvereinssaal in Vienna (Magnetofonkonzert) and released as SACD from the analog master tapes extant at the Deutsche Rundfunk Archiv

The present CD is the first one of a new series of « Live » recordings dedicated to Wilhelm Furtwängler at the head of the Vienna and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. These issues released in the SACD format, are a noticeable improvement as opposed to the preceding releases. The famous Eroica recorded in Vienna in December 1944 is the first one of this series and will be followed by a Bruckner Eighth recorded two months earlier. The sound quality of these archives is astounding if one considers that they are over sixty years of age.

Date : June, 2011 - Barre code : 3504129200817

Tah 719 - Previously unissued recordings of Youra Guller III

L. van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4, op. 58
F. Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, op. 21
(Orchestre National de France, D.E. Inghelbrecht conducting) - Recorded on 15.V.1958 (Beethoven) and 21.VI.1959 (Chopin)

After two CD (Tah 630 and 650), that were quite successful, Tahra continues to release previously unissued recordings by the great French Pianist Youra Guller: the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto and the Chopin Second Piano Concerto – two of her «specialties». These are live recordings of the concerts that took in place in Paris in 1958-9 under the baton of D. Inghelbrecht conducting the Orchestre National de France.

Press review
The Chopin Concerto (21 June 1959) seems to wait for the Larghetto to reveal the pliant mysteries Guller could impart to the melodic line, the ornaments appearing to dissipate into interstellar space. No wonder Martha Argerich insisted Guller return to the recording studios! The flourishes and bold fioritura may imply the school of Isidor Philipp and Alfred Cortot, but her poetry has its unique voice and sculpting. The dark interlude in the nocturnal Larghetto becomes a mighty introspection, with the orchestra's supplying a sounding voice for melancholy ruminations on mortality. The lithe mazurka that constitutes the Allegro vivace brings crisp fire to the concert platform, with Guller's seeming to relish the roulades and shifting metrics that blend with the maverick woodwind or stormy string line that accompanies the eminently vocal execution of the keyboard. The col legno strings delicately ply their trade under a declamatory Guller who maneuvers rubato and inflections of touch with a suave assurance of style.
Highly recommended as a recording of special merit.
Gary Lemco (www.Audaud.com)

Date : April, 2011 - Barre code : 3504129071912

Tah 716/718 - Scherchen conducts Mahler

CD I: Symphony No. 1, "Titan" (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - IX.1954)
CD II: Symphony No. 5 (Vienna State Opera Orchestra - VII.1953)
CD III: Symphony No. 7, "Night Song" (Vienna State Opera Orchestra - VII.1953)

Hermann Scherchen was generally considered as a «Pioneer of avant-garde music», but to limit his activity to this domain is reductive since at least three important composers accompanied him along his entire life: Bach, Schoenberg and Mahler, whose works he interpreted over 54 years, from his first concert in Berlin (the Mahler Fifth on 4 February 1914), until his last Mahler concert in Bremen (again the Fifth, on 9 May 1966).
He performed all Mahler symphonies, worldwide, totaling in all 89 performances with always the Fifth symphony at the head of the list (22 times).

Date : March, 2011 - Barre code : 3504129071615

Tah 710/711 - Previously unissued recordings of Charles Munch and Paul Paray

CD I: Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20, KV 466 - Ravel: Concerto for the left hand (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch conducting, piano Monique Haas - 11.XI.1960)
CD II: Bach: Piano Concerto in D minor(Piano Monique Haas - 8.XII.1960) - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major (piano Robert Casadesus - 11.XI.1960 - Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray conducting)

There was a time in which three French conductors headed great American orchestras: Pierre Monteux in San Francisco (1936-1952), Charles Munch in Boston (1949-1962), and Paul Paray in Detroit (1951-1962).
We were lucky to be able to reunite in the present album four previously unissued recordings made in Boston with Munch and in Detroit with Paray. Also the pianists are French: Monique Haas and Robert Casadesus. And as a special bonus, the Mozart KV 466 and the Bach concerto are works that appear here for the first time in Monique Haas’ discography.

Note : Not for sale in the USA

Date : February, 2011 - Barre code : 3504129071011

Tah 697 - Hermann Scherchen conducts Vivaldi

Gloria, for soli, choir and orchestra RV 589
Soloists: Mimi Coertse, Ina Dressel, Sonja Draxler - Recorded on 18 and 19.XI.1960
Il Cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione
The Four Seasons, op. 8 No. 1 – 4
Violin: Julian Olevsky - Recorded during the recording session 2 - 18.VI.1958
The Vienna State Opera Orchestra

Although Scherchen’s name is tightly tied to that of Bach, Mahler, Schoenberg, etc., there is a domain of his activity which he always cherished: that of what he called « preclassical music». In order to illustrate this musically, it seemed of interest to release the following two recordings: the famous 4 Seasons and the most famous of and popular of Vivaldi’s sacred works: the Gloria. Once again, Scherchen distinguishes himself in the way he treats the orchestral structure (for example in the Winter) in which he seems fully apply his maxim «make everything audible » (alles hörbar machen).

Date : December, 2010 - Barre code : 3504129069711

Tah 685 - The Art of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

F.J. Haydn: Piano Concerto in D majojr op. 21 - Orchestra di Torino della RAI, conductor: Mario Rossi - Recorded on 18.XII.1959
L. van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, the Emperor, op. 73 - Orchestra di Roma della RAI, conductor: Massimo Freccia
Recorded on 12.XII.1959 (previously unissued recording)

The Emperor concerto was the piece for piano and orchestra that Michelangeli played the most: between 1939 and 1987 he performed it over a hundred times. All these interpretations are identical only in appearance, but in reality they all bear a complete autonomous identity due to imperceptible variations in the sound. Until 1953 it is light, brilliant and sensual; in later performances it becomes increasingly stern, essential and metaphysical. It is here where Michelangeli’s secret lies : it is an art concentrated towards an ideal of a perfection that he cultivated in the loneliness of a personality that made no concession whatsoever for the tastes of stardom and mundane society, an art from his own times but extraordinarily modern for its moral and aesthetic values.

Date : November, 2010 - Barre code : 3504129068516

Tah 714/715 - Previously unissued recordings of Paul van Kempen

CD I: J. Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2, in B flat major- Orchestre National de France, Wilhelm Kempff (piano) - Public recording of the Besançon Festival on 1.IX.1955 - P. Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet, overture-fantasy - Concertgebouworkest (17 & 18.VII.1951)
CD II: G. Mahler: Symphony Bo. 1, Titan, in D major - Orchestra di Torino della RAI - Public recording made on 20.V.1955

In his native country, the Netherlands, Paul van Kempen is mainly remembered for the « van Kempen affair », a demonstration against his alleged compromising role during WW II. His discography was determined by the record companies: so, the fledging Philips label was producing a catalogue of standard works. If the DGG recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos with Wilhelm Kempff and the Berlin Philharmonic is famous, there are significant gaps in his discography when it comes to Mahler and Brahms. That’s why the performance of Mahler’s First Symphony with the RAI Orchestra of Turin is a welcome addition and a unique document, as well as the Second Brahms Piano Concerto with Kempff, in a compelling performance.

Note : Booklet by the historian Niek Nelissen, who also wrote a biography dedicated to the Dutch conductor Willem van Otterloo.

Date : October, 2010 - Barre code : 3504129071417

Tah 701/703 - Hermann Scherchen, the Master of Oratorio

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Saint-Matthew Passion

Of all Bach’s works, the St Matthew Passion is the most ambitious one and one of civilization’s greatest monuments. In July 1953, Hermann Scherchen made in Vienna a recording which has become famous and in which he both acts as an architect and as a goldsmith: the result is a dramatic interpretation reinforced by an impressive range of vocal and orchestral colors. The spirituality emanating from Scherchen’s conception of this work is but a human spirituality brought to life by art itself. In this version human feelings are highlighted in all their contrasts.
The action itself is narrated by an evangelist (Hugues Cuénod whose voice and impeccable diction ideally fit this role). As for H. Rehfuss, his voice with its magnificent velvet quality is absolutely irresistible. The contralto Rössl-Majdan is astonishing and full of emotion in the famous aria “Erbarme dich” and sings masterly the other arias. This recording remains a reference in the history of the interpretation of Bach.

Date : August, 2010 - Barre code : 3504129070113