West 3009-10 - Hermann Scherchen conducts Beethoven

CD I: L. van Beethoven: Piano Concert No. 3, op. 37 (soloist: Paul Badura-Skoda - Stereo recording of July 1958) - Overtures Leonore II and III (recorded 1951)
CD II: L. Van Beethoven: Egmont, stage music (soloist: Magda Laszlo, narrator: Fred Liewehr - Vienna State Opera Orchestra - Recorded July 1953) - Great Fugue, op. 133 (English Baroque Orchestra - Recorded 14.IX.1954)

This fifth volume of the Scherchen-Westminster archives, licensed by Deutsche Grammophon, contains only Beethoven works recorded between 1951 and 1958. First, the Third Piano concerto which is the only recording of the five concertos with the young 30 year-old Badura-Skoda. Then the famous overtures Leonore II and III as well as the stage music of Egmont with the soprano Magda Laszlo. Last but not least, the Great Fugue in Felix Weingartner's transcription. This recording is not with the Lugano RTSI orchestra already released by Tahra, but with the English Baroque Orchestra in London, recorded in September 1954. All four recordings have never been issued on CD until now.

Note : May be downloaded on i-tunes

Date : October, 2007 - Barre code : 3504129300913

Tah 581 - In Memoriam Erich Kleiber: Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Liszt

Mozart: Symphony "Linz" - (Sinfonieorchester des NWDR), Beethoven: Symphonies No. 4, 5 and 6, Dvorak: Cello Concerto - (Antonio Janigro / Kölner RSO), Liszt: Les Préludes (Phiharmonie Tchèque de Prague) Direction : Erich Kleiber
Fifty years ago, on January 27 1956, one of the greatest German conductors of the Twentieth century died in Zurich - Erich Kleiber, never to be forgotten for the unforgettable première of Berg's opera Wozzeck. And on that same day, two hundred years earlier, on January 27, 1756, a certain Mozart was also born….
This set is a tribute to Kleiber for whom Toscanini was always the model. Kleiber's insisted: "One must play only what is in the notes," the exact opposite of Furtwängler, who was always searching for what was behind the notes.
The booklet includes the conductor's complete discography, from his first Vox recordings in 1923 to the very last ones in the 1950s, made for the British label Decca. The set also includes also a very rare sound archive of Kleiber talking, as well as some brief remarks about Kleiber by Friedrich Schnapp, the famous German Radio sound engineer...

Date : May, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129058111

Tah 592/594 - Unissued Carl Schuricht : Schubert, Bruckner, Brahms

Schubert: Symphony Unfinished - Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 - Brahms: Deutsches Requiem (Elisabeth Grümmer, Soprano and Otto Wiener, Tenor - NDR Sinfonieorchester - Carl Schuricht
Although he lived to be 87, Carl Schuricht didn't leave a vast commercial discography. On the other hand, there are many Live recordings in various European radio archives, mainly German and Swiss. That's the case of the present three recordings, coming from the NDR Hamburg and released for the first time: Schubert's Unfinished, Bruckner's Eighth Symphony and Brahms' Deutsches Requiem with Elisabeth Grümmer and Otto Wiener.

Date : May, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129059217

Tah 651 - Hermann Scherchen: An Imaginary Concert

B. Smetana: Ma Vlast, The Moldau (Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera - May 1957) - M. Ravel: Concerto for the left hand in D major (Kölner RSO - soloist: Robert Casadesus - 11.III.1957) - P. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 op. 36 in F minor (Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera - July 1951)

We have put together a concert that Scherchen might have conducted, beginning with a symphonic poem, then a concerto and, finally, a symphony. To begin the concert we have chosen a famous work that Scherchen rarely played (the Moldau), followed by Ravel’s concerto for the left hand from a previously unissued performance in Cologne with Robert Casadesus as soloist, and finally the Tchaikovsky Fourth recorded in Vienna in 1951, subsequently reissued on CD, but at an incorrect pitch that we have now corrected.
The music review Disques (No. 54) published the following review of this recording of the fourth symphony: “The orchestra and the conductor give of their very best. Scherchen asked the musicians above all for colour and nothing but colour and the orchestra responded in spades. The brass played with complete freedom and to their heart’s content. The famous Viennese strings sparkled and shone whichever way they turned. A superb recording...”

Date : N/A - Barre code : 3504129065119