Also available on Blu-ray

This is one of the most beautiful and brilliant recordings of Wagner´s Tristan und Isolde and it´s first time available on video. Leonard Bernstein’s way of conducting this opera is unique and he makes orchestra and singers perform at their very best. The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks was the only German orchestra with which Leonard Bernstein regularly collaborated for many years and it has numbered among the top ten orchestras in the world. A star cast of singers with Peter Hofmann and Hildegard Behrens in the title roles completes this exceptional semi-staged production. Bernstein’s 1981 recording of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde is still considered an outstanding interpretation and has set the bar until this day. When he heard this performance Karl Bohm said, “Bernstein has conducted Tristan und Isolde the way that Wagner intended it to be conducted”.

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REVIEW:

Bernstein prefers a very personal, emotionally spontaneous approach, and the orchestral playing is, as to be expected, sensational. in all Peter Hoffmann and Hildegard Behrens sound fresh, youthful, and intense, if not highly dramatic or heroic in the more traditional Wagnerian sense.

The resolution of the film falls short of the technical possibilities inherent the Blu-ray format. Away from the grandiose soundtrack, the DVD / Blu-ray is of more historical interest, lacking the modern degree of visual splendor.

– Merker Online
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DETAILS:

Subtitles: G, E, F, Sp, It, Kr, Jp
Booklet: English, German, French
No. of Discs: 3
Run time: 291 minutes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Picture: NTSC 4:3
Audio: PCM Stereo
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Yondani Butt was born in Macau. He studied conducting with Wolfgang Vacano at Indiana University, majoring in chemistry. He continued to study conducting with Josef Blatt at the University of Michigan while pursuing his chemistry degree. Hailed by Robert Marsh of the Chicago Sun Times as “an outstanding talent,” Yondani Butt has received acclamation from critics and audiences for his many recordings and concert performances. He died on August 28, 2014. “If you’re one of those classical enthusiasts who prefer their Wagner experience to be administered in brief but nonetheless memorable doses this splendid new Nimbus collection could well have been conceived specifically with you in mind. Conductor Yondani Butt and the LSO serve up commanding performances of some of the most evocative and instantly recognizable orchestral passages in the Wagner canon, including ‘Magic Flute Music,’ Siegfried’s ‘Rhine Journey,’ and the [album’s] show stopping finale, ‘Ride of the Valkyries.’ (Halesowen News) “…The sound in these recordings is extremely vivid and realistic… Butt’s Wagner is very impressive.” (Musicweb International)

The London Symphony Orchestra, led by formidable conductor Yondani Butt, presents this outstanding recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathetique,’ and The Voyevoda- Symphonic Ballad. The programme was recorded in 2012 at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. Yondani Butt was born in Macau. He studied conducting with Wolfgang Vacano (1906-1985) at Indiana University, majoring in chemistry. He continued to study conducting with Josef Blatt (1906-1999) at the University of Michigan while pursuing his chemistry degree. Hailed by Robert Marsh of the Chicago Sun Times as “an outstanding talent,” Yondani Butt has received acclamation from critics and audiences for his many album recordings and concert performances. He died on August 28th, 2014.

Also available on Blu-ray

Two unforgettable evenings showcase the artistry of Renée Fleming alongside Christian Thielemann’s mastery of the Austro-German Romantic idiom, as the Salzburg Festival honours one of its founding fathers, Richard Strauss, and the Staatskapelle Dresden draws on the deep well of its living Bruckner tradition. The mixed vocal and symphonic programmes feature five lieder by the prolific Austrian songsmith Hugo Wolf in addition to four of Strauss’s finest and an opera scene featuring Fleming in one of her career-defining roles, Arabella. At Dresden’s Semperoper, the Staatskapelle’s then newly appointed music director leads them in Bruckner’s lyric Seventh in which the composer mourns the death of Wagner, whereas in Salzburg, Thielemann helms the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the spectacular mountain journey of Strauss’s titanic Alpine Symphony. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true Surround Sound. "Thielemann, whose reading is satisfyingly spacious, reveals the work's structural mastery in intermingling and transforming its many themes. The excellent video director Michael Beyer expertly lays out the orchestra in front of us, following the music sensibly so that we can relish Strauss's detailed scoring...[Fleming] sings gloriously and the result is ravishing " (Gramophone)

2018 release. Since 1939, the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert has become a tradition and the world's most famous classical music event. The list of names of leading conductors who have led the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concerts reads like a veritable who's who of great maestros: Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado and Gustavo Dudamel to name a few. For the New Year's Concert 2018 world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti returns to conduct the New Year's Concert for the fifth time. He has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for over 500 concerts, has a very close connection to the orchestra and is one of the most engaged New Year's Concert conductors. Italian conductor Muti holds two music directorships: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. A prolific recording artist, Muti has received dozens of honors, titles, awards and prizes throughout his career. The Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert is unique and has often been imitated, but not equaled, with a live broadcast on television in over 90 countries around the world with over 40 million viewers. The repertoire for the New Year's Concert features works by members of the Strauss Family - Johann Strauss, father and son, as well as Eduard and Josef Strauss. Old favorites from their works are played alongside others that have never been recorded or are rarely heard. All of them programmed around two fixed points in the concert, The Blue Danube Waltz and the Radetzky March.

PENTATONE’s third release from Rafael Kubelik’s acclaimed Beethoven cycle of symphonies in its Remastered Classics series is his commanding reading of the sixth, seventh and eighth symphonies performed by the Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Sometimes known as the “hymn to humour”, the genial eighth symphony sits as an intriguing gem between the imposing seventh and stupendous ninth symphonies. In a performance described as “light-footed and bristling with energy” (AllMusic), Kubelik captures the work’s essentially irreverent spirit with vibrant and colourful playing from the Cleveland Orchestra. Rafael Kubelik recorded his cycle of Beethoven symphonies in the 1970s for Deutsche Grammophon, each with a different orchestra, earning widespread praise. Although recorded in multi-channel sound, these unmissable performances have previously been available only in the conventional two-channel stereo format. Using state of the art technology which avoids the need for re-mixing, PENTATONE’s engineers have remastered the original studio tapes to bring the performances to life as originally intended: in compelling and pristine multi-channel sound. Other releases from PENTATONE in the Kubelik Beethoven cycle are the Symphonies 1 & 4 (with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) and Symphonies 2 & 5 (with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra).

In these recordings, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Berliner Philharmoniker present a brilliant and multifaceted interpretation of Franz Schubert’s eight symphonies. This Schubert is colorful and dramatic – and represents a unique synthesis in which the famous sound of the Berliner Philharmoniker is as evident as Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s familiarity with the transparency and sound speech of historical performance practice. The CD hardcover edition enables playback with either the best CD sound or – when used as an SACD – in high-resolution audio quality and in surround sound. Founded in 1882, the Berliner Philharmoniker has consistently been ranked as one of the best orchestras in the world. In 2006, ten European media outlets voted the ensemble number three on a list of “Top Ten European Orchestras,” and in 2008 it was voted the world’s number two orchestra in a survey by Gramophone.

In this release IDIS presents to the audience an authentic rarity: the brilliant Brahms’ Third Symphony recorded at the Berlin Radio with the Berliner Philarmoniker in 1950. In this touching recording with a very high sound quality for that time, Knappertsbusch reveals himself a great performer and interpreter of Brahms music very far from that rhetoric that so many German performers used to give to this works which is instead , by its nature, the most intimist and reflexive among Brahms Symphonies. The Haydn Symphony no 94 in a very modern version ends the CD, also live recorded in 1950, where Knappertsbusch is against any concession to poor sense of humor and to the so called “ Vienna good temper” which for two centuries have characterized the interpretation of Brahms Symphonies.

This new release introduces two Requiems. The first is a German Requiem by Johannes Brahms in an unusual version translated into Italian and performed at RAI in Turin in April 1954 with a stellar cast including soprano Rosanna Carters and bass Boris Christoff conducted by the great master Bruno Walter. The other track is the Giuseppe Verdi Requiem performed in Salzburg in September 1949. The presence of Boris Christoff in both pieces is the guiding thread that connects the two works. In the Verdi, other singers include Hilde Zadek, Margarete Klose, and Helge Roswaenge. They are accompanied by the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by the great Herbert von Karajan.

Hollow pathos is not his thing. From an artist like Mariss Jansons Friedrich Schiller's Ode: ''An die Freude'' must receive a far deeper significance, which also fully encompasses the doubt and profound hope embodied in this text. And thus, in Jansson's recording of the Ninth Symphony, the choral finale does not degenerate to mere superficial orgy of jubilation, but rather becomes a delicately balanced, wisely developed drama. On October 27, 2007 teh Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks played Beethoven's Ninth in the presence of the Pope in the Vatican. The recording of this memorable concert is now being released by Br-Klassik.

Yondani Butt was born in Macau. He studied conducting with Wolfgang Vacano (1906-1985) at Indiana University, majoring in chemistry. He continued to study conducting with Josef Blatt (1906-1999) at the University of Michigan while pursuing his chemistry degree. Hailed by Robert Marsh of the Chicago Sun Times as ''an outstanding talent'', Yondani Butt has received acclamation from critics and audiences for his many recordings and concert performances. He died on August 28, 2014. ''Anyone seeking these two symphonies on one disc, together with a generous 'filler' into the bargin, could hardly do better than to acquire this eminently recommendable issue'' Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review on the original release of Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4.

Schmidt, a cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic, let hte orchestra premiere his symphony in 1913, which since then belongs to their main repertoire. With Semyon Bychkov they are a proven team to champion Schmidt's Symphony. The Second Symphony is the most brilliant and extroverted one with the biggest instrumentation. "It remains that rare combination, a work of tremendous immediate appeal and a compositional tour de force." (Gramophone Magazine) The recording features the famous intermezzo from the same-named opera by Strauss. It's full of Straussian yearning and lyricism performed by The Strauss Orchestra.

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REVIEW:

It's apparent here the amount of affection with which conductor and orchestra approach this work. The symphony is an essentially sunny and pastoral work of shifting, beautifully dappled colors. There are disparate hints of Strauss, Reger, and Bruckner, and others, as well as a couple of passages that look forward to future Schmidt work.

The performance here determinedly lets the music develop at its own pace; Bychkov is not a conductor to seek out cheap thrills. One admires what the conductor achieves with the variations in the second movement, for example, and the slow-burn momentum of the initally underwhelming finale.

A persuasive case is made here for a work of considerable beauty. A gentle, tender account of Strauss' most famous Intermezzo interlude makes a charming coupling.

– Gramophone

January 8th, 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Carl Schuricht. This release of two live recordings made in 1961 and 1962 pays tribute to a renowned conductor who was only to enjoy great international fame in his old age - as one of teh last representatives of the generation of the old German conductors, and as a master of the classical and romantic repertoire. ''Neither recreating a facade nor exposing feelings'' was how Carl Schuricht once summarized his artistic credo. These two Lucerne live recordings document the compelling persuasiveness and the intensity that Schuricht's interpretational style - his tremendously inspired objectivity, entirely at the service of the music - could develop: in Mozart's final Piano Concerto, K 595 in B flat major, Schuricht proves to be a sensitive accompanist. Together with the French pianist Robert Casadesus he manages to strike the distinctive tone of this concerto between simplicity and noblesse, innocence and wisdom, buffa nad elegy. In cooperation with Audite, Lucerne Festival presents the ''Historic Performances'' series featuring outstanding concert recordings of artists who have shaped the festival throughout its history. The aim of this album edition is to rediscover treasures - most of which have not been released previously - from the first six decades of the festival, which was founded in 1938 with a special gala concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. These recordings have been made available by the archives of SRF Swiss Radio and Television, which has broadcast the Lucerne concerts from the outset.

Mozart was certainly among the ''domestic dieties'' of Viennese pianist Friedrich Gulda. He repeatedly played Mozart's piano music in his concerts and had it recorded. In so doing, this classically-trained musician, who had already played successfully in jazz bands at a young age, ignored the strict limits imposed by genres: he wanted to show audiences that there are no distinctions between musical styles whenever good music is played honestly and conscientiously. On June 27, 1982, Gulda again appeared at Munich's ''Klaviersommer'' festival. His partner was the jazz pianist Chick Corea, and the collaboration of both musicians is documented on this album ''The Meeting'' - a standard in recording history. Until now, only the famous second half of this concert has been available and not the first, which Gulda performed on his own and was devoted primarily to Mozart. Gulda thus used Mozart's piano music as a kind of introduction to the world of jazz improvisation. The first part of this legendary concert, performed at the Deutsches Museum in the summer of 1982, took the soloist Gulda over 40 minutes to perform, even though he ''only'' played Mozart's Piano Sonata in C Major, K. 330. But he began and ended it with his own improvisations, which sound less than Mozartian, even though they do contain a broad and subtle range of different styles and effects, catchy melodies, and violent cascades of sound. Gulda proves to be a highly gifted interpreter of Mozart as well as a mischievous improviser on the piano - who also wants to entertain and can do so on a high level. As a transition to the second part of the concert, he performs two of his own compositions, which can also be heard on this album. It is a piece of good fortune that the Bayerische rRundfunk has now made the first half of this concert event accessible to a wide audience too.

The Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks can be heard here performing highlights of sacred choral music dating from the Baroque period to modern times. Even today, three hundred years later, the large oratorio choirs by Bach and Handel are as vivid, realistic and captivating as ever. Haydn succeeded in preserving this for the sacred music of the Wiener Klassik era, which reached its peak in Beethoven's Missa solemnis. The heartfelt masses composed by Schubert are typical of early German Romanticism, Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass is the French equivalent here, and Dvořák's Stabat Mater represents Bohemian Romanticism of the mid- to late 19th century.

Verdi's famous Messa da Requiem testifies to the close relationship between Italian opera and Italian church music. The Mass written just before the end of World War II by the Hungarian composer Kodály is still Late Romantic in its musical language, while in his Berlin Mass, written shortly before the start of the 20th century, the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt maintains the Tintinnabuli style that informs and inspires his work. This representative cross-section of well-known and some less well-known choral numbers spans a period of almost three hundred years, impressively demonstrating not only what gives choral music its special character and aura, but also what has changed over the centuries and what has remained largely similar. Furthermore, it testifies to the unique choral culture of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and to the "crystal clear sound" and "immense plasticity" of its performances, which are regularly praised in the highest terms, along with supreme artistic quality of its interpretations.