Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

As part of its series of historic recordings, the audite label presents another notable jewel. On 5 March 1963 two great virtuosos made their Berlin débuts with orchestra in the same concert: the then 18-year-old cellist Jacqueline du Pré and the 22-year-old pianist Bruno Leonardo Gelber.

Du Pré’s interpretation of the Schumann Cello Concerto seems more vivid and contains greater contrasts even than her later recording of the work. With his reading of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, Gelber communicates a conception of a large-scale work, shaping the inner contrasts and connections without ever losing sight of the overall coherence. For everyone who is interested in the history of interpretation, these two live documents of a great moment in Berlin’s post-war musical life are a must.

This CD forms part of our series “Legendary Recordings” and bears the stamp “1st Master Release”. This term stands for the exceptional quality of audite’s archive releases which are all, without exception, produced using original tapes from the radio archives. Usually, these are the original analogue tapes with tape speeds of up to 76 cm/s which are of astonishingly high quality, even by today’s standards. In addition, the process of re-mastering – executed with professional expertise and sensitivity – reveals hitherto hidden details of the interpretations, creating a sonic image of superior quality. CD releases produced from private recordings of radio broadcasts or old 78rpm records cannot match this level of sound quality.

Leading tenor, Rolando Villazon, has personally selected 34 great Verdi tracks, sung by the great names of the present and past, both to celebrate Verdi at 200 and to inspire a new generation with the composer’s great arias, powerful choruses and popular tunes.

The tracklist is framed by two stirring overtures, it includes famous numbers by all the leading singers on DG and Decca (as well as a couple from EMI), including Roberto Alagna, Carlo Bergonzi, Grace Bumbry, Joseph Calleja, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Luciano Pavorotti, Katia Ricciarelli, Joan Sutherland and BrynTerfel. There are rousing choruses and several extracts from the Requiem too. It’s a splendid 150-minute collection.

The striking cover includes one of Rolando’s inimitable Verdi sketches, and will include a sticker incorporating a photo of the artist. The all-colour booklet has an article by journalist Richard Lawrence which also takes in some quotes from the artist in a recent interview for this release.

Villazón is confident that every excerpt on these discs will make the listener want to hear the complete work. “No other composer creates such an immediate link with the audience. Go to see La traviata: you hear those rhythms, those melodies, that dramatic force, and you are drawn into his world. It doesn’t matter whether you love opera or know nothing about it: it just captures you, it grabs you.” Listening to the numbers from La traviata here, you have to agree.

The purpose of this present collection of recording is to provide a document showing the vocal techniques of the ‘golden generation’ of Wagner interpreters.

It begins with a true icon of Wagner’s music: Kirsten Flagstad who performs not the famous 1952 recording of Brunhilde, but a 1948 version recorded in the Abbey Road studios), and carries on with Eileen Farrell (an American singer of rare versatility), George London singing Wotan and a serious list of other top quality performers.

The recordings are all taken from the period 1941-1959 and this release gives us a unique collection of the sheer quality of these Wagner performers, all of them ‘stars’ of their time.

Il Tabarro is Puccini’s opera in one act, sung in German.

This is a budget reissue 2 CD set of Haydn, Mozart and Mahler’s works performed by the Bayerisches Rundfunks Sinfonieorchester and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hans Rosbaud.