Brigitte Fassbaender

Amidst the ranks of the many male interpreters of Schubert's great song cycle, Brigitte Fassbaender set her own standard. Her recording shows the winter wanderings of the poetic protagonist as a drama with a wide variety of expressive nuance, from rebellion to resignation.

One of the great documents from conductor Rudolph Kempe's Munich period is this overwhelming version of Beethoven's Ninth with a set of hand-picked soloists, made in 1973, three years before Kempe's death. The pinnacle of a great conducting career with one of the most powerful works in the entire repertoire.

2CD+1CDR

Recording Country: Monaco

Recording Date: 1 Jan 1989

Musical brightness and splendour: Handel's oratorios were effective dramatic works for the stage, with one exception: The Messiah. But precisely the reflective character and solemn style of the score helped the work achieve resounding success. For the first time, oratorios were allowed to be performed in church, and The Messiah soon had a firm place in choral societies' standard repertoire.

From fairy tale to great opera: with Die Zauberflöte Mozart made the step from simple Singspiel to a full-blown German opera, thus laying the foundations for an independent opera culture in the German language. The 1973 Electrola recording combines a truly legendary vocal ensemble, featuring first and foremost Edda Moser, whom many people still regard as the best Queen of the Night of all time, Walter Berry as a Papageno oozing Viennese charm, and Anneliese Rothenberger as an enchantingly touching Pamina.

Recorded in 1971

The 1974 Electrola production offers plenty of Schubert pathos, rounded off by humorous elements: it documents the Schubert reception of the past with a very prominent cast! The Schubertiade genre came to enjoy great popularity during the composer's own lifetime; indeed, one might term it something of an 'export hit', with such musical soirées being celebrated well beyond the confines of Vienna.