Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Eugen Jochum was born on 1st November, 1902 in Babenhausen, near Augsburg and died on 26th March 1987 in Munich. He showed prowess in music early even playing the organ at church services at the age of eight. Studying at the Augsburg Conservatory he moved to the Music Academy in Munich in 1922 primarily as a composition student but later studied conducting and worked as répétiteur at the Munich National Theatre.

In 1926 he made a successful concert debut as a conductor which led to his appointment at the Kiel Opera, where he was soon made first conductor. He acquired a repertory of over 50 operas and also conducted concerts at Lübeck over the next three years. Following a season in Mannheim (1929-30) he had two in Duisburg as Generalmusikdirector where a performance of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony brought him the appointment as musical director for Berlin radio before his 30th birthday in 1932. He also had a guest association with the Berlin PO which lasted all his career.

In 1934 he became Generalmusikdirector at the Hamburg Staatsoper and principal conductor of the Hamburg PO where he remained for fifteen years continuing to conduct Bartók, Hindemith and Stravinsky at a time when they were banned elsewhere in Germany by the Nazis. He also conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra when the Netherlands were occupied which brought him a continuing association in the post-war years.

He returned to Munich in 1949 as musical director for Bavarian radio, forming and training their Symphony Orchestra to international standard. His reputation grew particularly in the field of the German Romantic Symphony of Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner, especially the last where he was President of the German section of the International Bruckner Society for 37 years. He was also presented with the Brahms medal by the city of Hamburg. The London SO made him their conductor laureate for the season that saw him record his set of Beethoven symphonies.

Sir Colin Davis was born on 25th September, 1927 in Weybridge and hence this year he celebrates his 85th birthday. His instrument was the Clarinet which he studied at the Royal College of Music and was a bandsman in the Household Cavalry. His inability to play the piano hindered his wish to be a conductor as he was refused entry into the RCM conducting class as well as an apprenticeship in opera houses.

He gained experience informally with a group of RCM students and in his early 20’s his Mozart performances with the Chelsea Opera Group marked him out for potential greatness. At the age of 30 he was appointed assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra and two years later an indisposed Otto Klemperer allowed him the opportunity to conduct Don Giovanni at the Festival Hall. This year, 1959 also marks his recording debut – appropriately in Mozart.

In 1960 he replaced an ill Beecham at Glyndebourne in Die Zauberflöte and the following year he was appointed musical director of Sadler’s Wells Opera where he added success in Stravinsky, notably Oedipus Rex, to his Mozart and introduced the music of Weill and Janácek to British audiences. It was during this period that the solo orchestral recordings together with Oedipus Rex were made; the Berlioz and Tippett concerto recordings were made in 1962 and 1963 respectively.

By 1964 he was in increasing demand for orchestral concerts and he left Sadler’s Wells.

Two years later he made his Metropolitan Opera debut with Peter Grimes and in 1967 started his four year tenure as principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra where he became a hero to the younger members of the Prom audience for his adventurous programming. Following his successes at the Royal Opera, where he made in debut in 1965 (he had conducted the Royal Ballet five years previously), he succeeded Solti as musical director in 1971. He was knighted in 1980.

John Ogdon was born on 27th January, 1937 in Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire and died on 1st August, 1989 in London. His first serious study of the piano was at the Royal Manchester College of Music where his contemporaries were Alexander Goehr, Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies; he also studied composition with Richard Hall, all of whom have music recorded in this collection. His prowess was noticed when he replaced an indisposed soloist in Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto in Liverpool and played almost at sight. At the age of 21 he made his London debut at the Proms in 1958 with Busoni’s Concerto (which he recorded in 1967).

In 1961 he was awarded the Liszt Prize in Budapest and the following year shared the coveted first prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky competition with Vladimir Ashkenazy; this achievement launched his international career. His recordings from this time not only attest to his remarkable virtuosity and intense musicianship but also his determination to explore both rarer and modern repertoire and give them the performances that show them to their best advantage.

This collection therefore contains not merely the classics – concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Schumann and Grieg and solos by Liszt and Chopin – but rarer concertos by Mendelssohn, Glazunov Bartók as well as the aforementioned Busoni. The major contribution to the catalogue of recorded music must be the solo piano works by the 20th century composers: Sir Michael Tippett, Alan Rawsthorne, Alun Hoddinott, Christopher Headington, David Blake, Robert Sherlaw Johnson and his teacher and colleagues from his days in Mancheser: Richard Hall and the previously mentioned Goehr, Birtwistle and Maxwell Davies as well as works by himself. One further work requires especial mention: Ronald Stevenson’s Passacaglia on DSCH, the composer’s tribute to Dmitri Shostakovich.

At over 85 minutes duration it has to be split across two CDs and the work together with Ogdon’s support of it yielded the highest praise.

Following on from her recent appearance on BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune', the acclaimed soprano Christiane Karg performed with Glyndbourne Touring Opera in the 2010/2011 season. An interview with her appeared in the May issue of BBC Magazine this year. This compilation takes the listener on an emotional roller-coaster ride.

Hungarian pianist Annie Fischer suffered reprisals for her Jewish background, but after the Second World War she enjoyed her international breakthough with Mozart playing of gentle elegance, supple virtuosity and dramatic power.

For a half-century he had the reputation of the trumpet soloist: Maurice André, who died in 2012. The best examples of his radiant tone are the recordings he made with different organists – a brilliant stroll through the golden world of Baroque music.