Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

In October 1980 Klaus Tennstedt conducted three evenings of classical and romantic music. The opening work was Hans Pfitzner’s rarely-heard overture to Heinrich von Kleist’s play Das Käthchen von Heilbron. Pfitzner felt, and indeed referred to, a certain affinity with Kleist. The poet’s Hermann’s Battle makes its appearance in Pfitzner’s Song of the Bards for male chorus, horns, violas and cellos. It was above all the romantic subject matter and the atmospherically charged scenes of the play that most inspired his six-part Käthchen music. This is a richly coloured work which could almost have been written for Tennstedt. Walter Kaempfer wrote in the Tagesspiegel that the overture could be convincingly interpreted only in the mode of a fantasy, as it was in Tennstedt’s reading. "Graf Wetter vom Strahl’s earthy chivalry was vividly contrasted with the ‘sweet-scented elder’ of the enraptured Käthchen in the enchanting bird-song of the Philharmonic’s woodwind; here were the very archetypes of romantic fantasy-in-sound, in a bewitching vividness spellbindingly communicated to the audience." The soloist of the evening was the twenty-three-year old Babette Hierholzer, who had made her début with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1978. Born in Freiburg, this pianist settled in Berlin in 1964 and trained in Berlin, Essen, New York and in Italy. Her teachers included Paul Badura-Skoda, and she won prizes in a number of competitions. In the A major Mozart Concerto she showed a total rapport with orchestra and conductor; one critic (Wolfgang Schultze) spoke of the "seamless" give-and-take and interplay between piano and orchestra. Walter Kaempfer was impressed by the pianist’s technical excellence, her calm shaping of the outer movements of this famous piece, and the expressive phrasing and subtle "breathing" evident in her understanding of the nuances in the Adagio. There followed an electrifying reading of Dvorˇák’s Eighth Symphony. "Tennstedt and his splendidly responsive orchestra between them conjured up a veritable firework display in their Dvorˇák, full of vigour, musical exuberance and lively playfulness. All those instrumental subtleties which are so often missing in this music were in evidence in this performance." (Wolfgang Schultze). Tennstedt liberated the symphony from the routine of everyday performances and presented something quite new, laden with energy and emotional character. According to the Tagesspiegel critic, "not a single nuance or impulse was lost; every crescendo became an inspiring adventure." Tennstedt had proved his indispensable worth among all the guest conductors with the Berlin Philharmonic, and without question his departure left "a void in the programme of the orchestra which could be filled only at the very highest level."

from the booklet note © Helge Grünewald, 2010

This high-quality 4 CD set from Fab Four features Georg Solti conducting both the London and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras and the London Symphony Orchestra, between the years of 1949 and 1958. Solti holds the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th Century. Here, he conducts symphonies by Haydn, Schubert, Mozart and Mendelssohn.

French master autist Jean-Pierre Rampal had a formative influence on the development and importance of classical flute playing during the 20th century – and his exemplary career helped the instrument gain a degree of popularity that prompted one of Washington Post‘s reviewers to pose the question: “Can any other autist since Frederick the Great boast as many fans as Jean-Pierre Rampal?” Through Rampal‘s international career as a virtuoso - and his work as a conductor - the musician made a crucial contribution to the flute being accepted as a solo instrument on the international concert scene. These recordings, made in 1954 and 1955, prove the flute virtuoso to be not only a lover of Mozart‘s music but also a connoisseur of his art.

Elisabeth Grümmer became in 1946 a regular member of the Städtische Oper Berlin (now the Deutsche Oper), which was her primary professional association throughout her career, remaining with that major company through 1972. In April 1967 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Elsa in Lohengrin. Elisabeth Grümmer’s exquisite voice and admirable dramatic gifts made her an exemplary interpreter of the music of Mozart and Richard Strauss. She restricted herself to a rather small repertoire she made very much her own: Pamina, Donna Anna, Ilia, the Countess Almaviva, Agathe, Hänsel, Oktavian, the Marschallin, Countess Madeleine, Eva, Elsa, Elisabeth, Gutrune, Freia and Desdemona.

Mozart’s operas are part of our cultural heritage. Everyone knows, more or less consciously, the most famous arias, which are even available as ringtones for mobile phones! Mozart can make us laugh, dream, ponder or weep, with the brilliance and variety of Homer or Shakespeare, and with emotions constantly on a knife-edge. From The Magic Flute to Don Giovanni, from arias to overtures, here is an ideal anthology of Mozart opera.

The Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg has been the scene of countless memorable musical events – operas, concerts and recitals – for 50 years. Here is a unique chance to celebrate the glories of this distinguished era.

In an exceptional collaboration with the Salzburg Festival, we have prepared a 25-CD box set – 5 complete operas, 10 concerts and 2 recitals – featuring many of the world’s greatest artists, in recordings with classical status and others that are appearing on CD for the first time.

Concerts (five out of ten are first-time releases): with Abbado, Bernstein, Böhm, Boulez, Karajan, Levine, Mehta, Muti, Solti. Soloists include Anne-Sophie Mutter and Jessye Norman. The Wiener Philharmoniker feature prominently; individual concerts with Berliner Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.

Recitals: two exceptional concerts with Alfred Brendel (first release) and the Martha Argerich/Nelson Freire duo-concert from 2009.

The set includes new liner notes in English, German and French, and photos of the opera productions and artists – 72-page booklet.