Franz Peter Schubert

Acclaimed baritone Christopher Maltman will release the complete Schubert song cycles – Die Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and Schwanengesang, on Wigmore Hall Live during 2011-12.

Recorded over a series of live dates, Maltman has collaborated with one of the world’s foremost authorities on lieder repertoire, piano-accompanist Graham Johnson, in a triumphant partnership. The first release, Die Schöne Müllerin, was Schubert’s first complete song cycle, composed at the age of just 26. The work requires the singer to draw upon a range of moods, from raw emotional turmoil and unpredictability, to introspection and ultimately resignation. Maltman states that the work requires a “certain vulnerability” in its portrayal of the lovelorn young miller, and to achieve this, he and Johnson chose to transpose several of the songs back up to the outer reaches of the baritone range, closer to that of the tenor. The duo’s decision to take the voice out of its comfort zone and embrace the tension this produces undeniably adds to the colour and characterisation which Maltman brings to the work: “These musical masterpieces present an endless pursuit and a constant re-examination.” The next release in the cycle will be Winterreise in September 2011, followed by Schwanengesang in 2012, the live performance of which was critically-applauded in the Guardian: “Maltman's pianist was Graham Johnson, whose focused, detailed playing reminded us just how far Schwanengesang redefined the role of the accompanist"

Maltman’s decision to undertake these substantial recordings as a live project was a considered choice: “the live recording experience is where the real beauty lies; the little points, the little imperfections, the emotional stress, give the performance an organic feel, a rawness. It dials everything back to the most important element – the live performance.”

Schubert was a competent violinist and violist and his four violin sonatas pose no problems for skilled players. It is strange, then, that so few really recommendable recordings of them have been made. Apart from these beautiful interpretations by Martzy and Antonietti, which have become legendary, one can find individual works by Fritz Kreisler and Sergei Rachmaninov, or Josef Suk and Jan Panenka, but few others that catch the essential simplicity of the pieces. The Rondo brillant and the Fantasy on Schubert’s song Sei mir gegrüsst, on the other hand, are among the most difficult works in the violin-and piano repertoire, written for the shortlived Bohemian virtuoso Josef Slavík. Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin were famous for playing them but such big names as Jascha Heifetz and David Oistrakh have fallen flat on their faces, trying to unravel the secrets of the Fantasy. Martzy and Antonietti bring beautiful, meticulously prepared playing to all half dozen pieces. Their interpretations, which are well balanced and clearly recorded for the time, have an inherent strength but also pliancy, transparency and unsentimental sweetness where required.

From the booklet note Tully Potter, 2011

Born in Vienna in April 1902, the cheery-looking Josef Krips seems to have been pre-destined to achieve eminence in the Viennese classics. He recorded with both, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the key London orchestras for Decca in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and the interpretations have genuine expressive power while remaining devoid of exaggeration or affectation.

Here we have two extremely rare recordings, both receiving their first international release on CD. They are the only two recordings Krips made with the Concertgebouw Orchestra for Decca. The Beethoven is beautifully paced and energetic, the Schubert painted on an expansive canvas, never exaggerated and offering fascinating comparison with his later recording of this work, also for Decca, but with the London Symphony Orchestra (Decca Eloquence 4804725).

This issue forms part of a series of five reissues devoted to the art of Josef Krips.

Recording producers: Victor Olof (Beethoven); John Culshaw (Schubert)

Recording engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson

Recording location: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, September 1953 (Beethoven), May 1952 (Schubert)

Born in Vienna in April 1902, the cheery-looking Josef Krips seems to have been pre-destined to achieve eminence in the Viennese classics. He recorded with both, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the key London orchestras for Decca in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and the interpretations have genuine expressive power while remaining devoid of exaggeration or affectation.

What could be more enjoyable than spending an hour or two in the company of Haydn, Schubert and Mendelssohn in their sunniest moods, especially when our guide is the amiably expert Viennese conductor Josef Krips? The recordings here take in two London orchestras as well as the Vienna Philharmonic and span nearly ten years (1948-1957). They are especially notable for bringing together all of Krips’s Haydn recordings for Decca. The notes for this issue are by Tully Potter and it forms part of a series of five reissues devoted to the art of Josef Krips.

Recording producers: Erik Smith (Haydn Nos. 94, 99); Victor Olof (Haydn Nos. 92, 104, Schubert, Mendelssohn)

Recording engineers: James Brown (Haydn Nos. 94, No. 99); Kenneth Wilkinson (Haydn Nos. 92, 104, Schubert, Mendelssohn)

Recording locations: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, April 1948 (Schubert), April 1949 (Haydn No. 104), May 1953 (Haydn No. 92), October 1953 (Mendelssohn); Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, September 1957 (Haydn Nos. 94, 99)

Born in Vienna in April 1902, the cheery-looking Josef Krips seems to have been pre-destined to achieve eminence in the Viennese classics. He recorded with both, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the key London orchestras for Decca in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and the interpretations have genuine expressive power while remaining devoid of exaggeration or affectation.

Two of Schubert’s best-loved and most-played symphonies are here coupled and both have been considered benchmarks in their recorded history. The Eighth with the Wiener Philharmoniker was Krips’s last recording for Decca. This issue forms part of a series of five reissues devoted to the art of Josef Krips.

Recording producers: Ray Minshull (Symphony No. 9); Christopher Raeburn (Symphony No. 8)

Recording engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson (Symphony No. 9); Colin Moorfoot (Symphony No. 8)

Recording locations: Kingsway Hall, London, May 1958 (Symphony No. 9); Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, March 1969 (Symphony No. 8)

During the 1950s, Karl Böhm made a handful of orchestral recordings for Decca with the Wiener Philharmoniker of music by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Weber. Reappearing here, for the first time on CD, internationally, are his swift recordings of Beethoven’s Eighth and of two Schubert symphonies (Nos. 5 and 8). Never imposing his will too strongly on his Viennese orchestra – and they had these classics in their blood – he directs performances that are fresh and gives full rein to the Vienna Philharmonic’s wonderful tonal resources. Add the acoustic of the Grosser Saal at the Musikverein, familiar as daily bread to all the participants, and you have the best kind of tradition.

Recording producer: Victor Olof

Recording engineer: Cyril Windebank

Recording location: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, May 1953 (Beethoven), June 1954 (Schubert)

Friends with Mendelssohn, the Schumanns, Brahms, Dvorák, Liszt, Bruch, and others, Joachim was a revered violinist, conductor, and composer of the Romantic Era. The central piece is Bruch’s Violin Concerto, its violin part completely reworked, at Bruch’s request, by Joachim into the form we know today. Daniel Hope plays the concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Sakari Oramo.