Newly compiled for the first time, the Decca career of a pre-eminent Mozart conductor, complemented by his recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Westminster. Peter Maag began his career as a pianist, but turned to conducting with the encouragement of Wilhelm Furtwangler. He made his first Decca recording having lately turned 30, with the Suisse Romande […]

‘I’m a classical girl, you know,’ wrote the legendary soprano Kirsten Flagstad in her memoirs, ‘The Flagstad Manuscript’, co-authored with Louis Biancolli. ‘Whatever Wagner may be, other music gives a different satisfaction: the music of Gluck, for example, or Handel. It’s the precise and orderly mind of these composers that I think appeals to me. […]

Peter Maag (1919-2001) was born in Switzerland to a musical family. After studies in theology and philosophy and an early career as a pianist, he was encouraged to conduct. In that field, his mentors included Ernest Ansermet and, above all, Wilhelm Furtwängler. His success as a conductor grew throughout the late 1940s and 50s, and […]