Mozart was Josef Krips’s yardstick in music: ‘My maxim is that everything has to sound as though it were by Mozart, or it will be a bad performance.’ Collected here are his Mozart symphony recordings with the Concertgebouworkest for Philips (1972–73), including a rehearsal sequence for Symphony No. 33, as well as the celebrated 1955 […]
From Adam to Zandonai, from 1954 to 1996, 20 CDs made up of no less than 28 Decca opera recordings, most of them recorded as highlights albums, many long unavailable, newly remastered and all featuring the greatest singers of their age. In bygone years, before 24/7 streaming, recorded music was less readily available than it […]
The Vienna Philharmonic’s distinguished Bruckner tradition, documented through a series of superb Decca recordings from the 1960s and 70s on a Limited Edition 9-CD box set, with Original Jackets. Founded in 1842, the Vienna Philharmonic gave a notoriously dusty reception to Bruckner’s Third when they played through it in rehearsal in 1874 and refused […]
Stravinsky’s ground-breaking trilogy of Diaghilev-commissions plus a scandalous Bartók ballet, treated to sumptuous late-70s Decca engineering and the Vienna Philharmonic sound. Christoph von Dohnányi has long been considered one of the most versatile conductors of our time, making a name for himself in particular with the works of Romanticism and the Second Viennese School. From […]
A cherishable Mozart soprano of the 1950s and 60s, celebrated with the complete reissue of a Decca recital album, newly remastered. The quality that defined Graziella Sciutti as a singer was lightness – of voice, of bearing and presence on stage. Her vivacious intelligence was no less suited to the Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti roles […]
Two original Decca releases of the Vienna Philharmonic in early-Romantic repertoire, freshly compiled and newly remastered. ‘I am an exponent of an old tradition,’ remarked Carl Schuricht. ‘I have nothing against the music of today but I feel it is important to rejuvenate the sense of tradition.’ This he did throughout a distinguished career which […]
The supreme exponent of Viennese Mozart and his first recording of Mozart’s ‘rescue opera’ set in a Turkish harem (Decca’s first opera to be issued on LP), coupled with a superbly stylish collection of overtures. Weber’s verdict on ‘Die Entführung’ – ‘the victory of youth in all its freshness’ – has hardly been challenged since […]
‘Der Zigeunerbaron’ (The Gypsy Baron) completes a trio of Strauss-family recordings made by Clemens Krauss for Decca in the early 1950s. Like ‘Die Fledermaus’ (482 7379) and his New Year Concerts (482 7364), it is now reissued by Eloquence, in a new remastering with a fresh editorial retrospective from Mike Ashman on the special chemistry […]
Still considered by many to be the finest recording ever made of the jewel in Viennese operetta: ‘Die Fledermaus’ was one of a trio of Strauss-family recordings made by Clemens Krauss for Decca in the early 1950s. Like ‘Der Zigeunerbaron’ (482 7371) and his New Year Concerts (482 7364), it is now reissued by Eloquence, in […]
A series of three classic Decca studio albums, newly remastered and compiled in one complete set for the first time. Of all the conductors who have championed the music of the Strauss family with the Vienna Philharmonic, it is Clemens Krauss who was one of the greatest pioneers. He it was who conducted the first […]
Even while creating a sensation across the US with concerts in Chicago, Cleveland, New York and further afield, Rafael Kubelík recorded the four symphonies of Brahms with the Vienna Philharmonic for Decca (in stereo) in the 1950s. Long unavailable, they are here presented together for the first time on CD, in an economical 2CD package, […]
Born and bred in the city, Karl Münchinger founded the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in the summer of 1945 and it was with this ensemble that he made recordings of Bach and other Baroque and early Classical repertoire (for Decca) that would be staples of the catalogue for decades to come. He was among the first […]
