Romantic Overtures: Vol. 3
Karl Münchinger
Label
Decca
Catalogue No.
4803902
Barcode
00028948039029
Format
2-CD
About

During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Decca recorded a number of albums of overtures with some of its key conductors. Many of these were singled out by the press for their terrific sound quality (the fabled ‘Decca Sound’) and for their often adventurous programming. Some of them also included entr’actes and intermezzi. Prized as collectors’ items, many of the original LPs exchange hands at high prices. And most of these reissues, in Decca Eloquence’s ‘Romantic Overtures’ series, appear on CD, in part or whole, for the first time.

Romantic Overtures – Volume 3 features a conductor who recorded for Decca over a span of 36 years, from the 78/early LP era (1949) to 1985: Karl Münchinger. Best known for his recordings from the Baroque and Classical eras, made mostly with ‘his’ Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, he also recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic, making just one recording – of Schumann’s ‘Manfred’ and Gluck’s ‘Alceste’ Overtures – with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (in 1954). Appearing on CD for the first time, they round off a 2CD set that includes, also for the first time on CD, Münchinger’s recording of Beethoven Overtures, as well as a remarkable recording, ‘Romantic Overtures’, of music by Weber, Schumann, Schubert, Cherubini and Mendelssohn. Also included is Schubert’s ‘Zauberharfe’ overture which appeared on Münchinger’s famous disc of the incidental music for ‘Rosamunde’.

TRACK LISTING / ARTISTS

CD 1
CARL MARIA VON WEBER: Overture: Preciosa
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Overture: Genoveva, Op. 81
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Overture in D major, D.556
LUIGI CHERUBINI: Anacreon Overture
FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt, Op. 27
FRANZ SCHUBERT:
Overture Die Zauberharfe, D.644
Overture Rosamunde, D.797

CD 2
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN:
Coriolan Overture, Op.62
Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Overture Leonore No. 3, Op. 72b
Overture Fidelio, Op. 72c

Wiener Philharmoniker
Karl Münchinger

ROBERT SCHUMANNManfred Overture, Op.115
CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK: Overture Alceste (arr. Weingartner)

L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Karl Münchinger

Recording information

Recording Producers: Ray Minshull (Preciosa, Genoveva, Overture in D, Anacreon Overture, Meeresstille); James Mallinson (Rosamunde); Erik Smith (Coriolan, Egmont, Leonore, Fidelio); James Walker (Manfred, Alceste)
Recording Engineers: Michael Mailes (Preciosa, Genoveva, Overture in D, Anacreon Overture, Meeresstille); Colin Moorfoot, Philip Wade (Rosamunde); Gordon Parry (Coriolan, Egmont, Leonore, Fidelio); Roy Wallace (Manfred, Alceste)
Recording Locations: Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland, June 1954 (Manfred, Alceste); Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, April 1958 (Coriolan, Egmont, Leonore, Fidelio); April 1967 (Preciosa, Genoveva, Overture in D, Anacreon Overture, Meeresstille); November 1974 (Rosamunde)

Reviews

‘Played in deft, sprightly, light-handed and beautifully phrased style’ Gramophone