Posts tagged as "karl-munchinger-series"

Bach: St. Matthew Passion (highlights)

May 25, 2016

One of the peaks of the choral repertoire, the ‘St. Matthew Passion’ remains one of Bach’s most recorded (and popular) works. This recording is special, not only for its simplicity and reverential glow but also because the international cast of soloists (German, Dutch, English), all at the peak of their careers, seem so inspired and so […]

Schubert: Rosamunde

May 25, 2016

The incomparable strings of the Vienna Philharmonic and the airborne singing of the Vienna State Opera Chorus are just two highlights of this memorable recording of Schubert’s Incidental Music for ‘Rosamunde’. It is here released for the first time on CD.

Pachelbel’s Canon: Favourite Baroque Miniatures

April 29, 2016

The ubiquitous Pachelbel Canon starts off this delightful collection of Baroque favourites. Three virtual one-hit wonders – Pachelbel, Albinoni, Boccherini – meet Mozart’s dad, the reputedly sour-puss Leopold, who here, takes off his wig and summons a collection of toys to partake in the Haydn-attributed ‘Toy Symphony’.

Dvorak & Suk: Serenades for Strings; Grieg: Holberg Suite; Wolf: Italian Serenade

April 28, 2016

In 1960, the Stuttgart-born conductor Karl Münchinger (1915-1990), made a Decca recording of Pachelbel’s ‘Canon and Gigue’ that assured the piece its immortality in years to come. Münchinger recorded extensively for Decca with his Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra). Moderate-size forces, rhythmic sprightliness and judicious ornamentation were the hallmarks of his recordings of 17th and 18th-century […]

Bach: St. Matthew Passion

April 20, 2016

Although Bach wrote four (or five) settings of the Passions only two have survived; the St. Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion) and the St John Passion. The St. Matthew Passion was probably first performed on Good Friday (11 April) 1727 in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was the Kantor of the School and Directoris Chori musici […]

Haydn: Die Schöpfung; Little Organ Mass

April 20, 2016

The Creation is Haydn’s masterpiece, based on a lifetime of experience and reflecting the happy confidence of the eighteenth century. Although there are moments that presage the nineteenth century, it has none of the agonising of the Romantic period. Three years from the end of the eighteenth century it is a summation and celebration of […]

BACH: Cantatas BWV 10, 51, 80, 140, 202

April 18, 2016

Karl Münchinger recorded all the major orchestral and choral pieces by Bach for Decca, and over a period of some 30 years (from the Mono to the Digital eras), five of the Cantatas. All boast remarkable soloists from their eras. Suzanne Danco sings the two solo cantatas, BWV 51 and 202, recorded in 1953 and […]

Romantic Overtures: Vol. 3

March 22, 2016

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’ […]