LIMITED EDITION.
Born and raised in Vienna, Josef Krips trained as a choirboy and studied with Felix Weingartner, who then hired him as a repetiteur at the Volksoper. He his debut there in 1921, before graduating to the Vienna State Opera in 1933. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it was Krips above all who reformed and re-trained the State Opera as a world-class ensemble, and in the most difficult conditions. His pragmatism and understated authority made him a model recording conductor, and Decca hired him to work with orchestras in several of their centres of activity.
Mozart was forever Krips’s hero: ‘My maxim is that everything has to sound as though it were by Mozart, or it will be a bad performance. When you perform Mozart, everything has to be crystal clear, everything has to be in balance and everything has to have a relaxed sound.’
Compiled here for the first time, as one of a two-volume Krips edition, are the conductor’s complete mono recordings for Decca beginning with Kingsway Hall sessions in October 1947. Mozart symphonies, concertos, overtures and arias appeared on 78s – newly transferred for this set by Andrew Hallifax. From the early LP era comes the first-ever complete recording of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, with a cast entirely drawn from the Vienna State Opera company, and (also from 1950) a remarkably forward-looking account of the Requiem, recorded with a cathedral-style all-male chorus including boys on the top line, much closer to Mozart’s world than contemporary, symphonic-style versions of the piece.
Combined with Decca’s famous ‘ffrr’ sound, these Mozartian qualities also illuminate Krips’s mono recordings of symphonies by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, concertos by Schumann and Dvořák, Johann Strauss waltzes and a version of Mendelssohn’s Elijah which combines the best of the British oratorio tradition with an operatic momentum and a gently glowing orchestral palette.
Distinguished soloists on these recordings include Clifford Curzon and Mischa Elman in Mozart; Zara Nelsova in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto; and Hilde Gueden, Maria Reining, Anton Dermota and Richard Lewis singing opera arias (recorded on 78, several receiving their first CD transfer in this box). A companion volume from Eloquence is dedicated to Krips’s Decca and Philips recordings from the stereo era (1955–72) and will be released next month. The booklet for each set contains session photos and an essay on Krips’s life and legacy by Niek Nelissen.
LONDON
CD 1
OPERA ARIAS – Mozart; Puccini; Massenet; Bizet; Mussorgsky; Bellini; Gounod
Hilde Gueden ∙ Anton Dermota · Richard Lewis ∙ Rafael Arié
London Symphony Orchestra · New Symphony Orchestra
FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA (Dermota, Lewis, Arié)
CD 2
J. STRAUSS I & II: Waltzes
An der schönen blauen Donau*; Kaiserwalzer*; Accelerationen*; Perpetuum mobile; Annen-Polka; Rosen aus dem Süden; Wiener Blut; Wein, Weib und Gesang; Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka; Piefke und Pufke – Polka
National Symphony Orchestra · New Symphony Orchestra · London Symphony Orchestra
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
CD 3
MOZART Overture: Le nozze di Figaro; Symphonies Nos. 39 & 41
London Symphony Orchestra
FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
CD 4
SCHUBERT Overture: Rosamunde (Die Zauberharfe)*; Symphonies Nos. 6 & 8
London Symphony Orchestra
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
CD 5
HAYDN Symphony No. 104
WEBER Overture: Euryanthe*
London Philhamonic Orchestra · London Symphony Orchestra
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
CD 6
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4
London Symphony Orchestra
CD 7
DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto in B minor
Zara Nelsova; London Symphony Orchestra
CD 8
MOZART Overtures
MOZART · R. STRAUSS Arias
Ilse Hollweg; London Symphony Orchestra
CD 9
MOZART Symphonies Nos. 39 & 31
London Symphony Orchestra
CD 10
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
Alfredo Campoli; London Symphony Orchestra
CD 11
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 4
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4
London Symphony Orchestra
CD 12
MOZART Symphony No. 40
HAYDN Symphony No. 92
London Symphony Orchestra
CD 13
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto
Wilhelm Kempff; London Symphony Orchestra
CD 14
MOZART Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 24
Clifford Curzon; London Symphony Orchestra
CD 15–16
MENDELSSOHN Elijah
Jacqueline Delman ∙ Norma Procter · George Maran ∙ Bruce Boyce ∙ Michael Cunningham
Hampstead Parish Church Boys’ Choir; London Philharmonic Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
CD 17
MOZART Violin Concertos Nos. 4 & 5
Mischa Elman; New Symphony Orchestra
FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
VIENNA
CD 18–19
MOZART Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Turkish March*
Heinz Woester ∙ Wilma Lipp · Emmy Loose ∙ Walther Ludwig · Peter Klein ∙ Endré Koréh
Opera Arias
Maria Reining · Lisa Della Casa · Paul Schöffler · Anton Dermota
Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Philharmoniker
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA
CD 20
MOZART Requiem
Werner Pech ∙ Hans Breitschopf · Walther Ludwig ∙ Harald Pröglhöf
Wiener Hofmusikkapelle
Wiener Philharmoniker
AMSTERDAM
CD 21
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9
Concertgebouworkest
CD 22
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4
Concertgebouworkest
“Played with poetic feeling, affection and with meticulous attention to detail… I was charmed and amused in the Perpetuum mobile by Krips’s spoken ‘And so on!’” Gramophone, January 1949 (J Strauss: New Symphony Orchestra recordings)
“Thoroughly prepared and directed by Krips with a loving care which brings its own rewards.” Musical Times, March 1951 (Mozart: Requiem)
“The deliberate tranquillity of this delicately phrased essay seems to have no contemporary precedent.” High Fidelity, September 1952 (Beethoven: Violin Concerto)
“Mr. Kempff phrases most beautifully, with a winning simplicity and gentleness … A finely led and recorded orchestral performance, one that is exceptionally alive rhythmically.” High Fidelity, November 1953 (Schumann: Piano Concerto)
“Kempff and Krips take a warm, romantic approach to the music, yet do not over-sentimentalize.” High Fidelity, January 1954 (Schumann: Piano Concerto)
“A beautifully contrived lyricism extolling line and balance in deprecation of dramatic accent. The vertical realization is exceptional in a lovely and moulded clarity.” High Fidelity, 1954 (Haydn: Symphony No. 92, Mozart: Symphony No.40: LSO)
“Krips secures a wonderfully lively performance without any suggestion of tired oratorio-routine. So the well-worn music comes out as though newly minted. The choir sings splendidly and is as well recorded as any I have heard.” Musical Times, March 1955 (Mendelssohn: Elijah)
“A handsome performance, equally handsomely recorded … remarkable, both for the intensity of the singing and the beauty of the sound.” High Fidelity, June 1955 (Mendelssohn: Elijah)
“Hilde Gueden sings with great sensitivity and firm control and similarly outstanding performances are given by Lisa della Casa and Suzanne Danco. Cesare Siepi as the Don is happy casting; his rich agile bass records superbly.” Tempo, 1955 (Mozart: Don Giovanni)
“It is a certainty that Decca has made a real contribution to the Mozart year with this release.” Irving Kolodin, Saturday Review of Literature, 1955 (Mozart: Don Giovanni)
“A hymn to melting butter, an apotheosis of goo.” High Fidelity, March 1956 (Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5: Elman)