‘Like most of the great European conductors,’ wrote the critic Harold C. Schonberg, ‘[Schmidt-Isserstedt] has been brought up in a tradition that insists on selflessness before great music. The aim of conducting, as he sees it, is to bring out the message of the composer and not the skill.’ These virtues distinguish his Mozart conducting […]
Newly remastered, and new to CD, the dramatically charged Dvořák recordings made by Hans-Schmidt-Isserstedt for Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, coupled with the composer’s (and Brahms) folkloric dances. Eloquence pays tribute to the self-effacing art of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (1900-1973) combining three LPs onto a 2-CD set – all recorded during his postwar reinvention as a symphonic […]
Noted for his Haydn and Mozart and for his affinity with 20th-century music from Berg to Bartók to Messiaen, the Hungarian conductor Antal Doráti also demonstrated a particularly idiomatic flair in presenting music of the early romantic era. Of these Mendelssohn and Schuman recordings, all but the Minneapolis ‘Italian’ Symphony are in stereo. Unlike many […]
Antal Doráti’s complete Haydn and Mozart recordings for Mercury, predating his landmark collection of the Haydn cycle for Decca. In 1966 the Stereo Review critic made a prescient observation: ‘Doráti here establishes himself as a first-rate Haydn conductor.’ There is the passion of advocacy as well as the foundational principles of his Haydn performing style […]
The so-called French Suites are actually no more French stylistically than either of Bach’s other sets of keyboard suites, the English Suites and the Partitas. They are a fascinating mixture of movements of differing national styles, primarily French and Italian, lacking an introductory movement such as a prelude and conceived for performers without the virtuoso […]
A first international CD issue for two contrasting albums of light-orchestral Mozart from Joseph Keilberth and Thurston Dart. The two albums reissued here exemplify the postwar revolution of Classical-era performance styles. Having begun to make records in 1938, the L’Oiseau-Lyre label worked in the vanguard of the period-performance movement, yet in 1951 the Bamberg Symphony […]
The most comprehensive tribute ever issued to Hungarian pianist Andor Foldes (1913–1992) renowned for his polished and self-effacing style, containing many recordings new to CD, freshly remastered and enhanced by an extensive booklet appreciation by Stephen Siek and rarely reproduced photographs from the DG archive. Writing in 1961 – not yet 50 years of age […]
Newly remastered from the original tapes, Danny Kaye sings the tall tales of Hans Christian Andersen.
Ida Haendel at the Huberman Festival – Vivaldi, plus her “live” recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto – and, published for the first time ever, The Lark Ascending, with the LPO and Norrington.
