Tah 624/625 - In Memoriam Arturo Toscanini

CD I: Concert of 8.XI.1952 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 - Wagner: Tannhäuser, overture and bacchanal, Verdi: la forza del destino, overture
CD II: Concert of 31.I.1953 - Schumann: Manfred, Rossini: Guglielmo Tell, « passo a sei », Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, New World Symphony - NBC Symphony Orchestra

Fifty years ago, on January 16 1957, one of the most famous conductors of the 20th century, Arturo Toscanini, died aged 89. An incomparable opera conductor (it was he who premiered Puccini’s Bohème and Fanciulla del West, Pagliacci, and more), he is also one of the very great symphonic conductors of his time.
On this occasion we have decided to release the two concerts he gave in the famous 8H studio with the NBC Orchestra that had been created for him. These concerts underline the passion and rigour of his conducting as well as his famous «objectivity» that is still being opposed to the «subjectivity» of his rival Furtwängler.

Press review
« Le Toscanini romantique donne toute son effervescence maîtrisée à l'Ouverture Manfred, mais il met à nu les arêtes de la Symphonie du Nouveau Monde avec une âpreté sans concession, en soulignant davantage la structure classique que la fantaisie rhapsodique. Il s'agit bien ici de la bande d'origine non retouchée, contrairement à certains pirates, puisque Tahra a gardé l'accord final complètement manqué du Scherzo, de ces défaillances qui rappellent qu'un orchestre est un corps humain. » (Christian Merlin, Diapason)

Note : Not for sale in the USA

Date : February, 2007 - Barre code : 3504129062415

Tah 620/621 - Previously unissued recordings of Bruno Walter

CD I: Mozart: Symphony No. 40 (Orchestra della RAI Roma - 19.IV.1952) - Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (Orchestra della RAI Roma - 18.V.1954) - CD II: Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Soloist: Carla Schlean - Orchestra della RAI Roma - 19.IV.1952)

Bruno Walter's activity in Italy, between 1911 and 1956, was not very important and includes only 35 concerts and 9 operatic performances.
RAI of Rome recorded some concerts in 1952 and 1954: the three present previously unissued recordings are of this period.

Note : Available for downloading on i-tunes

Date : February, 2007 - Barre code : 3504129062019

Tah 618/619 - Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B minor

Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (Hohe Messe) - Soloists: Emmy Loose (Soprano I), Hilde Ceska (Soprano II), Gertrud Burgsthaler-Schuster (Contralto), Anton Dermota (Tenor), Alfred Poell (Bass), Anton Heiller (Organ) - Wiener Symphoniker, Wiener Akademie Kammerchor - Conductor: Hermann Scherchen - Recorded in October 1950, in the Mozartsaal in Vienna

In 1950 Hermann Scherchen signed with the American label Westminster and its producer Jimmy Grayson a contract for a series of recordings to be made in Vienna and in London. The first recording was made in October of that same year: The Bach Mass in B minor, a monument of Western music. In 1952, the Académie Charles Cros awarded this recording a Grand Prix du Disque. Scherchen made some hundred recordings with Westminster until its bankruptcy in 1964.

Note : Available for downloading on i-tunes

Date : January, 2007 - Barre code : 3504129061814

Tah 617 - In Memoriam Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915-2006)

Ludwig van Beethoven (Der Wachtelschlag; Neue Liebe, neues Leben; Mit einem gemalten Band) -
Franz Schubert (an die Musik ; im Frühling; an Sylvia; Wehmut; die junge Nonne; auf dem Wasser zu singen; der Musensohn; Gretchen am Spinnrade) -
Johannes Brahms (Feldeinsamkeit ; Therese ; der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht; Wiegenlied; von ewiger Liebe; wie Melodien zieht es mir; in stiller Nacht; da unten im Tale; meine Liebe ist Grün; Liebestreu; vergebliches Ständchen) -Recorded in the studios of RAI Torino on 11th February 1954 - Piano: Edwin Fischer

In August 2006 the German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf died aged 90 ans. She was the absolute queen of the Lied, her Marschallin of Rosenkavalier and her Countess of Nozze di Figaro are legendary. Tahra pays her a tribute today with this recital – which for the first time is released in its complete form – the famous recital that she gave at RAI of Turin, in February 1954, accompanied on the piano by no less than Edwin Fischer.

Press review
«... La restitution opérée par Tahra est admirable, sinon parfaite. Les Brahms - intrinsèquement de couleur sombre et de tessiture, de véhémence qui mettent Schwarzkopf à ses limites (....) - peuvent être au contraire d'une légèreté de touche inimitable (...). Document fascinant, irrésistible. » (Classica, février 2007)

Note : Available for downloading on i-tunes

Date : January, 2007 - Barre code : 3504129061715

Tah 604/605 - In Memoriam Hermann Abendroth (1883-1956)

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 (Sinfonie-Orchester des Berliner Rundfunks - Live recording at the Metropol Theater in Berlin, on 19.II.1956) - Tchaikowsky : Suite No. 3 (Theme and Variations) (Sinfonie-Orchester des Leipziger Rundfunks - Studio recording made on 20.III.1951) - Tchaikowsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathétique (Sinfonie-Orchester des Berliner Rundfunks - Live recording made on 28.XI.1950) - Previously unissued recordings
50 years ago the great German conductor Hermann Abendroth that the Germans often call the « other Furtwängler » passed away. To celebrate this anniversary we are releasing three previously unissued recordings stemming from the archives of East German ex-Radio: a magnificent Bruckner 7th and two works by Tchaikowsky (an excerpt of the 3rd suite and excellent performance of the Pathétique where the 3rd movement is a true concerto for timpani and orchestra!). It depicts the main characteristics of Abendroth’s art of conducting with all the «pleasures of excess».

Date : November, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129060411

Tah 611/613 - Herbert von Karajan in Italy

Mozart: Symphony No. 41 (RAI Torino, 19.II.1954) - Brahms: Symphony No. 2 (RAI Roma, 26.III.1953) - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (RAI Roma, 4.XII.1954 - Stich-Randall, Rössl-Majdan, Kmentt, Frick) - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 (RAI Roma, 11.XII.1954) - Bartok : Piano Concerto No. 3 (RAI Torino, 12.II.1954) - Soloist: Geza Anda
Karajan's activity in Italy is not at all negligible: between 1941 and 1985, he indeed conducted 120 concerts and 140 operas. The present recordings were recorded on acetates in 1953 and 1954, with the orchestras of RAI Turin and Rome, and were carefully restored. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Teresa Stich-Randall and the Brahms and Bartok piano concertos with the late Geza Anda who died thirty years ago, are the highlights of this edition.

Date : October, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129061111

Tah 614/615 - Eduard van Beinum: previously unissued recordings

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (Live NRU recording of 21.IV.1955 [Pyral]) - Mahler: Symphony No. 6 (Live recording of 7.XII.1955) - Concertgebouw Amsterdam Orkest
The main interest of this album resides in Mahler's Sixth Symphony. This public recording is the only document with Eduard van Beinum conducting this work; in fact van Beinum even only conducted it this one time. The Bruckner Eighth is almost contemporary of the official version that Philips recorded in June 1955. In both cases, van Beinum is conducting the famous Concertgebouw Orkest of Amsterdam, after having succeeded the legendary Mengelberg who presided over the destiny of this orchestra for fifty years and turned it into an orchestra of worldwide renown and known for its great Mahler tradition.

Note : May be downloaded on i-tunes

Date : September, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129061418

Tah 599/600 - Hermann Scherchen Archives (from Purcell to Varèse)

Schubert: Symphonie No. 5 - Schubert: Symphonie No. 6 (Vienna State Opera Orchestra - 1950-1951) - Purcell: A Midsummer Night's Dream (excerpts) - Mozart: Symphonie No. 29 (Orchestre Radio-Symphonique recorded on 20.I.1954) - Varèse: Déserts (World première on 20.I.1954 - Orchestre National de France recorded live on 2.XII.1954 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris)
Hermann Scherchen’s repertoire stretches itself over some five centuries of music (from Cavalieri to Xenakis) ; the present album includes works by Purcell, Mozart and Schubert but the highlight of it is the first release ever of the famous première of « Déserts » by Varèse that was followed by an unforgettable scandal at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées of Paris in December 1954. It was the first time in the history of music that a work included previsously recorded industrial noises.

Date : September, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129059910

West 3005/3006 - Scherchen Westminster Archives (Mozart: Requiem, Concertos)

This album is the third set (licensed by DGG) with the recordings that Hermann Scherchen made for the American label Westminster. In the honour of Mozart it contains the first mono version of the Requiem that reminds at times Berlioz or even Verdi. Scherchen appears once again as the well-known leader of crowds that he was. Both piano concerts for two pianos are played by the Paul Badura-Skoda and Reine Gianoli. Without any major technical problems, these two concertos are filled with Mozart's characteristic exuberance.

Date : May, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129300517

Tah 592/594 - Unissued Carl Schuricht : Schubert, Bruckner, Brahms

Schubert: Symphony Unfinished - Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 - Brahms: Deutsches Requiem (Elisabeth Grümmer, Soprano and Otto Wiener, Tenor - NDR Sinfonieorchester - Carl Schuricht
Although he lived to be 87, Carl Schuricht didn't leave a vast commercial discography. On the other hand, there are many Live recordings in various European radio archives, mainly German and Swiss. That's the case of the present three recordings, coming from the NDR Hamburg and released for the first time: Schubert's Unfinished, Bruckner's Eighth Symphony and Brahms' Deutsches Requiem with Elisabeth Grümmer and Otto Wiener.

Date : May, 2006 - Barre code : 3504129059217