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JOHANN STRAUSS II
Der Zigeunerbaron [The Gypsy Baron] (complete operetta recorded in 1954) Elisabeth Schwarzkopf / Nicolai Gedda / Erich Kunz / Hermann Prey / Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra / Otto Ackermann [ Naxos Historical Great Operetta Recordings / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] Second in popularity only to Die Fledermaus, Strauss's The Gypsy Baron is a colourful comic opera whose vividly drawn characters include a gypsy girl who turns out to be a Turkish Pasha's daughter, a fortune-telling Romany queen, an exiled landowner,... |
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - Live at Bayreuth Festspielhaus, Germany, 29th July 1951 Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth Höngen, Hans Hopf, Otto Edelmann / Festspielorchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Wilhelm Furtwängler [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 7/Jan/2022 ] Seventy years ago, on the 29th July 1951, Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at a concert marking the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival after seven years of silence following the Second World War. |
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FRANZ LEHAR
Lehar: Das Land des Lachelns (The Land of Smiles) (rec 1953) and excerpts from Lehar Operettas Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) Nicolai Gedda (tenor) / Erich Kunz (baritone) Emmy Loose (soprano) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Otto Ackermann [ Naxos Historical / 2 CD - released 19/Sep/2005 ] "A classic recording of a favourite Lehár operetta with superb performances. At Naxos's super budget price don't hesitate." (MusicWeb Sept 2005) |
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BEETHOVEN
Missa solemnis (recorded live in 1963) Elisabeth Saderstram / Marga Haffgen / Ernst Haefliger / Gottlob Frick / Philharmonia Orchestra / Otto Klemperer [ Testament / CD - released 25/Jan/2007 ] The economics of concert promotion ensure that Beethoven’s two settings of the Mass are performed less frequently than any of his other major concert hall works, since they are scored for the expensive combination of four soloists, chorus and... |
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FRIEDRICH WILHELM ZACHOW
Easter Cantatas from Halle Gudrun Sidonie Otto, Margaret Hunter, Christoph Dittmar / Cantus Thuringia & Capella Thuringia, Bernhard Klapprott [ CPO / CD - released 20/May/2012 ] Zachow was active over a period of twenty-eight years and numbered among the most renowned church musicians of his epoch (J. S. Bach applied to succeed him in 1712). Just how much George Frideric Handel valued his teacher and his music is shown by... |
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HANS PFITZNER
Orchestral Songs Hans Christoph Begemann (baritone) / Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Otto Tausk [ CPO / CD - released 20/Feb/2011 ] "Baritone Hans Christoph Begemann is about as fine a Lieder singer as we have any right to expect. If you enjoy the orchestral Lieder of Mahler and Strauss, then this disc is a must." (10/10 ClassicsToday Jan 2011) |
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ALPHONS DIEPENBROCK
Orchestral Songs Hans Christoph Begemann (baritone) / Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Otto Tausk [ CPO / CD - released 10/Sep/2014 ] With its Holland edition cpo has set important revivals in motion. Röntgen, Badings, van Gilse, Andriessen - these are names that one had hardly ever heard of before. The current case is somewhat different: Alphons Diepenbrock - even today -... |
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DEREK BERMEL
Bermel: Intonations - music for clarinet and strings Derek Bermel (Clarinet) Christopher Otto (Violin) Wiek Hijmans (Electric guitar) / JACK Quartet [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 26/Aug/2022 ] Twice GRAMMY-nominated composer and performer Derek Bermel studied with Henri Dutilleux, Dutch avant-gardist Louis Andriessen, and ragtime revivalist William Bolcom. |
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MAHLER
Symphony No. 2 in C minor 'Resurrection' Ilona Steingruber & Hilde Rössl-Majdan / Akademie Kammerchor & Wiener Symphoniker, Otto Klemperer [ Testament / 2 CD - released 20/Apr/2011 ] Klemperer once called Mahler his creator spiritus. But he told his biographer Peter Heyworth, "I'm not a silly, enthusiastic boy: I don't like everything he wrote". |
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GYORGY KURTAG
Musik for Streichinstrumente (music for string instruments) The Keller Quartett / Andras Keller : violin / Janos Pilz : violin / Zoltan Gal: viola / Otto Kertesz : cello / Gyorgy Kurtag : celesta / MiklA [ ECM Records / CD - released 20/Apr/2008 ] The Keller Quartet, described by the Guardian as "technically masterful and musically intelligent", interpret the string music of Hungarian composer György Kurtág. |
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RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Die Walkure [Acts I & III] (recorded in 1957) Kirsten Flagstad, Set Svanholm, Otto Edelmann / Vienna Philharmonic / Sir Georg Solti & Hans Knappertsbusch (Act 1) [ Decca ABC Eloquence / 2 CD - released 12/Dec/2009 ] "It is a monumental reading, sensitive and glorious and sung with admirably steady tone. No one can really mistake this singer for a young or middle-aged woman but no one could believe either that it is a woman of sixty-two with behind her a career... |
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W. F. BACH
300th Anniversary of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach - Rediscovered Cantatas Klaus Mertens / Dorothee Mields / Georg Poplutz / Gerhild Romberger / L’ arpa festante München / Bachchor Mainz / Ralf Otto [ Accentus Music DVD / DVD - released 16/Feb/2011 ] The present world-premiere recording of four of his cantatas grants us a fascinating insight into the composer's output and invites us to join him on a musical voyage of discovery. These ambitious works, which were written for Christmas and... |
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BACH / BEETHOVEN / MOZART
Otto Klemperer conducts Bach, Mozart & Beethoven Orchestre Philharmonique de Berlin, Otto Klemperer [ Testament / 2 CD - released 1/Sep/2003 ] |
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ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD
Violin Concerto / Violin Sonata Kristóf Baráti (violin) / Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Otto Tausk [ Brilliant Classics / CD Box Set - released 10/Feb/2015 ] Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a child prodigy (his musical talent was compared to that of the young Mozart). His early works are written in the tradition of Mahler and Richard Strauss, later he emigrated to America and became one of Hollywood's most... |
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Mozart, Wo
Die Entführung aus dem Serail Laubenthal, Köth, Otto, Schock, Dickie, Böhme, Hebenstreith, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper; Wiener Philharmoniker, George S [ ORFEO / 2 CD - released 11/Jul/2005 ] |
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Mozart, Wo
Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Dantons Tod, Capriccio, Arabella, Lisa Della Casa, Anton Dermota, Werner Krenn, Otto Wiener, Jean Madeira, Wolfgang Windgassen, Murray Dickie, Anneliese R [ ORFEO / CD - released 30/Jan/2009 ] |
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FRIEDRICH KUHLAU
Everhoj Overture / Ballet / Piano Concerto / Concertino for Two Horns Michael Ponti (piano) / Ib Lanzky-Otto, Fraydis Ree Wekre (french horns) / Odense Symphony Orchestra / Othmar Maga (conductor) [ Regis Records / CD - released 13/Dec/2005 ] "Overture is probably Kuhlau's best-known work....Maga gets pleasing results, very good performances" - Penguin Guide 3 stars |
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BEETHOVEN / SCHUBERT / BERLIOZ / MOZART
Otto Klemperer conducts Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz & Mozart (recorded February 1968) New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer [ Testament / 2 CD - released 15/Mar/2015 ] "This recorded concert more than repays the Klemperer devotee with an unbroken line of spiritual intensity in titanic gestures, fully appreciated by a most receptive audience." (AudAud.com) |
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BRUCKNER / MOZART
Otto Klemperer conducts Bruckner & Mozart (recorded February 1965) New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer [ Testament / 2 CD - released 15/Mar/2015 ] This concert was given as a memorial to the British publisher, liberal humanitarian and music-lover Sir Victor Gollancz (1893-1967). The founder of the influential Left Book Club, Gollancz started his own publishing company in 1927 which came to... |