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Historical Classical: Conductors
Featuring the conducting of FurtwÄngler, Knappertsbusch, Mitropoulos and Toscanini and more.

Digital Classical Recordings
Listed Alphabetically: Modern high-fidelity recordings of standard as well as modern repertoire by some of today's greatest artists. With an emphasis on contemporary American music, and featuring Ursula Oppens, the Mirecourt Trio, Igor Kipnis, and the Composers' Quartet.

Pristine Audio & Natural Sound

CD-735(1) SACRED TIBETAN CHANTS FROM THE GREAT PRAYER FESTIVAL. Ten Tibetan monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery. (DDD) UPC# 0-17685-07352-6

Regularly $14.95, now through October 1, 2010 only $9.95

Portions of this recording were used in the National Geographic TV Special Tsangpo Gorges, and in the feature films Seven Years in Tibet and Chinese Box.

CD-1199(1) BRUNO WALTER CONDUCTS MAHLER. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in c, "Resurrection". With Maria Stader, sop., Maureen Forrester, cont. and Philharmonic- Symphony Orchestra, cond. Bruno Walter. Carnegie Hall, 17 Feb. 1957. Restoration Engineer: Kit Higginson; notes: Mark W. Kluge. Total 79:47. UPC# 0-17685-11992-7

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BUZZ: This is the first release of Walter's farewell concert as regular guest conductor of the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra. While similar to the CBS/Sony studio recording of 1957, it enjoys the participation of the soprano Maria Stader, a Walter favorite, and the live performance setting also draws an added measure of spontaneity and expression from the conductor.

CD-3008(1) TOSCANINI'S FAREWELL: The final concert given 4 April 1954 in Carnegie Hall recorded in high fidelity stereo. Richard Wagner (1813-1883). Selections for Orchestra: Lohengrin - Prelude to Act I. Siegfried - Forest Murmurs. Götterdämmerung - Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey. Tannhäuser - Overture and Bacchanale . Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg - Prelude to Act I 9:21. Arturo Toscanini conducting NBC Symphony Orchestra. [AAD] (stereo) Total time: 64:10. Originally issued under same number in 1984. UPC # 0-17685-30082-0

Regularly $14.95, now through October 1, 2010 only $9.95

Writes critic Peter Gutmann: "Conventional wisdom is that Toscanini's last concert was an artistic failure, driven by the great conductor's anguish over his impending retirement. The day before, he had exploded in anger at a musician's perceived mistake, cursed the orchestra, stormed out of the final rehearsal and demanded a last minute program change to the Tannhäuser excerpt that would prove his downfall.

During the concert performance of the substituted piece, the national broadcast audience heard the ensemble crumble, followed by 14 seconds of silence, announcer Ben Grauer claim that there were technical difficulties, more silence, the opening half minute of a Toscanini record of Brahms's Symphony # 1, and then the concert back in progress. Although it was unclear exactly what had happened, it was obvious that something beyond mere technical difficulties had gone wrong.

Toscanini momentarily had lost his concentration and had stopped beating time. The national media, though, reported the event in tones of high melodrama and cosmic symbolism: the supreme perfectionist had made a dreadful mistake; the infallible memory had suffered a grievous lapse; the perpetually youthful conductor had succumbed to the ravages of age; the most glorious career in classical music had crashed to an ignominious end. Subsequent authors have perpetuated this soap-operatic view. B.F. Haggin, one of Toscanini's inner circle, in his adulatory Conversations with Toscanini termed the concert "tragic" and offered that "it would have been better if he had never conducted it." Even the reliable Harold Schönberg in The Great Conductors describes the last concert as "heartbreaking" and "shocking." ...[But the recorded version reveals that while there is indeed a moment of uncertainty at the crucial ... the orchestra, intimately familiar with Toscanini's interpretation, recovers immediately and continues to play with cohesion and commitment. In fact, the entire concert, and particularly the fatal Bacchanale, is more inspired than the stiff "official" versions of these pieces later released by RCA. Those in the control room had no cause to lose their heads and turn a minor lapse of attention into the sensationalism of the world's greatest conductor ending his career in abject disgrace.

But the most far-reaching significance of the CD is the sound itself. Critics uniformly praised the luminous sonority Toscanini achieved in concert, but the recorded evidence is confusing. The NBC Symphony records [on RCA] were harsh, brittle and flat, while the better balance and depth of his earlier New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra discs were compromised by deficient top ends. The new disc approaches high fidelity and is probably the most accurate Toscanini sound we will ever hear."

And as if that were not enough, the concert is in genuine stereo! Any list of essential Toscanini CDs must now find room for this marvelous concert which gives us the opportunity to set the historical records straight and, if for only an hour, to revel in the sonic glory that was Toscanini.

CD / NICKSON RECORDS / NN 1004
Chabrier, E : Joyeuse Marche
Mitropoulos, D / / 1941.12.07
Dukas, P : The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Scherzo for Orchestra
Mitropoulos, D / / 1940.12.27
Dvorak, A : Slavonic Dance No.1 in C major, op.46/1
Mitropoulos, D / / 1940.12.27
Dvorak, A : Slavonic Dance No.3 in Ab major, op.46/3
Mitropoulos, D / / 1940.12.27
Gliere, RM : The Red Poppy; 6 : Russian Sailors' Dance
Mitropoulos, D / / 1941.12.07
Lully-Mottl : Temple of Peace; Minuet
Mitropoulos, D / /
Meyerbeer, G : Le Prophete; Coronation March
Mitropoulos, D / / 1941.12.07
Milhaud, D : Le Baeuf sur le toit, op.58
Mitropoulos, D / / 1945.03.02
Prokofiev, S : Symphony No.1 in D major, op.25, "Classical"
Mitropoulos, D / / 1940.01.10
Ravel, M : Le Tombeau de Couperin
Mitropoulos, D / / 1941.12.06-07
Walton, Sir W : Portsmouth Point Overture
Mitropoulos, D / / 1946.03.10

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CD / NICKSON RECORDS / NN 1010 Mendelssohn, F : Symphony No.3 in A minor, op.56, "Scottish"
Mitropoulos, D / Minnesota Orch. / 1941.12.06
Skalkottas, N : 4 Greek Dances
Mitropoulos, D / Minnesota Orch. / 1956.01.09
Tchaikovsky, PI : Symphony No.2 in C minor, op.17, "Little Russian"
Mitropoulos, D / Minnesota Orch. / 1946.03.10-11

Regularly $14.95, now through October 1, 2010 only $10.95

CD / NICKSON RECORDS / NN 1011
Massenet, J: Scenes Alsaciennes
Mitropoulos, D / Minnesota Orch. / 1946.03.11 MM723; ML-2074
Poulenc, F: Concerto in d for 2 pianos (Whittemore & Lowe)
Mitropoulos, D / Minnesota Orch. / 1947.12.15 RCA LM-1048; DM-1245
Vaughan-Williams, R: Tallis Fantasia 1945.03.02 MX-300; ML-4196
Four Intermezzi / Minnesota Orch. /1946.07.26 MX-317; ML-2053
Puccini: Intermezzo fr. Manon Lescaut
Mascagni: Intermezzo from Cav. Rusticana
Wolf-Ferrari: Intermezzo fr. Jewels of the Madonna I
Wolf-Ferrari: Intermezzo fr. Jewels of the Madonna II
Leoncavallo, R: Pagliacci: Intermezzo /NY live/ 1959.01.03 [unissued]
Farewell to the Minneapolis Symphony / 1949.03.18 [unissued]

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