Avowedly popular in style, spirit and feeling – and proud of it – was John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), whose march The Stars and Stripes Forever of 1897 not only brought him lasting fame among band lovers the world over, but also the handsome sum of $300,000 in royalties! Sousa, incidentally, wrote not only march music, but also successful operettas, books and poetry as well. Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was recorded at the Jahrhunderthalle in Hoechst, Germany, in 1976.
Wagner, Overture to “Der Fliegende Holländer”
Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997), one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, was a testament to the elegance and impeccable tastefulness of Central European music-making. Born in Budapest in 1912, he studied with Béla Bartók, Ernö von Dohnányi, Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. In 1937, Toscanini chose him to be his assistant at the Salzburg Festival. After the war, Solti was appointed Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera. Further stations in his career were the Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic. His remarkable partnership with the Chicago Symphony began in 1954; he was named Music Director in 1969 and held this post for a phenomenal 22 years. He is credited with greatly extending and enhancing the orchestra’s worldwide reputation. Solti died in September 1997, just before his 85th birthday. This recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was made in 1976 at the Orchestra Hall in Chicago.
Saint-Saëns, Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.22
At 88, Arthur Rubinstein showed no trace of losing that quality of “joie de vivre” that had so fascinated audiences for almost three quarters of a century. The true Rubinstein sound, full and sonorous at every pitch, was always one of the distinctive marks of his playing ever since he began appearing in public. Rubinstein’s performance of Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra under André Previn, is a perfect testimony of his notion of a “singing tone”. With playing that is by turns vital and poetic, extrovert and reflective, rhapsodic and poised, this performance, filmed in April 1975 at Croydon’s Fairfield Hall, is Rubinstein at his warm-hearted, lyrical best. Incidentally, Rubinstein made his New York debut with the Saint-Saëns Concerto at Carnegie Hall on 8 January 1906.
Haydn, Cello Concerto No.1 in C major, Hob.VIIb:1
Hailed as the finest cellist in the world, the ebullient “Slava” Rostropovich was an unabashed romantic who seemed to pour his Russian soul into every phrase, bowing long, songful lines with a subtle eloquence and purity of tone. Instead of constantly repeating the warhorses, he prodded composers into creating new works for him. Given his flawless technique and his sincere commitment to contemporary music, composers were more than willing to comply. Many works were written for him by some of the 20th century’s leading composers, including Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Britten, Bernstein, Penderecki and Lutoslawski. In addition to playing the cello, he was also a pianist and often accompanied his wife, the former Bolshoi prima donna Galina Vishnevskaya, at the piano. He made his conducting debut at the Bolshoi Theater in 1967 and first led the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC in 1975. He became Music Director of this orchestra in 1977 and remained at its head for 17 years. He is credited with having immensely raised both the standard and the status of the orchestra. Human rights were always a major concern for Rostropovich – and a major source of trouble. His troubles with the Soviet government began in 1968 after he and his wife showed support for the author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Rostropovich and his wife suddenly became “invisible”, their engagements were cancelled, their names disappeared from their recordings, from program notes, from the annals of Russian music. The couple was allowed to leave the country in 1974 following the intervention of Leonard Bernstein. After playing at the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Rostropovich made his triumphal return to Russia in 1990 with the National Symphony Orchestra, and he returned several times to show his solidarity with his beleaguered country. Rostropovich died in Moscow on 27 April 2007.
Haydn, Cello Concerto No.2 in D major, Hob.VIIb:2
Hailed as the finest cellist in the world, the ebullient “Slava” Rostropovich was an unabashed romantic who seemed to pour his Russian soul into every phrase, bowing long, songful lines with a subtle eloquence and purity of tone. Instead of constantly repeating the warhorses, he prodded composers into creating new works for him. Given his flawless technique and his sincere commitment to contemporary music, composers were more than willing to comply. Many works were written for him by some of the 20th century’s leading composers, including Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Britten, Bernstein, Penderecki and Lutoslawski. In addition to playing the cello, he was also a pianist and often accompanied his wife, the former Bolshoi prima donna Galina Vishnevskaya, at the piano. He made his conducting debut at the Bolshoi Theater in 1967 and first led the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC in 1975. He became Music Director of this orchestra in 1977 and remained at its head for 17 years. He is credited with having immensely raised both the standard and the status of the orchestra. Human rights were always a major concern for Rostropovich – and a major source of trouble. His troubles with the Soviet government began in 1968 after he and his wife showed support for the author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Rostropovich and his wife suddenly became “invisible”, their engagements were cancelled, their names disappeared from their recordings, from program notes, from the annals of Russian music. The couple was allowed to leave the country in 1974 following the intervention of Leonard Bernstein. After playing at the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Rostropovich made his triumphal return to Russia in 1990 with the National Symphony Orchestra, and he returned several times to show his solidarity with his beleaguered country. Rostropovich died in Moscow on 27 April 2007.
Mahler, Symphony No.1 in D major
Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major reappreciation of Mahler’s works. “All Mahler symphonies, all Mahler works for that matter, deal in extremes, extremes of dynamic, of tempo, of emotional meaning. When it is bare, it’s extremely bare, when it is thick and rich, it’s thicker and richer than anything in ‘Götterdämmerung’, and when it is suffering it suffers to a point that no music has ever suffered before.” (Leonard Bernstein)
Mahler, Symphony No.10 in F sharp major
Mahler’s last symphony was begun in the summer of 1910, ostensibly during a serious conjugal crisis, and was left unfinished at the time of the composer’s death in Vienna on 18 May 1911. The work was to have consisted of five movements, though it is possible that Mahler might have altered his original plan. And while several attempts have been made to complete the work on the basis of sketches, only the first movement, Adagio, was fully completed by the composer. It is an austere piece, with incisive sonorities and an ethereal beauty. Leonard Bernstein was the first conductor ever to record all of Mahler’s symphonies not only on disk, but also on video. The Mahler cycle was the first project in the more than 20-year-long association between Leonard Bernstein and Unitel. The leading Mahler interpreter of our time, Bernstein recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies between 1971 and 1985, chiefly with the Vienna Philharmonic, producing a unique musical document and triggering a major re-appreciation of Mahler’s works.
Beethoven, Egmont Overture, op.84
Music for the masses! This could have been the war cry of both Beethoven and Karajan. For this they had in common: the wish to reach out to millions and ensure the survival of their art. Beethoven, at the dawn of the romantic era, no longer wrote exclusively for titled patrons, but for the middle classes. To reach them, he needed
new means of popularizing and distributing his works, such as concerts for paying audiences and the publication of arrangements for everything from piano to brass band. In the mid 20th century, Herbert von Karajan also saw a new way of reaching out to greater numbers of people through the combination of picture and sound – the video recording. This recording of the Egmont Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special ‘overture’ special produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, op.62
At the request of the writer Heinrich Joseph von Collin, Beethoven composed an overture to Collin’s tragedy in five acts Coriolanus (1802) in the spring of 1807. It was given its first performance in March 1807 in Prince Lobkowitz’s palace in Vienna. Although Beethoven’s music did not bring about the hoped-for stage revival of Collin’s tragedy, the Overture made its breakthrough as an independent concert piece. A dramatic work that owes its somber quality to Collin’s tragedy, it came to be favored for solemn occasions. Music for the masses! This could have been the war cry of both Beethoven and Karajan. For this they had in common: the wish to reach out to millions and ensure the survival of their art. Beethoven, at the dawn of the romantic era, no longer wrote exclusively for titled patrons, but for the middle classes. To reach them, he needed new means of popularizing and distributing his works, such as concerts for paying audiences and the publication of arrangements for everything from piano to brass band. In the mid 20th century, Herbert von Karajan also saw a new way of reaching out to greater numbers of people through the combination of picture and sound – the video recording. This recording of the Coriolan Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special “overture” special produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.
Weber, Overture to “Der Freischütz”
First performed in Berlin in 1821, Weber’s “Der Freischütz” quickly became one of the most celebrated German operas, and its overture one of the most popular in all of music literature. The overture follows a symphonic form that determines the thematic unity of the work. Surprisingly innovative for its time, it announces the programmatic works of Berlioz and Liszt, as well as Wagner’s first overtures. The fresh and limpid music evokes the fairy- tale setting of the opera, with its ghosts, evil spirits, seven charmed bullets, loving couple, friendly hermit and happy ending. This recording of the “Freischütz” Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special “overture” special directed by Herbert von Karajan and produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.