Rafael Kubelik (1914-1996) was the son of the well-known Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelik. He studied music in Prague and made his conducting debut at 20 at the head of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Later he became the principal conductor of this famous orchestra and founded the “Prague Spring” Festival. After the Communist takeover of the government, Kubelik emigrated to the West and returned to his native land only after the end of the Communist regime. From 1950 to 1953 he headed the Chicago Symphony, from 1955 to 1958 he was music director of the Covent Garden Opera in London. A period of great artistic successes began in 1961, when he was appointed principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Many recordings document Kubelik’s mastery and sense of artistry, his enjoyment of music and his temperament. His connection with the Munich orchestra lasted 18 years; in between, he also briefly served as music director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Kubelik retired from the concert staged in 1985. But on the occasion of the first Prague Spring Festival after the fall of Communism in 1990, he returned to the podium of the Czech Philharmonic after more than 40 years in exile and conducted Smetana’s “My Fatherland” cycle. His profound bonds with his native land and its composers were always clearly visible. Rafael Kubelik was a full-blooded musician. Every performance of his radiated a feeling of spontaneity, impulsiveness and joy. Kubelik died in Lucerne in August 1996 at the age of 82 after a long illness. Bruckner’s Fourth had a tortuous history, beginning with a first version in 1874 and leading to a number of revisions, both major and minor, culminating in a heavily cut first publication of the score in 1889. This first edition, however, violated Bruckner’s express wishes that the score be printed in its entirety. After World War II, a new scholarly edition was published and is generally used for performances to this day. Rafael Kubelik leads the Vienna Philharmonic in this recording.
Mahler, Symphony No.9 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, Rehearsal Symphony No.9
“Four Ways to Say Farewell” is a personal introduction to Mahler and his Ninth Symphony, during which Leonard Bernstein is seen and heard rehearsing the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Filmed in 1971, this rehearsal was directed by Humphrey Burton – one of the most prolific directors of Bernstein’s video oeuvre – and Tony Palmer. 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).
Die Csárdásfürstin
Emmerich Kálman (1882-1953) ranks next to Franz Lehár as one of the leading representatives of the “Silver Era” of the operetta, which was stamped above all by the works of the Austro-Hungarian cultural sphere, and which followed the classical period of the Viennese operetta. Kálmán’s “Herbstmanöver”, premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna in 1908, immediately confirmed the young composer’s talent for this genre. The roots of the phenomenal originality of his melodies lie in his love of Hungarian gypsy music and his natural affinity for the Viennese waltz tradition, which characterize such musically original, international successes as the operettas “The Czardas Princess” (1915) and “Countess Maritza” (1924). Kálmán emigrated to America in 1939 but returned to Europe after the War and died in Paris on 30 October 1953. Beginning in the 1920s, he increasingly incorporated elements of modern dance music into his stage works. Particularly worthy of mention among his other successful works are “Die Bajadere” (1921), “The Circus Princess” (1926) and “Das Veilchen vom Montmartre” (1930).
Die Dollarprinzessin (The Dollar Princess)
Leo Fall was born in Olmütz (Moravia) in 1873 and died in Vienna in 1925. As with Lehár, his father was the conductor of an imperial military band. Having inherited the same musical talent, he began playing the violin at the age of five – a further parallel to Lehár – and later studied at the Vienna Academy of Music. In the course of his life he worked in Berlin, where he made his debut as a conductor in 1895, Hamburg and Cologne, before returning to Vienna via Berlin. Throughout his career he worked as a conductor. It was not until his return to Vienna that he began writing operettas. His works are among the best of the Vienna operettas’s second generation. The “Dollar Princess”, written in 1907, the same year as “The Merry Peasant” (Der fidele Bauer), is one of his most successful works. The music abounds in fascinating ideas and captivates through its charm and liveliness.
Rehearsal for Schubert, Symphony No.7 in C major, D.944
In the throes of his mortal illness, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) heroically succeeded in putting to paper his splendid last symphony, whose “divine lengths” are truly unique. Composed in 1825/26, Schubert’s largest symphonic work was first discovered after his death by Robert Schumann and first performed one year later, in 1839, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. In marked contrast to the equally beloved “Unfinished” Symphony, Schubert devises a labyrinth of harmonies in a piece full of artless directness and joyful dance-like rhythms. Echoes of the visionary secrets of Romanticism surface from the depths of the work, only to be washed away by the inexorable current of the melodies. Never did Schubert write with such a lavish and impetuous hand than in his Ninth Symphony: “…it bears the eternal seed of youth within it.” (Robert Schumann) Karl Böhm rehearses the Wiener Symphoniker in this recording made in the mid 1960s.
Der junge Lord
“The Young Lord” is a true ensemble opera, with impressive songs and an orchestra hardly larger than that of a Mozart opera, the characters being accompanied by respective leitmotifs or instruments. Henze frequently uses purely tonal structures. Yet this does not mean that Henze returns to the past, or that he betrays his avantgarde achievements. His style reveals a kind of highly ‘artificial’ and witty handling of tradition. The connoisseur recognizes many subtle allusions to tradition, while the ordinary listener enjoys everything he expects from a comic opera: lightness, tempo, wit, warmth and a touch of dream-world. “The Young Lord” was commissioned by the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Although Henze knew what artistic talent and possibilities were to be expected there, his justifiably high expectations were probably surpassed when he saw the first performance on 7 April 1965. Filippo Sanjust conjured up a most imaginative and accurate picture of the Biedermeier world upon the stage, which contains just enough fantastic exaggeration to fit the work. The producer, Gustav Rudolf Sellner, has put life into all those details in a manner that particularly benefits the film. Finally, Christoph von Dohnányi has proved to be the ideal Henze conductor.
Bach, h-Moll Messe (Mass in B minor) BWV 232
Karl Richter (1926-1981), founder of the Munich Bach Choir and Munich Bach Orchestra, was a noted conductor, organist and harpsichordist. The B minor Mass was one of his “warhorses”, which he often performed on concert tours. One of the most perceptive assessments of Richter’s reading of the B minor Mass appeared in a Munich daily following his last performance of the work in November 1980: “One of the reasons why Richter’s account of the B minor Mass is so compelling is that, in contrast to the historicizing Bach readings of today, it takes into account both the present and the 250-year-old history of Bach interpretation.” The work was filmed in the splendid Baroque abbey church of Diessen in Bavaria, which dates from Bach’s time.
Geblendeter Augenblick (Dazzled Moment) – The Death of Anton Webern.
Bach, Johannespassion (St. John’s Passion), BWV 245
Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Karl Richter (1926-1981) became synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra, and helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Although Richter saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music. Our recording with the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra features such world-renowned soloists as Helen Donath, Julia Hamari, Peter Schreier and Horst Laubenthal.