Weiner, Prince Csongor and the Goblins from the music to “Csongor és Tünde”, op.10

Sir Georg Solti was an exclusive artist of Unitel for many years, and during this time the larger part of his abundant repertoire was recorded for television, predominantly with his orchestra, the Chicago Symphony. To honor the great maestro, Unitel got together with him once again in 1995 to record a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, in which Solti paid homage to his Hungarian homeland, his roots and his teachers, the Hungarians Kodály, Bartók and Weiner. It is only natural that Berlioz’s Rakoczy March could not be absent from such a dazzling Austro-Hungarian concert. The second part of the concert is devoted to Beethoven, who was not Hungarian but was adopted by Hungary’s Austrian neighbors. The concert is Unitel’s last recording with the great artist, who passed away on 5 September 1997. 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.

Sir Georg Solti practises with the Wiener Philharmoniker

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.

Mozart, Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K.364

Playing the ex-Roederer Stradivarius of 1710, Solo violinist David Grimal teams up with his teacher Régis Pasquier on the Mantegazza viola. Mozart composed this work, his last concerto for string instruments, in 1779, shortly before he left Salzburg for Vienna. Its urbane elegance seems to anticipate the style that was to characterize Mozart’s first Viennese symphonies. Pasquier, who masters both the violin and viola, is a world-renowned soloist who has been called “le star du violon français” by the Paris daily Le Monde and was appointed an “Officier des Arts et des Lettres” by the President of France. David Grimal, who graduated from Paris’ Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique with the First Prize in violin and chamber music, has gone on to win several other prestigious awards as well, including the European Cultural Award. His active international career has taken him to most of the world’s great musical venues, where he has concertized with ensembles such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. The French music magazine Diapason wrote of Grimal: “A truly inspired musician, a stylist conscious of his artistry, has risen to take his place in the otherwise empty firmament of French violin playing of the nineties.”

Bach, Concerto for three violins in D major, BWV 1064

The French violinist David Grimal plays the ex-Roederer Stradivarius of 1710. He performs here together with his former teacher Régis Pasquier, in whose class at the Paris Conservatoire he was accepted at the age of 16. Pasquier plays the Helvetika Stradivarius of 1686. The Italian violinist Federico Agostini is known as the long-standing concertmaster and soloist of the ensemble “I Musici di Roma.” He plays the ex-Busch-Guadagnini of 1783.