RACHMANINOV
Études-Tableaux, Opp. 33 & 39
BUSONI
Sonatina No.6 – Chamber Fantasy on Carmen (1920);
Élegies 1907-08 – No.4 Turandots Frauengemach (Intermezzo)
Variations & Fugue on Chopin’s Prelude in C minor, Op.22
John Ogdon
LISZT
Annes de pelerinage No.7
Liebestraume, No.1
Trauer-Vorspiel & Marsch
Reminiscences de Simon Boccanegra
Two Concert Studies
Études d’execution transcendante Nos.2 & 3
Harmonies poètiques et religieuses, No.7
Mephisto Waltz No.1
John Ogdon
MENDELSSOHN
Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op.25
Piano Concerto No.2 in D minor, Op.40
Rondo Brillante in E flat, Op.29
IRELAND The Holy Boy; April
SCOTT Lotus Land, Op.47 No.1; Danse négre, Op.58 No.5
John Ogdon
London Symphony Orchestra
Aldo Ceccato
BRAHMS
Academic Festival Overture, Op.80
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op.56a
Tragic Overture, Op.81
STRAUSS
Der Rosenkavalier – Suite
STRAVINSKY
The Firebird – Suite
Philharmonia Orchestra
Josef Krips
Wagner
The Complete Ring Cycle
Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen,
Gré Brouwenstijn, Hermann Uhde, Ramón Vinay,
Josef Greindl, Josef Traxel, Rudolf Lustig, Gustav Neidlinger,
Ludwig Weber, Paul Kuen, Georgine von Milinkovic,
Maria von Ilosvay, Toni Blankenheim, Hertha Wilfert,
Jutta Vulpius, Elisabeth Schärtel, Gerda Lammers, Mina Bolotine,
Jean Watson
Chor & Orchester der Bayreuther Festpiele
Joseph Keilberth
Schubert
Rosamunde Overture, D.644 11.15
Berg
Violin Concerto ‘To the memory of an angel’
Bruckner
Symphony No.9 in D minor (Leopold Nowak edition)
Christian Ferras
Berliner Philharmoniker
Joseph Keilberth
WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer
Recorded in stereo live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival
Hermann Uhde, Astrid Varnay, Ludwig Weber
Rudolf Lustig, Josef Traxel, Elisabeth Schärtel
Chor & Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Joseph Keilberth
WAGNER Das Rheingold
Hans Hotter, Georgine von Milinkovic, Rudolf Lustig,
Gustav Neidlinger, Paul Kuen, Toni Blankenheim, Josef Traxel,
Hertha Wilfert, Maria von Ilosvay, Ludwig Weber,
Josef Greindl, Jutta Vulpius, Elisabeth Schärtel, Maria Graf
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Joseph Keilberth
Wagner
Die Walküre
Martha Mödl, Astrid Varnay, Hans Hotter, Ramòn Vinay, Josef Greindl, Georgine von Milinkovic
TANNHÄUSER Excerpts:
Overture; Venusberg Bacchanal (Act I); Wolfram’s Ballad & Duet (Act III)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wolfgang Windgassen
Orchester und Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele
Joseph Keilberth
Recorded: Festspielhaus Bayreuth 1955
WAGNER Götterdämmerung
Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Hermann Uhde,
Maria von Ilosvay, Gustav Neidlinger, Josef Greindl,
Gré Brouwenstijn, Jutta Vulpius, Elisabeth Schärtel, Maria Graf,
Maria von Ilosvay, Georgine von Milinkovic, Mina Bolotine
Chor & Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Joseph Keilberth
The First Stereo Ring Cycle previously unpublished DIE WALKÜRE SBT4 1391 (4 CDs)
Sunday Times CD of the week. A must have acquisition for all serious Wagnerians. Keilberth occasionally lingers lovingly over the erotically charged music. He can whip up storms however in the preludes to each act, with playing of cosmic depth and brilliance from the Bayreuth Orchestra, wonderfully captured in Decca’s early sounds. The closing scene is simply glorious.
Gramophone The second instalment in what is proving to be the definitive ‘Ring’. Hans Hotter, as Wotan dominates this utterly absorbing account of Walküre. As ever his sonorous, wide-ranging voice is matched by his verbal acuity, text and tone in ideal accord. We are here in the highest realm of Wagnerian interpretation. I can’t wait for the first and last parts of the cycle to appear.
International Record Review Ramón Vinay gives his voice an heroic and tragic dimension which he exploits with immediate skill. Wotan, alias Hans Hotter, appears in all his majesty, authority, grandeur, the definitive interpreter of the most complex of all operatic roles. Here he is in marvellous voice throughout the enormous part. Astrid Varnay stupendous and tireless. People may at last recognise that Varnay is the equal of any Brünnhilde there has ever been. Can there ever be another performance mercifully caught in sound that does Die Walküre the fullest justice, that conveys Wagner’s vision so completely as this one?
The Sunday Telegraph Review June 11th 2006. This is the second instalment of the 1955 first stereo Bayreuth Ring of which we were deprived for 50 years by John Culshaw’s politicising. Suffice it to say that those of you who bought the Siegfried need only know that the wonderful standard of performance and recording there is maintained here. Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung follow later this year. It is hard to think of any rival to it as the finest ‘Ring’ on disc. Joseph Keilberth’s conducting alone is enough to ensure that status, with orchestral playing of miraculous expressiveness and tone-colour. Astrid Varnay is again gleaming Brünnhilde, her high notes flying like arrows to their target. As wotan, Hans Hotter is caught in his peerless prime in this role, with no trace of strain. His singing of the Farewell is noble and overpoweringly emotional. The Siegmund and Sieglinde are Ramón Vinay and Gré Brouwenstijn, the former’s baritonal timbre a distinct advantage and the latter’s tenderness melting lovingly. Josef Greindl is a fearsome Hunding and Georgine von Milinkovic an impressive Fricka. For any one of these performances it would be worth acquiring this set. For all of them – well, just rush out and buy it. Michael Kennedy
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