Fritz Reiner conducts Richard Strauss | Sony 88883790552

Fritz Reiner conducts Richard Strauss

Label: Sony

Cat No: 88883790552

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 11

Release Date: 7th April 2014

Contents

Artists

Byron Janis (piano)
Inge Borkh (soprano)
Paul Schoeffler (baritone)
John Weicher (violin)
Ljuba Welitsch (soprano)
Frances Yeend (soprano)
Chicago Lyric Theatre Chorus
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
RCA Victor Orchestra
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor

Fritz Reiner

Works

Strauss, Richard

Also sprach Zarathustra, op.30
Burleske in D minor for piano and orchestra
Der Rosenkavalier, op.59
» Closing Scene (Act 3)
» Presentation of the Silver Rose (Act 2)
Don Juan, op.20
Don Quixote, op.35
Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), op.40
Elektra, op.58
» Allein! Weh, ganz allein
» Elektra! Schwester!
» Was willst du, fremder Mensch?
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, op.60
Salome, op.54
» Dance of the Seven Veils
» Final scene
Sinfonia domestica, op.53 TrV209
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, op.28
Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration), op.24

Artists

Byron Janis (piano)
Inge Borkh (soprano)
Paul Schoeffler (baritone)
John Weicher (violin)
Ljuba Welitsch (soprano)
Frances Yeend (soprano)
Chicago Lyric Theatre Chorus
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
RCA Victor Orchestra
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor

Fritz Reiner

About

An 11 CD, budget-priced box set on the 'Sony Classical' label. Across time, there have been a handful of inseparable associations of an artist with a composer: Rubinstein and Chopin, Gould and Bach, Bernstein and Mahler come immediately to mind. Another such fabled fusion was Fritz Reiner and the music of Richard Strauss.

The very first recordings Reiner made at the helm of the Chicago Symphony in March 1954 were Strauss’s ‘Ein Heldenleben’ and ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’. Among the earliest of RCA’s commercial stereo recordings, these interpretations are still benchmarks.

Now, for the first time, Sony Classical is releasing all of Fritz Reiner’s studio Strauss recordings in a single box. Not only the legendary Living Stereo albums he made for RCA in Chicago, but also the far less-readily available earlier mono versions he made for American Columbia with the Pittsburgh Symphony, another ensemble he elevated to the top rank of international orchestras.

Listeners will now have the luxury of comparing Reiner’s multiple recordings of Strauss’s Spanish symphonic noblemen: this boxset includes two ‘Don Quixotes’ – as impersonated by eminent cellists Gregor Piatigorsky (Pittsburgh, 1941) and Antonio Janigro (Chicago, 1959) – and no fewer than three ‘Don Juans’ (Pittsburgh, 1941; Chicago, 1954 and 1961).

Along with all the other best-known Strauss tone poems, from ‘Till Eulenspiegel’ to the ‘Symphonia domestica’ and ‘Death and Transfiguration’, the new box also contains highlights from two great operas, featuring spine-chilling contributions by the unforgettable sopranos Ljuba Welitsch – as Salome (Metropolitan Opera, 1949), and Inge Borkh – as both Salome and Elektra (Chicago, 1955–56).

This new limited edition of Fritz Reiner’s authoritative Strauss – packaged, as always, with original covers, labels and full discographical notes – deserves pride of place in any classical collection.

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