In Rafael Kubelík’s vast discography, recorded for DG and CBS, Tchaikovsky’s works are strangely not included. Fortunately in 1960, with the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Bohemian conductor recorded the last three symphonies of the Russian composer without the audience.

We do not know if they were scheduled for a record release or if they were addressed only to the radio broadcast. The fact is that today, many years later, it is possible to make available these splendid stereo performances with the quality of studio recordings.

They are above all the testimony of a period in which Tchaikovsky’s works were still held in low account and, except for the Soviet directors, only great interpreters such as Karajan, Bernstein and precisely Kubelík pursued.