Hans Knappertsbusch - Hans Knappertsbusch - The Orchestral Edition [CD]

Please Note Not All Our New Items Are Shrink Wrapped.All items shipped within 3 working days of payment.Gathered together for the first time on Universal Music labels, including several first CD releases on Decca, is the orchestral legacy of an inimitable genius of the podium: Hans Knappertsbusch.rrEven in his own lifetime, Hans Knappertsbusch divided opinion, between listeners affronted by technical slips caused by his notorious aversion to rehearsal and those who saw in him the last representative of a performing tradition dating back to Richard Wagner. Working mostly in the opera houses of Munich and Vienna, he never became music director of a symphony orchestra, but his postwar Decca recordings of central repertoire from Beethoven to Strauss, including three distinguished concerto collaborations with Clifford Curzon, preserve interpretations of a flexibility, sweep and grandeur scarcely imaginable today.

rrFor Decca, Knappertsbusch recorded with the great orchestras of London, Paris, Zurich, Geneva and Vienna. The orchestral discography began with Brahmsu2019s Second Symphony with the Suisse Romande, Wagnerian u2018bleeding chunksu2019 in the Kingsway Hall in December 1947 and ended in February 1960 in the Sofiensaal of Vienna, conducting Tchaikovskyu2019s Nutcracker Suite with a delicacy and grace that will surprise listeners who think of him only as the high priest of Parsifal at Bayreuth. The box is full of such surprises: an album of Strauss waltzes and polkas that turns on a sixpence; nimble Bruckner scherzos; one of the swiftest versions of Tod und Verklarung on record.

rrOnce introduced to Clifford Curzon, Knappertsbusch was immediately enthusiastic about performing and recording with u2018this great English gentlemanu2019; their versions of Beethovenu2019s Fourth and Fifth and Brahmsu2019s Second have long been mainstays of the Decca catalogue. Much else here is newly remastered and now widely available on Decca for the first time in many years, such as Wagnerian overtures and preludes with the Zurich Tonhalle (1947) and the London Philharmonic (1948) orchestras.

rrBruckneru2019s Symphonies Nos. 3-5 preserve Knappertsbuschu2019s profound working relationship with the VPO at its most harmonious. A magnificently trenchant Brahms album with the VPO in 1957 also features Lucretia West in the Alto Rhapsody. For devotees and sceptics alike, this box offers revelations and the opportunity to reassess the art of a conductor held in the deepest affection by many of the musicians and singers who worked with him.

rru2018This u2026 will please everyone who loves opulent brazen sound. As a Wagnerian, Prof. Knappertsbusch is plainly a great conductor u2026 The Wagner of burlesque u2013 lady wrestlers as Valkyries, heaving on Clydesdales and percherons; winds of two-miles-per-hour in the Dutchmanu2019s hurricane u2026 Still, the sound is splendid.u2019 High Fidelity, January 1954 (Wagner Preludes, VPO)

rru2018There is less heaviness, more flexibility and true Viennese spirit in his reading than in any of the others.u2019 High Fidelity, February 1956 (Bruckner, Symphony No. 4)

rru2018There apparently exists a wonderful rapport between the English virtuoso and the German conductor, for this performance is pervaded by a nearly tangible quality of artistic give-and-take.u2019 Stereo Review, April 1958 (Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5)

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 In G Major, Op. 58

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2 In D Major, Op. 73

BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2 In B Flat Major Op. 83

BRAHMS: Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 3 In D Minor, WAB 10

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4 In E Flat Major u2018Romanticu2019, WAB 104

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 5 In B Flat Major, WAB 105

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 8 In C Minor

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 8 In C Minor

STRAUSS: Don Juan, Op. 20

WAGNER: Die Meistersinger - Preludes To Acts I & III; Dance Of The Apprentices

WAGNER: Rienzi: Overture

WAGNER: Rienzi: Overture

WAGNER: Der Fliegende Hollander: Overture

WAGNER: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg: Prelude To Act I

WAGNER: Rienzi: Overture

STRAUSS: Radetzky-Marsch, Op. 228

TCHAIKOVSKY: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

Tragic Overture, Op. 81

WAGNER: Siegfried Idyll

Tod Und Verklarung, Op. 24

Die Walkure: The Ride Of The Valkyries

Lohengrin: Preludes To Acts I & III

Siegfried: Forest Murmurs

Die Walkure: Ride Of The Valkyries

Tannhauser: Overture

Der Fliegende Hollander: Overture

KAREL KOMZAK II: Badu2019ner Madu2019ln u2013 Walzer, Op. 257

SCHUBERT: Marche Militaire In D Major, Op. 51 No. 1 (orch. Weninger)

Variations On A Theme By Haydn, Op. 56a

Parsifal: Transformation Scene (Act I)

Parsifal: Prelude To Act I; Flower Maidensu2019 Scene; Transformation Music (Act I)

Tannhauser: Overture And Venusberg Music

Tristan Und Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod

Siegfried Idyll

STRAUSS: Annen-Polka, Op. 117

WEBER: Invitation To The Dance, Op. 65 (orch. Berlioz)

Piano Concerto No. 5 In E Flat Major, Op. 73 u2018Emperoru2019

Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53

Tannhauser: Venusberg Music (Bacchanale); Entry Of The Guests

Die Meistersinger: Prelude To Act I; Suite From Act III

Parsifal: Prelude To Act I

Lohengrin: Prelude To Act I

Accelerationen u2013 Walzer, Op. 234

NICOLAI: Die Lustigen Weiber Von Windsor u2013 Overture

WAGNER: Gotterdxe4mmerung - Morgendammerung Und Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt

Der Fliegende Hollander: Overture

Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, Op. 214

Siegfrieds Trauermarsch (Act III)

CARL MICHAEL ZIEHRER: Wiener Bxfcrger u2013 Walzer, Op. 419

STRAUSS: Leichtes Blut u2013 Polka, Op. 319

Tannhauser: Overture; Venusberg Music (Bacchanale)

Geschichten Aus Dem Wienerwald u2013 Walzer, Op. 325

• Product Type: AUDIO CD
• Barcode: 28948418244

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