Lucerne Festival Orchestra – Music Of Offenbach (1956/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:31 minutes | 886 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Period Records
Immerse yourself in the timeless charm of Jacques Offenbach’s music with the iconic album Music of Offenbach, performed by the illustrious Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the baton of Ernest Falk. Originally released in 1956 by Period Records, this captivating collection showcases Offenbach’s whimsical melodies and vibrant orchestrations in all their glory. Experience the enchantment of Offenbach’s compositions anew with this masterful rendition by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, a treasure trove for lovers of classical music and connoisseurs alike.
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Riccardo Chailly, Lucerne Festival Orchestra – Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Tod und Verklärung; Till Eulenspiegel; Salome’s Dance (Live) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:25:14 minutes | 1,50 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
The dream team of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly return with over 85 minutes of some of the greatest orchestral music ever written. Continuing the critically acclaimed Lucerne/Chailly partnership launched by the world premiere recording of Stravinsky’s Funeral Song.
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Schweizerisches Festspielorchester, Paul Kletzki – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. IX – Paul Kletzki conducts Brahms, Schubert & Beethoven (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:16:36 minutes | 444 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
A rediscovery of a master: a leading podium star during his lifetime, Paul Kletzki, born Pawel Klecki in the Polish city of Łódź on 21 March 1900, nowadays is considered an insider’s tip among connoisseurs.
Volume 9 in the Lucerne Festival Historic Performances series presents a live recording from the summer of 1946 as a first release. It shows Kletzki at the height of his art: on the podium of the Swiss Festival Orchestra he realises exciting interpretations of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony, Schubert’s Unfinished and Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No.3 – expressive and with a stupendous sense of musical architecture.
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Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Irmgard Seefried, Paul Hindemith, Ferdinand Leitner, Bernard Haitink – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. X – Wolfgang Schneiderhan plays Mozart, Henze & Martin (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:05:04 minutes | 408 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
In the spotlight of this latest volume in Audite’s Lucerne Festival edition is the Austrian violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan (1915-2002). He was one of several artists who made an outstanding contribution to the Festival over the years since its inauguration in 1938. He first appeared there in 1949, and went on to make annual visits most years until 1985. His trio, in which he was joined by the pianist Edwin Fischer and the cellist Enrico Mainardi, appeared there several times. Schneiderhan also gave master-classes at Lucerne. The attraction of the present release is that it features three recordings revealing the diversity of the violinist’s work at the Festival. All are broadcast performances, culled from the archives of Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF).
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Carlo Maria Giulini, George Szell – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. VIII – Annie Fischer plays Schumann – Leon Fleisher plays Beethoven (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:26 minutes | 383 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
The eighth disc in the series Lucerne Festival Historic Performances is dedicated to two piano icons: in 1960 and 1962, with two years between them, Hungarian-born Annie Fischer and the American Leon Fleisher made their debuts at Lucerne Festival. Released here for the first time in their entirety, these live recordings document them at the peak of their art.
Sviatoslav Richter called her a “brilliant musician”, accrediting her with “great breath and true depth”. András Schiff acknowledged: “I have never heard more poetic playing in my life.” Annie Fischer, born in Budapest in 1914, gave public performances even as a child, winning the International Liszt Competition in 1930 and after that, except during the war, touring worldwide. Nonetheless, she tends to be rated as an insider’s tip, not least because she left behind only a handful of studio recordings. That makes live recordings such as this, released for the first time, all the more precious: at her only performance in Lucerne in summer 1960, Annie Fischer realised a sensitive, chamber-like and exceptionally poetic reading of the Schumann Piano Concerto with which she “garnered unusually fervent success”, according to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. She found congenial musical partners in Carlo Maria Giulini and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Leon Fleisher made his Lucerne debut in 1962 at the age of 34: on the peak of his rapid career which had – as had been the case with Annie Fischer – catapulted him into musical life while he was still a child. However, only a few months after his Lucerne performance – released for the first time in its entirety – he developed focal dystonia, making the use of his right hand impossible. During the following decades, Fleisher became a specialist of the left-handed repertoire until, in his old age, he was once again able to play with both hands, thanks to new medical treatments. In Lucerne, he presented himself with one of his party pieces – Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto, which he played with an elegant and transparent tone. The Swiss Festival Orchestra was conducted by George Szell, with whom he had made a studio recording of the concerto one year previously – an interesting comparison. The second half of this concert, Brahms’ First Symphony, is already available in this series of Lucerne Festival Historic Performances and has been awarded the Diapason d’Or as well as a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).
The 32-page booklet in three languages provides extensive background information on Annie Fischer and Leon Fleisher, and also features photos from the festival archives of all artists involved, published here for the very first time.
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Pierre Fournier, Matthias Bamert, Istvan Kertesz – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. VII – Pierre Fournier plays Dvořák, Saint-Saëns and Casals (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:51 minutes | 551 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
Pierre Fournier (1906-1986) was one of the most eminent cellists of the generation after Pablo Casals. Praised as an “aristocrat of cello playing”, he was admired for his soulful, singing tone, his uncomplicated elegance and his refined sound. This disc presents three live recordings from this legacy, recorded at Lucerne Festival and all of them released for the first time.
Together with István Kertész, Fournier performed a piece of his core repertoire in the summer of 1967: Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor – a particularly noteworthy archive discovery since the conductor’s tragically early death had prevented him from making a studio recording of the concerto. This live recording preserves the unpredictable emotional value of the concert situation: Fournier and Kertész take many risks, preferring the high definition of separate sounds as well as fresh tempi, without any temptation to fall for folklore frenzy or sentimental melancholy. Camille Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto in A minor was held in low esteem for decades, despite composers such as Rachmaninov and Shostakovich declaring it “the greatest of all cello concertos”. It was not revived until the 1950s, not least thanks to its advocacy by Pierre Fournier. In 1962, alongside Jean Martinon and the Orchestre Philharmonique de la RTF, he presented a passionate reading of the work, permitting a telling comparison to his previous studio recording. A new item in Fournier’s discography, however, is the ‘Cant dels ocells’ which he played in 1976 at a memorial concert on the centenary of Pablo Casals’ birthday: this was also his last appearance at Lucerne Festival. Fournier’s brief announcement before this work has been included here: in it he pays tribute both to Pablo Casals – whose cello version of the old Catalan Christmas carol became an obligatory constituent of his concerts and a secret hymn for all refugees and emigrants longing for home – and also to the cellist and composer Enrico Mainardi, who had died only a few months previously, on 10 April 1976.
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Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisa Cavelti, Ernst Haefliger, Otto Edelmann, Luzerner Festwochenchor, Philharmonia Orchestra- Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. VI – Wilhelm Furtwängler conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:16:18 minutes | 460 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
Fanfare Review by Henry Fogel :: This famed performance was Furtwängler’s last of the Ninth; he died a few months later. I have reviewed it many times in Fanfare: Music & Arts releases in 17:4, 19:3, and 31:6, and a Tahra reissue in 32:4. I find no Fanfare review, from me or any other critic, of Pristine’s version. Now we have this “official” Lucerne Festival release, part of an important series of reissues of great Lucerne Festival performances on Audite taken directly from the Swiss Radio masters. (Tahra claimed that as the source too, and it wouldn’t surprise me given the fine quality of that release; Pristine did not indicate a source, but its version also has very good sound). This recording, in fact, boasts top quality monaural broadcast sound from that era—some of the finest sound quality given any Furtwängler performance.
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Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. V – Claudio Abbado conducts Schubert, Beethoven & Wagner (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:17:42 minutes | 793 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
MusicWeb Review by John Quinn :: No doubt the record industry will issue any number of commemorative editions in memory of the late Claudio Abbado (1933-2014) over the coming months. This disc of Lucerne Festival performances was already in the pipeline, I believe, so Audite have been able to issue this tribute very promptly and it is a fitting one.
We learn from Peter Hagmann’s very good booklet tribute that Abbado made his Lucerne Festival debut back in 1966: at that time he was so unknown that, as Hagmann relates, when he arrived to take his first rehearsal there the doorman didn’t know who he was and nearly didn’t admit him. Over the following years the Italian maestro became ever more closely linked with the Festival, appearing there many times and eventually emulating Toscanini by assembling a hand-picked orchestra to make music with him there. The combination of Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was to be a potent one. Here, however, we find him with two other orchestras with whom he enjoyed long and close relationships.
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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Irmgard Seefried, Schweizerisches Festspielorchester, Rafael Kubelík – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. IV – Rafael Kubelik conducts Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:39 minutes | 371 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
Gramophone Review by Gripping Bluebeard :: Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is in essence about the inscrutability of an older man and the burning curiosity of a younger woman, an opera that’s very difficult to cast and even more tricky to pace, given the risk of sinking into a lugubrious tonal quagmire. And yet, given a conductor of Rafael Kubelik’s calibre, there’s scope for a gripping inner narrative – provided the singers fit their roles, which in this case they most certainly do.
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Bruno Belcik, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, George Szell – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. III – George Szell conducts Dvorák & Brahms (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:21:04 minutes | 898 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
Rhythmic precision, formal awareness, absolute faithfulness to the work and razor-sharp orchestral control: George Szell (1897-1970) is seen as one of the great orchestral disciplinarians of the 20th-century, as a superior musical director and an uncompromising perfectionist: a reputation which he gained, first and foremost, during his 24 years as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, which he formed into one of the world’s finest ensembles. The musical roots of the Hungarian-born conductor, however, are in the ‘Old World’, and after the Second World War he was one of the first musicians in American exile to return to Europe for concerts.
During the ’50s and ’60, George Szell regularly appeared at Lucerne Festival. The concert recordings presented here, both of which are first releases, encompass two works central to his repertoire. In 1962, the ‘anti-romantic and master of precision’ (Harold C. Schonberg), alongside the Swiss Festival Orchestra, achieved a powerful and intensely determined interpretation of Brahms’ First Symphony: the transparently played, chamber-like middle movements are framed by outer movements full of suspense. In the summer of 1969, one year after the violent defeat of the ‘Prague Spring’, Szell was reunited with the Czech Philharmonic in Lucerne. He had worked with the orchestra as early as the 1930s during his tenure at the New German Theatre in Prague. His thrillingly energetic reading of the Eighth Symphony by Antonín Dvorák enthused the audience and critics in equal measure. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: “Szell’s art of expressive tempo modification, preparing, building towards and resolving formal and dynamic tensions was demonstrated to such an extent that the entire symphony, from the beginning, seemed to have been lifted onto a higher level”.
Both recordings demonstrate that Szell’s concert recordings are particularly appealing, thanks to his willingness to take risks, lively musical flow and heightened emotional content: in contrast to his perfectly balanced studio recordings.
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Isaac Stern – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. II – Isaac Stern plays Tchaikovsky and Bartók (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:09:41 minutes | 440 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
“To make the violin speak”, was Isaac Stern’s succinct artistic maxim. These live recordings, made in 1956 and 1958 at the Lucerne Festival, exemplify how Stern realised his concept of musical rhetoric on the concert platform. Stern never performed in Germany; in Switzerland, however, he gave concerts frequently. He was a regular guest at the Lucerne Festival, appearing ten times between 1948 and 1988, both as soloist and as chamber musician, including with his Piano Trio alongside Eugene Istomin and Leonard Rose. Only a small number of live recordings with Isaac Stern exist. The Lucerne recordings of the Tchaikovsky and Bartók Concertos, issued here for the first time, are thus of particular documentary value, as well as important elements within the extensive discography of the violinist who died in 2001.
This release is furnished with a producer’s comment by producer Ludger Böckenhoff on www.audite.de/en/product/CD/95624/multimedia.
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Clara Haskil, Robert Casadesus – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. I – Clara Haskil plays Mozart – Robert Casadesus plays Beethoven (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:09:00 minutes | 427 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
MusicWeb Review by Blair John Quinn :: This is one of the first in what looks like being an important new series from Audite in association with the Lucerne Festival. Working, as they always do, from original tapes from broadcast archives, Audite plan a series of issues of concert performances from the festival, many of which, I suspect, will be appearing on disc officially for the first time. This series is launched auspiciously with two concerto performances by leading pianists of the last century.
In the booklet we learn that in a letter written in October 1959 Clara Haskil described her Lucerne collaboration with Klemperer as “unforgettable”. I’m not surprised for this disc preserves a very fine performance. After a strong, sinewy introduction by Klemperer and the Philharmonia Haskil’s first entry exudes graceful calm. Thereafter we are treated to much stylish, wonderfully subtle and tasteful playing. The pianism is carefully calibrated yet always a sense of spontaneity is evident. The balance of the recording favours the piano yet one can still hear that Haskil receives distinguished support from Klemperer and his orchestra: this is a real partnership. There’s often great delicacy from Haskil yet the music making has strength when required. Haskil uses her own cadenza, which is effective.
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly – Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps – Chant funèbre (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:18 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca
The rediscovery of Stravinsky’s Funeral Song, from a recording made in St Petersburg in Spring 2015, was a major event. Composed over the summer of 1908 in honour of his late teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, who died in June that year, it marked a moment where Stravinsky was working at many different types of writing, looking for a personal language. The work was first performed at a memorial concert in St Petersburg in January 1909 but thereafter it disappeared without a trace: the only evidence of its existence was in accounts of the concert and the composer’s own nostalgic memories of the work he saw as “the best of my works before Firebird, and the most advanced in terms of chromatic harmonies.” And here at last is the world’s first ever recording of it! A stunning little treasure in which we can still hear Rimsky, and also the Stravinsky of Firebird, but perhaps also still the Stravinsky of the Rite of Spring, which was still very recent, a testimony to the composer’s breakneck evolution. It was in the same year, 1908, that Stravinsky interrupted his writing of Fireworks when he heard the news of Rismsky’s death in order to compose his Funeral Song; the Scherzo Fantastique was the last score by the young composer that the old master would ever get to read, although he never heard it performed. With this recording, Riccardo Chilly offers us a judicious selection of four works from the composer’s youth (we also findThe Faun and the Shepherdess of 1906, a little cycle of three melodies with orchestra, sung in French, here with Sophie Koch) followed by the big turning point that is theRite of Spring, with a reading which is both clear and fiery.
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Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Rudolf Baumgartner, Wolfgang Schneiderhan – Vivaldi & Tartini: Concerti del settecento (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:01:23 minutes | 541 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jube Classic
The idea of a world-class Lucerne Festival Orchestra of its own goes back to Arturo Toscanini, who in 1938 united celebrated virtuosos of their time into an elite sound body with the legendary “Concert de Gala”. 65 Years later, the conductor Claudio Abbado and festival Director Michael Haefliger followed up on this birth of the festival and founded the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which presented itself to the public for the first time in August 2003. Since 2016, Riccardo Chailly, an Italian, has again been the chief conductor of this unique orchestra. In addition, a guest conductor is invited every summer to offer the audience an additional musical perspective.
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Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Claudio Abbado – Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:03:00 minutes | 614 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
In January 2014, music lovers worldwide were saddened to learn that Claudio Abbado had passed away. Deutsche Grammophon feels immensely blessed and proud to be releasing together with Accentus Music Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, which was recorded as part of Abbado’s final concert.
The concert received very positive reviews from the press:
“Mr. Abbado led an otherworldly account of Bruckner’s 9th Symphony. Never have I heard as magisterial and moving performance of the work as that given by the 80-year-old maestro and his fabulous Lucerne Festival Orchestra.” (Wall Street Journal)
The most recent Abbado / Mozart release featuring Martha Argerich has not only received critical acclaim worldwide, but did really well commercially: the album entered the pop charts in Italy at 16 and is still in the German classical charts at number 4.
With 40,000 units sold today, it is one of DG’ s bestselling core classical albums of 2014 & is still going strong.
This new and unique Bruckner album has a real potential amongst the core classical audiences worldwide.
To support the release, DG has filmed an interview with Sid McLauchlan who has been Claudio Abbado’s DG producer for many years.
The concert was recorded by Accentus Music during the 75th Lucerne Festival in 2013 with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
This release is a fitting tribute to an irreplaceable artist, who was one of the greatest conductors and most inspiring musical figures of our time.
With this record, Deutsche Grammophon and Accentus Music wish to pay tribute to the maestro and honour what would have been his 81st birthday at the end of June
Composer: Anton Bruckner
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Orchestra/Ensemble: Lucerne Festival Orchestra
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