Robert Casadesus, Géza Anda, Clara Haskil, Nathan Milstein, Herbert von Karajan, Schweizerisches Festspielorchester, Philharmonia Orchestra – Herbert von Karajan – The Early Lucerne Years (2023) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]

Robert Casadesus, Géza Anda, Clara Haskil, Nathan Milstein, Herbert von Karajan, Schweizerisches Festspielorchester, Philharmonia Orchestra – Herbert von Karajan – The Early Lucerne Years (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 03:44:53 minutes | 1,87 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © audite Musikproduktion

For the first time, this edition makes available Herbert von Karajan’s previously unreleased early live recordings from the Lucerne Festival, made in a decade during which Karajan was rebuilding his career. Included are legendary soloists such as Clara Haskil and Géza Anda, Robert Casadesus and Nathan Milstein.The Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern (today’s Lucerne Festival) was the first promoter outside Austria to engage Herbert von Karajan after his performance ban and denazification proceedings, thus enabling him to return to international podiums. “I will always be indebted”, Karajan later confessed. For almost four decades, from 1948 to 1988, he was to make his mark on Lucerne Festival. His annual appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic (from 1958) enjoyed cult status. But already in the decade before, as documented by this edition, Karajan enthused audiences and critics alike in Lucerne and quickly rose to become the defining artistic personality alongside Wilhelm Furtwängler: he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, but above all the Swiss Festival Orchestra, whom he held in high esteem and with whom he performed a total of nine concerts.

The surviving Lucerne live recordings range from Bach’s C major Concerto for two Keyboards, BWV1061 (with Clara Haskil and Géza Anda), to Arthur Honegger’s Symphonie liturgique. The exciting, rhythmically tight interpretations show Karajan to be an extremely form-conscious, textually faithful conductor of great expressive power. He inspires his orchestras to deliver top performances, whilst also acting as a sensitive yet extremely present accompanist, as for instance in Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein, or in Mozart’s dramatic C minor Concerto, K. 491, with Robert Casadesus.

As a digital bonus, the edition also includes Bach’s Mass in B minor, which Karajan celebrated at the end of the 1951 festival with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Singverein and a top-class quartet of soloists (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elsa Cavelti, Ernst Haefliger and Hans Braun): a fascinating sonic document thanks to Karajan’s very personal approach, even if stylistically it feels far removed.

Tracklist:

1-01. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: I. Allegro vivace e con Brio (09:44)
1-02. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: II. Allegretto Scherzando (04:02)
1-03. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: III. Tempo di Menuetto (05:28)
1-04. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: IV. Allegro Vivace (07:52)
1-05. Robert Casadesus – Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491: I. Allegro (13:14)
1-06. Robert Casadesus – Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491: II. Larghetto (08:37)
1-07. Robert Casadesus – Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491: III. Allegretto (08:26)
1-08. Geza Anda – Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in C Major, BWV 1061: I. – (07:40)
1-09. Geza Anda – Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in C Major, BWV 1061: II. Adagio ovvero Largo (04:28)
1-10. Geza Anda – Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in C Major, BWV 1061: III. Fuga (05:27)
2-01. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’: I. Awakening of Cheerful Feelings Upon Arriving in the Countryside. Allegro ma non Troppo (11:20)
2-02. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’: II. Scene By the Brook. Andante molto Moto (11:16)
2-03. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’: III. Merry Gathering of Country Folk. Allegro – (02:56)
2-04. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’: IV. Thunderstorm. Allegro – (03:23)
2-05. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’: V. Shepherd’s Hymn: Happy and Thankful Feelings After the Storm. Allegretto (09:17)
2-06. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98: I. Allegro non Troppo (13:18)
2-07. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98: II. Andante Moderato (12:02)
2-08. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98: III. Allegro Giocoso (06:11)
2-09. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98: IV. Allegro energico e Passionato (10:21)
3-01. Nathan Milstein – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77: I. Allegro non Troppo (20:33)
3-02. Nathan Milstein – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77: II. Adagio (08:51)
3-03. Nathan Milstein – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77: III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo Vivace (08:23)
3-04. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 3, H. 186 ‘Liturgique’: I. Dies Irae. Allegro Marcato (06:56)
3-05. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 3, H. 186 ‘Liturgique’: II. De profundis clamavi. Adagio (13:06)
3-06. Herbert von Karajan – Symphony No. 3, H. 186 ‘Liturgique’: III. Dona nobis pacem. Andante (12:02)

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