Bruno Walter - Richard Itter Collection - ica classics: ICAC5151 - 2 CDs or download

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this is a stirring performance verging on greatness. — classicalsource.com, February 2020, 4 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 28th Sep 2018
Catalogue No: ICAC5151
Label: ica classics
Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

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Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major 'Titan'

Work length49:47

Album only

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter
Recorded: 15 May 1955
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, London

I. Langsam, schleppend

Track length12:08

$2.05

$3.05

II. Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell

Track length6:23

$1.00

$1.50

III. Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen

Track length11:50

$2.05

$3.05

IV. Stürmisch bewegt

Track length19:26

Album only

Excerpt, Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1899 version)

Work length5:13

$1.00

$1.50

Irmgard Seefried (soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter

No. 9, Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen

Track length5:13

$1.00

$1.50

Wagner: Faust Overture, WWV59

Work length12:09

$2.05

$3.05

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter

Haydn: Symphony No. 96 in D major 'Miracle'

Work length20:44

$4.00

$6.00

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter
Recorded: 29 May 1955
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, London

I. Adagio - Allegro

Track length5:33

$1.00

$1.50

II. Andante

Track length5:59

$1.00

$1.50

III. Menuetto. Allegretto

Track length5:36

$1.00

$1.50

IV. Finale. Vivace assai

Track length3:36

$1.00

$1.50

Brahms: Schicksalslied, Op. 54

Work length13:45

$2.05

$3.05

BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter

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This release has been sourced from the Richard Itter archive of ‘live’ recordings. The collection is very important for collectors because it has never been released before onto the market. Following the archive’s launch in October 2017 with releases featuring Beecham, Böhm, Cantelli, Karajan, du Pré, Klemperer and Rostropovich, it has received universal praise from both the classical media and record collectors for the excellent sound and performances.

Bruno Walter’s (1876-1962) appearance in 1955 with the BBCSO formed part of the BBC’s May Festival, an annual event which looked back to the pre-war London Music Festival. The present recordings have never been previously issued and serve to illustrate his genius - he showed no diminution of his powers on the podium despite celebrating his 80th birthday the following year.

Walter made a studio recording of Wagner’s Faust Overture in 1923 and a broadcast recording with the NBC in 1939. This 1955 Royal Festival Hall broadcast has superb sound and a great sense of forward movement and excitement. It has never been released before. Haydn’s Symphony No.96 was a great favourite, Walter recording it twice - in 1937 with the VPO and in 1954 with the New York PO. There are also two broadcasts, again with the NYPO in 1954 and with the ORTF in Paris in 1955. This Royal Festival Hall account has never been released before and is here performed with a distinctly Viennese geniality.

Brahms’ Song of Destiny (Schicksalslied) was another work close to Walter’s heart which he recorded in 1941 with the New York PO and then again in 1960 with the Columbia SO in Los Angeles, the day after his last public concert. Walter was able to balance the autumnal character of much of Brahms’ music with considerable vigour. This ‘live’ performance from the Royal Festival Hall has never been released before.

Walter’s close working relationship with Gustav Mahler is legendary. To date, various live performances of Mahler’s Symphony No.1, not to mention two studio accounts in 1954 and 1961, have appeared. The London broadcast performance of 1955 and Walter’s account of ‘Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen’ from Das Knaben Wunderhorn with the great soprano Irmgard Seefried bear testimony to his genius as a Mahler conductor. Both performances have never been issued before.

Reviews

classicalsource.com February 2020

this is a stirring performance verging on greatness.

Bruno Walter - Richard Itter Collection

2 CDs

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