Product Description
-------------------
PRESENTATION & PACKAGING
Champagne style box - lift off lid, with luxury gold-wrap outer
box;
Black and gold CD wallets, with s arranged
chronologically by composer, starting with Haydn and ending with
Khachaturian and Kodály);
200pp softcover perfect-bound book, approx. 200mm x 110mm,
landscape orientation. FIVE essays are provided, each of approx.
1500 words, respectively by Dr. Silvia Kargl of the Wiener
Philharmoniker Historisches Archiv, by long-term Decca producers
Christopher Raeburn, Erik Smith and John Culshaw, and by Paul
Moseley/Raymond McGill of Decca;
All note content in English, German and Japanese.
The book presents the majority of the original album sleeves, as
well as photographic images, contracts and even letters, all of
which together offer a comprehensive overview of the Decca-WP
relationship across several decades.
Designed and art directed by UMGIs Matt Read, whose work for
Decca includes the remarkable Solti / Ring Deluxe Edition of 2012
and the Britten Complete Works of 2013, among many others.
Conductors including: Abbado, Bernstein, Boskovsky, Boult, Bohm,
Chailly, Dohnányi, Dorati, Haitink, Karajan, Kertesz, Kondin,
Khachaturian, Kleiber, Knappertsbusch, Krauss, Krips, Kubelik,
Maazel, Mehta, Monteux , Münchinger, Reiner, Schmidt-Isserstedt,
Schuricht, Stein, Solti, Szell, Walter
Pianists: Gulda, Backhaus, Curzon, Ashkenazy, Schiff
THE PROPOSITION
64 CDs of orchestral and concerto s, starting 64 years
ago, handsomely presented and imaginatively curated.
A document of a label-orchestra relationship, of famous venues
and of the art of classical . Few labels can cl to be
so associated with a city as inextricably as Decca is with
Vienna. No history of classical s would be complete
without a chapter documenting how both Decca and the WP worked to
perfect the art of in the citys great concert halls,
most notably in the famous Sofiensaal.
Classic s:
Bruno WALTER Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (1952)
Erich KLEIBER - Beethoven Eroica Symphony (1959)
Pierre MONTEUX Haydn s (1960)
ert von KARAJAN - Beethoven, Holst and Richard Strauss
s
Karl BÖHM - Bruckner Symphony No. 3 (1970) & Symphony No. 4
(1974), Four Last Songs (Lisa Della Casa, 1953)
Sir Georg SOLTI - Verdi Requiem (1968)
Zubin MEHTA - Mahler Symphony No. 2 (1975)
Sir Charles MACKERRAS and Richard CHAILLY - Janácek s
Clemens KRAUSS Richard Strauss s
George SZELL - Beethoven Egmont (1970)
Willi BOSKOVSKY Johann Strauss / New Year s Concert (1979)
Includes THREE complete symphonic cycles:
BEETHOVEN Monteux, Kleiber, Schmidt-Isserstedt, Solti, Abbado
BRAHMS Mehta, Schuricht, Böhm, Kertesz
BRUCKNER Mehta, Abbado, Solti, Stein, Maazel, Böhm (this is WPs
only complete Bruckner cycle, recorded 1965-1974)
5 Perspectives producers, archivists and record executives from
Vienna and London. Dr. Silvia Kargl (WP Archivist) documents the
orchestras unparalleled tradition. Three essays by the three
great Decca producers Christopher Raeburn, Erik Smith and John
Culshaw add the perspective of engineers, producers and
executives, while Raymond McGill (Catalogue Consultant) and Paul
Moseley (MD Decca Classics) tell it from today s viewpoint.
A document of a tradition. As long-term Decca producer
Christopher Raeburn summarises: There is a definite tradition in
Viennese playing and interpretation as exemplified by the Vienna
Philharmonic, and the collaboration with DECCA has done much to
preserve this quality.
Review
------
To my ear, in the right conditions and with the right conductor,
it is the best orchestra in the world... --John Culshaw, Decca
Producer
The glory of this version stems from the quality of the playing,
its refinement in every department, the glow of tone encouraged
by the acoustic of the Sofiensaal, Decca's regular venue in
Vienna, and the flexible, lyrical style which comes naturally to
Viennese performers. --Gramophone (original review) on Mahler
Symphony No. 2 (Mehta
The VPO plays with towering commitment and the further
helps to convey the sense of the music's vaulted splendour.
--Gramophone on Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Böhm
The glory of this version stems from the quality of the playing,
its refinement in every department, the glow of tone encouraged
by the acoustic of the Sofiensaal, Decca's regular venue in
Vienna, and the flexible, lyrical style which comes naturally to
Viennese performers. --Gramophone (original review) on Mahler
Symphony No. 2 (Mehta
The VPO plays with towering commitment and the further
helps to convey the sense of the music's vaulted splendour.
--Gramophone on Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Böhm
The glory of this version stems from the quality of the playing,
its refinement in every department, the glow of tone encouraged
by the acoustic of the Sofiensaal, Decca's regular venue in
Vienna, and the flexible, lyrical style which comes naturally to
Viennese performers. --Gramophone (original review) on Mahler
Symphony No. 2 (Mehta
The VPO plays with towering commitment and the further
helps to convey the sense of the music's vaulted splendour.
--Gramophone on Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Böhm
The glory of this version stems from the quality of the playing,
its refinement in every department, the glow of tone encouraged
by the acoustic of the Sofiensaal, Decca's regular venue in
Vienna, and the flexible, lyrical style which comes naturally to
Viennese performers. --Gramophone (original review) on Mahler
Symphony No. 2 (Mehta
The VPO plays with towering commitment and the further
helps to convey the sense of the music's vaulted splendour.
--Gramophone on Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Böhm