Rafael Kubelik; Wiener Philharmoniker; Soloists
Release Date: 18 June 2021
Label: Australian Eloquence
Packaging Type: Box Set
No of Units: 12
Barcode: 0028948414529
Genres: Classical Orchestral
Description
Rafael Kubelik, the Czech conductor, was in every way a big man: tall and robust in physique, he was the most generous of human beings and he inspired devoted affection among his friends and colleagues. This complete Decca collection finds Kubelik working with the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Israel Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, and for a single operatic extract, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
ORIGINAL JACKETS LIMITED EDITION.
Rafael Kubelik had made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic at the 1950 Salzburg Festival, and together they made a series of recordings during the late 1950s which have long been prized for their warmth and spontaneous-sounding expression. The Mahler First introduced countless listeners to the composer for the first time, as did the Janacek Sinfonietta. After the spectacular success of KubelÃk’s first Ma Vlast recording, made in Chicago, the Vienna remake is softer edged but no less scored with the nationalistic fervour and colour that made the conductor synonymous with the piece until his death in 1996. Cast in the same mould as the Smetana are the Brahms symphonies and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet.
In fact few other label-focused anthologies of Kubelik’s recordings survey so wide a span: a quarter of a century from the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Pierre Fournier in 1954 to the 1979 recording of Der Freischutz, Weber’s foundational work of German Romantic opera, strongly cast in the Decca tradition and led by the radiantly sung Agathe of Hildegard Behrens, then at the start of a career that would soon establish her as the leading Wagnerian soprano of her generation. In this Bavarian Radio appendix to his Decca career, Kubelik made a no less attractive recording of Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor, likewise transferring the atmosphere of the stage into the studio with the experience of decades behind him.
Towards the end of Kubelik’s Vienna years with Decca, he also performed and recorded in Israel. The Decca sessions in a cinema outside Tel Aviv yielded an account of Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings in which critics had no trouble hearing the authentic voice of the Czech nation in exile, embodied in the figure of Kubelik for half a century.
The booklet includes a full contextual account by Peter Quantrill of Kubelik’s Decca career.
“A first-class version, which may be highly recommended… The recording is brilliant, with a richness equal to Decca’s best.� Gramophone, March 1955 (Dvorak: Cello Concerto)
“Kubelik gets an extremely good performance from the Vienna Philharmonic, and conductor, players and Decca engineers have seen to it that the colours and lines are kept sharp, bright and clear. Every instrument sounds quintessentially itself.� Gramophone, February 1956 (Janacek)
“A beautifully warm, sane performance from beginning to end… the Vienna Philharmonic is in its best form.� High Fidelity, August 1960 (Brahms, Symphony No. 4)
“Kubelik avoids Kleiber’s tendency to over-emphasise detail … [he] also has the slightly stronger, more consistent cast. Behrens is the most convincing Agathe.� Opera, February 1981 (Weber, Der Freischutz)
Tracklisting
Josef Krips; Various Orchestras
Josef Krips
Neville Marriner; ASMF
New Vienna Octet, Vienna Wind Soloists
Wiener Oktett
John Mauceri; The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; Julie Andrews
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt; LSO; Alfred Brendel
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt; VPO; LSO; Sutherland; Backhaus
Johanna Domotor; Meesun Hong Coleman; Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
Josef Krips; Various Orchestras
Josef Krips
Atalanta Fugiens Orchestra; Vanni Moretto
The Orchestra Now; Leon Botstein
Yannick Nezet-Seguin; Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Brussels Philharmonic, Kazushi Ono
Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonie, Friedrich Kleinhapl, Robert Kruzik
