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JASCHA HORENSTEIN (1898-1973)
A CD DISCOGRAPHY

November 2004
Horenstein's commercial recordings break down into four main areas: German recordings 1928-29, those made for Vox in the 1950s, those made in the '60s by RCA for Readers Digest (glories of the gramophone, produced by Charles Gerhardt and engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson), and for Unicorn from 1969. In addition, broadcast airchecks are being issued on CD; indeed there have been multiple editions of many of them. Bits and pieces include a Strauss Metamorphoses & Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms in mono (Grand Prix du Disque 1954), still in EMI's vault. All of the early German recordings, all the Unicorns and all the Readers Digests have been on CD, the Voxes have all appeared at super-budget prices, and more and more of the broadcast recordings are being issued commercially.

According to Mark Kluge, the problem of the names of the Vienna orchestra that recorded with Horenstein on Vox is simpler than we sometimes thought. The Vienna Symphony Orchestra signed a contract with Philips in April of 1952; after that, it was still free to record with other labels, but not under its own name. The name Vienna State Philharmonia was used for a short period by Vox to disguise Vienna Symphony recordings, but that resulted in a suit by the Vienna Philharmonic (objecting that the closeness of the pseudonym to their own name resulted in unfair competition). Vox thenceforward used the name Vienna Pro Musica for its Vienna Symphony recordings. Vox did not like paying for a lot of rehearsal time, however, so some of the recorded performances are a bit scrappy, nothwithstanding the excellence of the band.
Vox material was leased to an Orbis label on vinyl; this may have been for a partwork in Europe. Orbis and Marshall Cavendish are partwork publishers in England; a partwork is a series of magazines with no advertising which are collected to compile an 'encyclopedia' of gardening, cookery, football or whatever. There have been classical music partworks from both Orbis and MC including CDs; MC issues on CD of Horenstein recordings are found below under Brahms, Haydn and R. Strauss (see VARIOUS). Preludio in the USA and Tuxedo Music in Europe were identical Vox reissues from the same Swiss address with different label names and inaccurate documentation, and the transfers were not as good as the later Voxes. Vox promised in early 1998 that they would reissue the rest of the Horenstein in their vaults in that year: the first four in a new series of 11 CDs were issued in Japan in late 1999 and in the west in 2000 and everything seemed to be on CD by the end of 2002.

BBC broadcast recordings have been bootlegged from several sources. The Descant label was a child of the Berkshire Record Outlet; three Descant releases which had the support of the Horenstein estate were engineered by Jerry Bruck. The owners of Intaglio had originally been partners with Descant but pulled out after the first release, published their own material and soon got in trouble for their over-ambitious marketing of dozens of BBC broadcasts by many conductors. Both Intaglio and Music & Arts cloned the Descant CDs without acknowledging the source or paying Jerry Bruck for the time and work he put in on the tapes, and he subsequently refused to work any more on the Descant project, so there were only three issues of the six initially planned.

The BBC airchecks are listenable and in some cases very good indeed; they are nearly all from the same source material. (Horenstein’s family and friends, to say nothing of fans, seem to have taped nearly every broadcast.) There have been more Horenstein recordings available on CD than during his lifetime; no fewer than four different Mahler Ninths, and four different editions of the same Bruckner Fifth. Recordings on the Carlton "BBC Radio Classics" label were the first made with the cooperation of the BBC and access to the original broadcast tapes; in 1998 the BBC Legends series finally appeared, in association with IMG Artists, bringing excellent 20-bit remasterings.

Many of the CDs listed below are already out of print, but they were all commercially available at one time; there are still more broadcasts in private circulation, but they are not included here. (Now that fans have their own CD burners, and even practice audio restoration at home, the words "in print" are taking on new meaning.) Be sure to check out VARIOUS below for miscellaneous goodies.
BACH: The Brandenburg Concerti on 2-CD VoxBox Legends CDX2 5519. Recorded for Vox in September 1954, this was the nearest thing to an authentic 'Cöthen sound' then attempted on record; the ad hoc 22-piece studio band (with Wolfgang Schneiderhan on solo violin and Nikolaus Harnoncourt on first viola da gamba) has been described variously as the Wiener Ensemble or the Chamber Orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The original Vox LP edition was bound in imitation leather with a copy of the score and a facsimile of Bach's dedication.
BACH: for the Schoenberg arrangements, see VARIOUS
BARBER: Violin Concerto with Lola Bobesco: see VARIOUS.
BARTOK: Violin Concerto - See GITLIS. Concerto for Orchestra: see VARIOUS.
BEETHOVEN: Overtures - See VARIOUS and just below.
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies - The Third (twice), Fifth, Sixth and Ninth were all recorded by Vox. The Beethoven Eroica with the SW German Radio Orchestra of Baden Baden (1957 stereo) was reissued with the Haydn "Clock" symphony on Vox Legends VOX 7807. The mono Beethoven 5th and 6th symphonies and five overtures (Coriolan, Egmont, Creatures of Prometheus, Leonore No. 3 and Consecration of the House), made 1953-56 with the Vienna Pro Musica, were in a 2-CD set VOX2-7808. (The Sixth was said to have been recorded in 1958, but this is unlikely.) Finally, the mono 1953 Eroica with the Pro Musica, a better peformance than the stereo one, came out on VOX 7816 at the end of 2002, completing the CD reissue of Horenstein’s studio recordings for Vox.
Meanwhile, the Vox recording of Beethoven's Ninth with the Vienna Pro Musica had been digitalised at least three times in the 20th century. Allegretto II ACD 8052, a USA reissue from 1988, was a transfer of the phony stereo LP master, complete with the side-break in the slow movement; the company subsequently remastered it, eliminating the break in the slow movement and perpetrating a slightly less obnoxious phony stereo (which seemed to consist mostly of echo) but without changing the catalogue number or the copy on the inlay card, which still listed "3. Adagio...(beginning) 4. Adagio... (conclusion)..." Tuxedo TUXCD 1083 (1991) was a good transfer in honest mono. All were labeled 'Vienna Symphony Orchestra'. Allegretto did not even list the soloists (Wilma Lipp, Elizabeth Hoengen, Julius Patzak, Otto Weiner). A new issue on Vox Legends was the best transfer yet (VOX 7809, 2001).
See also VARIOUS below for Beethoven symphonies 2, 7 & 8 and another 9th, all from French radio.
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto, Schumann Piano Concerto - Chesky CD52. From the early '60s, with Erich Gruenberg/New Philharmonia, Malcolm Frager/RPO respectively. Chesky transfers are usually very good, but this one has a warbly tone at the beginning of the Schumann, perhaps a deterioration of the master tape. The Beethoven violin concerto was also available on Chandos CHA6521, with the Prometheus & Coriolan overtures by the Birmingham SO under Walter Weller.
BEETHOVEN: The "Emperor" Piano Concerto No. 5, with John Ogdon, on BBC Legends BBCL 4142. The CD also includes Ogdon playing Beethoven's 32 Variation on an Original Theme in C minor, and Schubert's Sonata No. 19 in C minor.
BEETHOVEN: Missa Solemnis, on BBC Legends BBCL 4150. Recorded at Maida Vale studios in 1961, with the BBC SO and soloists Teresa Stich-Randall, Norma Proctor, Richard Lewis and Kim Borg, notes by Joel Lazar. This CD was described by one fan as 'the most important BBC Legends so far.' It is filled out with Schubert's Unfinished Symphony (1972, a live concert by the BBC Northern SO) and the Wagner Faust Overture (1971, BBC SO), making its third appearance on CD.
BERLIOZ: Symphonie Fantastique - Arkadia CDGI 744. Radio Symphonie Orchester, Berlin, 1963; very acceptable sound. Timings are longer than in the 1962 Charles Munch on RCA, for example, and 'Un Bal' has the most hypnotizing lilt. The fillers are overtures: Gluck's Ifigenia in Aulide and Weber's Oberon, with the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli (1956-7); the sound of these is poor. This CD was manufactured in a factory in Italy that had the same problem with chemicals as a factory in England; the disc turned bronze around the edges and began to suffer serious distortion.
BRAHMS: First Symphony - the Marshall Cavendish partwork 'The Great Composers' part 39 (1996-7 edition) includes the 1958 stereo Vox recording with the SouthWest German Radio Orchestra of Baden-Baden. This recording was finally reissued on Vox 7801 in 1999 along with the Variations on a Theme of Haydn, of the same vintage. The 1962 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra is on Chesky CD19 with Wagner's Bacchanale from Tannhauser, with the Royal Philharmonc Orchestra & Beecham Choral Society. For a third Brahms First recorded in France see VARIOUS.
BRAHMS: Second Symphony - Unicorn UKCD2036. Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, recorded live in 1972. For more from this concert, see WEBERN, below. There is also a version with the Czech Philharmonic on Somm (SOMMCD037) from the 1966 Montreux Festival, coupled with Strauss's Don Juan.
BRAHMS: Third Symphony - Vox 7802 in 1958 stereo, with the SouthWest German Radio Orchestra of Baden-Baden. The CD also included Wagner's Prelude from Die Meistersinger and Tannhauser Overture with the Bamberg S.O. from 1954.
BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme of Haydn - the 1958 Vox was reissued with Horenstein's first recording of Brahms' First Symphony (see above).
BRAHMS: Tragic Overture - see VARIOUS
BRUCH: Scottish Fantasia Opus 46, with David Oistrakh, violin; Ossian Ellis, harp; and the London Symphony Orchestra. This gorgeous English Decca LP from 1962 (London in the USA) had Paul Hindemith conducting his own viola concerto on the other side, and has been reissued on CD by Classic Records: the transfer is marvelous, and so it should be. The audiophile CD costs $25. It was also available in a Decca 2-CD set of Oistrakh recordings, apparently already out of print.
BRUCH: Violin Concerto - See GITLIS
BRUCKNER: Third Symphony - a BBC broadcast exists and was said to have been announced from BBC Legends but was not seen in the USA as of April 2003.
BRUCKNER: Fifth Symphony - Descant 03, Music & Arts CD-697, Intaglio INCD 7541, Phoenix PX 703 1: BBCSO broadcast of 1971. The Phoenix is from a different source tape, said to have better sound. The BBC Legends edition (BBCL 4033-2) was finally remastered from the BBC's tape in 2000 and sounded splendid.
BRUCKNER: Seventh Symphony - Koch 3-7022-2 H1. Berlin Philharmonic, 1928: the first electric recording of a Bruckner symphony. Good transfer.
BRUCKNER: Eighth Symphony - Vox Box CDX2 5504. Pro Musica, Vienna (c.1955), the 2-CD set including Liszt: Faust Symphony (Ferdinand Koch, tenor), and Wagner: A Faust Overture. The Faust and the Wagner are in stereo (c.1958) with the Southwest German Radio Orchestra. The BBC tape from 1970 with the London Symphony Orchestra, one of H's greatest broadcasts, has been in a 2-CD Intaglio INCD 7272 (including a Simpson rehearsal session, see below), a 4-CD Music & Arts CD-785 (see VARIOUS), and best of all in a 20- to 24-bit transfer from the BBC master tape on BBC Legends BBCL 4017-2 (with the BBC SO Ninth, see below).
BRUCKNER: Ninth Symphony - The Vox mono with the Pro Musica has been issued on Tuxedo TUXCD 1059 (labelled 'Vienna Symphony Orchestra'), and on Vox CDX2 5508 with the Mahler First (see below). The Vox transfer is much superior. The BBC SO broadcast from 2 Dec. 1970 was on Intaglio INCD 7091 and Music & Arts CD-781, then on BBC Legends in a new 20- to 24-bit transfer from the BBC master tape (BBCL 4017-2, with the Eighth symphony). Music & Arts included the Wagner Faust Overture from 1972.
DEBUSSY: La Mer - for a wonderful performance made in France, see VARIOUS.
DVORAK: New World Symphony - The 1952 Vox mono recording was reissued on Vox Legends VOX 7805 (with Janacek's Sinfonietta), labeled as by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. (The original issue had the band described as the "Vienna State Philharmonia".) The Reader's Digest recording with the Royal Philharmonic orchestra from 1962 was digitalised on Chesky CD31; the CD also includes Wagner: Flying Dutchman Overture, Siegfried Idyll.
FRANCK: Symphonic Variations, with Robert Casadesus and the French National Radio Orchestra. See SAINT-SAENS.
GITLIS, Ivry: Vox Box CDX2 5505 ('The Art Of Ivry Gitlis')
Collects the violinist's mono Vox recordings on 2 CDs: the Bartok, Bruch and Sibelius concerti conducted by Horenstein, the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky with Hans Swarovsky and Heinrich Hollreiser respectively (all with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra) and the Bartok Sonata for Solo Violin. Each CD is nearly 80 minutes long.
GLUCK: see BERLIOZ and VARIOUS.
HAYDN Symphonies: For no. 100 'Military' and no. 94 'Surprise' see VARIOUS. Also, of the two Haydn symphonies in early stereo made for Vox, no. 101 'Clock' and no. 104 'London', the former was issued in the UK with a Marshall Cavendish part-work: part 30 of 'The Great Composers' had a CD numbered CCD 30 in 1991 (also available on cassette); the other symphony on the disc was No 94 'Surprise', by Leopold Ludwig and the North German Radio Orchestra. The series is available in other countries; various editions of the CD label also carried the legends 'Grosse Komponisten', 'Im Herzen der Klassik', 'Les Grands Compositeurs', 'Au Coeur du Classique', 'Los Genios de la Musica Clasica'. When the partwork was relaunched in 1996 the Haydn symphony number changed to part 15.
Finally, the two Vox stereo Haydn symphonies were reissued on Vox Legends 2-CD sets: see Beethoven's Eroica (above) and Haydn's Creation (below). The 'Clock' on the Marshall Cavendish CD mentioned above and the 'London' on the Vox reissue with the Creation were labeled as by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; the original Vox issue described the band as the Vienna Pro Musica. See also VARIOUS below for a French radio recording of the Symphony No. 100.
HAYDN: The Creation, Vox early stereo c.1958 with Julius Patzak, Vienna Volksoper Orchestra etc. has been on CD twice: with Mozart's Coronation Mass on Turnabout 30371 00087, a 2-CD set from Carlton Classics in England, and later with the 'London' symphony on Vox Legends VOX2 7806.
HINDEMITH: Symphony 'Mathis der Maler' - Chandos CHAN 8533, London Symphony Orchetra, 1972. The CD also includes Strauss: Death & Transfiguration; both were Unicorn recordings on vinyl.
JANACEK: Taras Bulba: Rhapsody for Orchestra with the Vienna Pro Musica, recorded for Vox in 1955, was reissued on Vox Legends VOX 7803 with Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. The Sinfonietta, recorded the same year, was reissued with the Dvorak New World Symphony on VOX 7805 (labeled as by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra). For another Sinfonietta, see VARIOUS.
LISZT: Faust Symphony - For the 1958 Vox recording, see the Vox Bruckner Eighth Symphony, above. The BBC Northern Symphony and Singers broadcast recording from 1972 with tenor John Mitchinson, was on Intaglio INCD 7141 and Music & Arts CD-744; it was finally issued on BBC Legends BBCL 4118-2 in 2003 and the sound was expected to be much improved over the aircheck.
MAHLER: Kindertotenlieder -
With Marian Anderson (1956): Music & Arts has issued this twice; see Mahler: Ninth Symphony and VARIOUS; see also Mahler Eighth Symphony, below. With Heinrich Rehkemper (1928) on Pearl GEMM CDS 9929: a 2-CD set with the first complete recording of a Mahler symphony (no. 2, cond. by Oscar Fried, 1923, surprisingly good acoustic sound) and two songs (Mme. Charles Cahier, 1930). With Norman Foster on Vox: see Mahler: Ninth Symphony. With Janet Baker and the Scottish National Orchestra: see Mahler: Ninth Symphony.
MAHLER: Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen - with Norman Foster on Vox: see VARIOUS.
MAHLER: First Symphony - The Vox mono circa 1953, with the Vienna Pro Musica, has been issued on Tuxedo TUXCD 1048 and (it is said) Preludio PHC 3143 (both labelled 1958 and Vienna Symphony Orchestra), and on VoxBox CDX2 5508 with Bruckner's Ninth (see above). The Vox transfer is better. The 1969 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra was on Unicorn UKCD2012.
MAHLER: Third Symphony - Unicorn UKCD2006/7 from 1970 with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Ambrosian Singers, the Wandsworth School Boys' Choir and Norman Procter.
MAHLER: Fourth Symphony - LPO/Price, 1970. The first vinyl release on Classics for Pleasure in England was also on Monitor in the USA; the recording was remastered by Simon Foster in 1982. CfP said it was the worst seller they ever had (though Foster and Yakov Horenstein say that cannot be true); it was leased by EMI to a tiny private label: Chief CD 2 was the best transfer yet, made by EMI at Abbey Road, though it had some hiss on it. Since then there were also a Seraphim CD in Japan (TOCE-8906), an EMI Classics in France (2 53841 2) and an EMI La Voce del Padrone in Italy (081 7243 4 7999123). It was finally reissued on CfP in 2001 (7243 5 74882 2 8).
MAHLER: Sixth Symphony - Unicorn UKCD2024/25 and Music & Arts CD-785 (see VARIOUS) by the Stockholm Philharmonic, recorded live in 1966.
MAHLER: Seventh Symphony - a 1969 BBC broadcast with the New Philharmonia, on Descant 02, Intaglio INCD 7531, Music & Arts CD-727 and BBC Legends BBCL 4051-2. The master tape is lost and the BBC used an aircheck to issue the recording, so it doesn't sound much better than any of the others; some say the Music & Arts sounded the best. Jerry Bruck had provided the BBC with his own audio restoration but they unaccountably didn't use it.
MAHLER: Eighth Symphony. This historic performance broadcast by the BBC from the Albert Hall, with Janet Baker, Helen Watts, several choruses etc. and theLondon Symphony Orchestra, electrified London in 1959 and is thought to be the beginning of the subsequent revival of Mahler's music. A 2-CD set on Arlecchino ARLA 54/55 ('The Art Of Jascha Horenstein Vol. 2') included the 1956 Mahler Kindertotenleider; the transfer of the Eighth was a dub from the BBC's vinyl and the sound was very poor. The performance was broadcast in the UK by Radio 3 in February 1997 and the sound was very good for for a live stereo broadcast of this vintage; in 1999 the recording was finally issued in an excellent new 20- to 24-bit transfer in the BBC Legends series (BBCL 4001-7) revealing an incredibly good recording for the era. The set also includes the longest version yet issued of the interview with Alan Blyth, over 19 minutes long.
MAHLER: Ninth Symphony - There are four extant Horenstein recordings. The legendary mono with the Vienna S.O. from c.1952 is on Vox CDX2 5509 with Kindertotenleider by the Bamberg S.O. with Norman Foster c.1955. (There was room for the Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen with Foster as well (it's less than 16 minutes long) but Vox put it on another set; see VARIOUS). The 1966 BBC broadcast recording with the London Symphony Orchestra was on Music & Arts CD-235 again paired with a Kindertotenlieder, this one the French National Radio Orchestra with Marian Anderson from 1956 (this appears to be the same performance as on the Paris concert with the 'Orchestre National de France'; see VARIOUS). The BBC recording is now on BBC Legends (BBCL (4075-2) with yet another Kindertotenleider, this time with Janet Baker and the Scottish National Orchestra from 1967: the only known recording was an aircheck in mono; Jerry Bruck did the best he could to restore it. A 1967 recording with the Orchestre National de France was on Disques Montaigne (TCE 8862) coupled with Strauss's Don Quixote with cellist Janos Starker. A 1969 recording with the American Symphony Orchestra was on Music & Arts CD-785 (a 4-CD set; see VARIOUS).
MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde - Descant 01, Intaglio INCD 7501 and Music & Arts CD-728 were bootleg issues of an aircheck, the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra with Alfreda Hodgson and John Mitchinson at Manchester, 1972. Descant includes a short interview with Horenstein. The BBC Legends edition in 1999 (BBCL 4042-2) was a proper reissue of the original BBC tape and sounded wonderful, with notes by Horenstein's assistant Joel Lazar; it also included the interview. It is one of Horenstein's finest achievements.
MARTINU: Duo Concertant for two violins and orchestra, with Peter Rybar and Kurt Conzelmann, violins, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich was recorded live in 1960, issued on Telos TLS 023 in The Peter Rybar Edition Vol. II. The CD also includes the 6th string quartet played by the Winterthurer String Quartet and the Cancerto da Camera for violin, piano, percussion and strings, by Rybar, Marcelle Rybar on piano and the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, cond. by Urs Voegelin. The Horenstein item has the worst sound on the disc, but it's listenable, and the performance is white hot.
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 - see VARIOUS
MOZART: Symphonies - see below.
MOZART: Requiem - Preludio PHC 3141. The Vox recording, labelled 'Vienna Symphony Orchestra' 1973 but made c.1952, with Wilma Lipp, Murray Dickie, Elisabeth Hoengen, Ludwig Weber. The transfer has some distortion from the master tape but is quite listenable. A new issue on VOX 7811 in 2001 was even better.
MOZART: The Coronation Mass K317, Vox early stereo from 1957 with Wilma Lipp, Christa Ludwig, Vienna Pro Music Orchestra etc was issued on a 2-CD set with Haydn's Creation on Turnabout 30371 00087 from Carlton Classics in England. Vesperae solemnes de confessore K. 339 made the same year was on Turnabout 30371 00522 in the UK, combined with Haydn's Paukenmesse conducted by Hans Gillsberger; and the Kaudate Dominum section of the Vesperae was used as a filler on 1PSR90053 (whatever that is) which contains the Mass K427 conducted by Grossman. Finally, The Coronation Mass, the Vesperae and and symphonies no. 38 'Prague', 39 & 41 'Jupiter' made in mono in 1955, were all in 2-CD VoxBox Legends CDX2 5524. All were originally Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra, correctly described on a Turnabout disc above perhaps because it used the original cover art, but on this new VoxBox described as Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
MOZART overtures: see VARIOUS
NIELSEN: Third & Sixth Symphonies - Intaglio INCD 7381. 1970, with BBC Northern SO and Manchester Hallé respectively. The Third has Alexandra Browning (soprano) & Colin Wheatley (baritone); the Sixth was also on Music & Arts CD-784 (see VARIOUS)
NIELSEN: Fifth Symphony - BBC Radio Classics 15656 91492. New Philharmonia, 1971. (With Sym. No. 2 and Symphonic Rhapsody in F by the BBC Welsh SO cond. by Bryden Thomson, 1981) In a new series from Carlton Classics ('A division of Carlton Home Entertainment Limited') leased from the BBC, this was the first example we had of a Horenstein broadcast recording transferred from the source material. It sounds good, a recording made for broadcast rather than a broadcast of a live performance, so there's no applause; some say it's a better performance than the Unicorn (below).
NIELSEN: Fifth Symphony, Saga Drøm - Unicorn UKCD2023. New Philharmonia, 1969 (the studio recording).
NIELSEN: Saul & David - Unicorn DKP(CD)9086/87. Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Alldis Choir, Boris Christoff, Elisabeth Soderstrom etc. 1972. In English. Some rerecording was done after Horenstein’s death by his assistant Joel Lazar.
PANUFNIK: Tragic and Heroic overtures, Nocturne, Autumn Music - Unicorn UKCD2016, London Symphony Orchestra, 1970. Also Sinfonia Rustica conducted by the composer with the Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra.
PROKOFIEV: First and Fifth symphonies with the Concerts Colonne Orchestra, ballet suite Chout and Lt Kije Suite with the Paris Philharmonia, all recorded for Vox in mono, were finally reissued in a 2-CD set Vox Legends VOX2 7810 in October 2001. The transfers of the symphonies were disappointing, that of the Fifth apparently a dub from vinyl, complete with what may be a jumping stylus in the last movement. Another Fifth symphony, from a live concert in Paris in 1956, has been on Music & Arts twice; see VARIOUS.
RACHMANINOFF: The four piano concerti and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Earl Wild and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1965) are on the 2-CD set Chandos CHAN 8521/2. Chandos CHAN 6507 is a single CD combining the Second and Third concerti, as in the set. On Chesky these recordings have been spread onto three discs with additions: Chesky CD2 has the Second Piano Concerto and the 20-minute tone poem Isle of the Dead, by Horenstein and the RPO and not otherwise available at this writing, plus Wild piano solos (Schubert-Tausig March Militaire & Weber-Tausig Invitation to the Dance). Chesky CD41 combines the First and Fourth concerti and the Rhapsody, and CD76 the Third concerto with Wild's recording of MacDowell's Second Piano Concerto (Massimo Freccia conducting).
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G Major, Piano Concerto for the Left Hand - Vox CDX2 5507, with Vlado Perlemuter, piano, and the Concerts Colonne Orchestra, Paris. The 2-CD set includes Perlemuter in Ravel's music for piano solo. For another Ravel G Major concerto with Monique Haas as well as a Boléro, see VARIOUS.
ROUSSELL: Le Festinde l'arainee - see VARIOUS.
SAINT-SAËNS: Piano Concerto No. 4 with Robert Casadesus and the French National Radio Orchestra, on Music & Arts CD 1133. The CD also contains the Franck Symphonic Variations from the same broadcast (from Montreux, 1961), as well as Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Casadesus accompanied by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and Eduard Van Beinum (1946).
SCHOENBERG: The version for string orchestra of Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) and the Kammersymphonie Op. 9 (Chamber Symphony No. 1) were recorded for Vox in early stereo with the Sudwestfünk Baden-Baden orchestra (see VARIOUS below for the Vox 2-CD reissue). The Chamber Symphony was also recorded with the BBC Northern S.O. in 1970, pirated on Intaglio INCD 7331 (also with the Sibelius Fifth, below). Yet another recording of the Chamber Symphony was made in Denmark in 1972, but this had not been issued on CD as of late 2001, despite the Arlecchino pirate (see WEBERN below for that story). See VARIOUS for 1929 recordings of Schoenberg's arrrrangements of Bach.
SCHUBERT: Sym. No. 8 'Unfinished', recorded live in 1971 by the BBC SO, on BBC Legends BBCL 4150, filling out a CD with Beethoven's Missa Solmnis (see above) and Wagner's Faust Overture.
SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello concerto - Cascavelle VEL 2009. Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with Pierre Fournier, 1962. The CD also includes the Schumann concerto (with Fricsay '57) and the Martinu (with Sawallisch '78) with the same orchestra and soloist.
SHOSTAKOVICH: First Symphony, recorded in the Albert Hall in Nottingham in 1970 with the Royal Philharmonic, was issued on Carlton's BBC Radio Classics in the UK in 1996. Also on the CD was Leopold Stokowski and the London Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's 5th, from a 1964 Prom.
SHOSTAKOVICH: Fifth Symphony, recorded in 1952 with the Vienna Pro Musica, is regarded as one of Horenstein's all-time greatest recordings; its reissue in 1999 on Vox 7803 (with Janacek's Taras Bulba: Rhapsody for Orchestra) was an occasion for rejoicing.
SCHUBERT: see VARIOUS
SCHUMANN: piano concerto - see BEETHOVEN violin concerto
SIBELIUS: Second Symphony - see VARIOUS. Fifth Symphony - Intaglio INCD 7331. BBC Northern SO, 1970 (with Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony). Violin Concerto - See GITLIS
SIMPSON: Third Symphony - Unicorn UKCD2028, London Symphony Orchestra, 1962. Horenstein championed British composer Robert Simpson (1921-97); tapes exist of Horenstein broadcasts of the First, Second and Third symphonies. This CD is filled with Simpson's Clarinet Quintet.
SIMPSON: Third Symphony rehearsal session - Intaglio INCD 7272. 37 minutes from 1966 (for broadcast with the Royal Philharmonic, not the Unicorn studio recording) filling up the LSO Bruckner Eighth, above.
STRAUSS, Johann Jr: waltzes etc - Chesky CD70; Volume II: The Return of Horenstein Chesky CD95. Vienna State Opera Orchestra (1962). A few of the Strauss pieces were included on a Zanicorn CD called "Music for Cats".
STRAUSS, Richard: Death & Transfiguration - see HINDEMITH. Don Quixote with Janos Starker - see MAHLER Ninth Symphony on Disques Montaigne. For the three Strauss tone poems on Vox see VARIOUS. For another Don Juan with the Czech Philharmonic see BRAHMS Second Symphony. For another Death & Transfiguration and a Metamorphosen see VARIOUS.
STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite (version 1919) - Pilz CD 325. SWF Orchestra, the Vox stereo recording c.1957 in a decent transfer. (With Le Sacre du Printemps said to be by the Philharmonica Slavonica conducted by Hanspeter Gmür; it was a pity the Le Sacre was not also Horenstein's.) This very cheap CD from Kranzberg Germany carried no annotation and is labeled DDD. In Spring 1996 it was said that Pilz had gone bankrupt. The same material may have been available from Tring in England, but they won't say. Gmür's Sacre is in stereo; Horenstein's mono Sacre and stereo Firebird Suite were reissued together on Vox 7804 in 1999. For another Firebird and a Symphony In 3 Movements, see VARIOUS.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 - Chesky CD94. New Philharmonia Orchestra, c.1962; combined with the Swan Lake ballet suite, with Sir Adrian Boult and the New Symphony Orchestra of London
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 - Royal Classics ROY 6458, London Symphony Orchestra c.1967; combined with the Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture and the Sleeping Beauty Waltz, by Sir Malcolm Sargent and the Royal Philharmonic. Royal Classics is a budget series of EMI reissues made in Holland for the Music Discount Centre chain of London record shops in 1995. The booklet note on this number recycles the silly story of the 'secret' court condemning Tchaikovsky to suicide because of a homosexual scandal.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto – a 1957 broadcast made in Paris with soloist Erica Morini and the National Radio Orchestra was issued on Music & Arts CD 1116 in 2003; the filler was the Brahms concerto broadcast by Morini with George Szell and the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in 1952.
VARIOUS: Koch 3-7054-2-H1. With the Berlin Philharmonic in 1929: Mozart overtures Marriage of Figaro and La Clemenza di Tito; Schoenberg transcriptions of two Bach chorale preludes; Haydn's 'Surprise' Symphony and Schubert's Fifth. Good transfers. The Bach/Schoenberg will be turgid to some tastes; the rest is delightful.
VARIOUS: Vox CDX2 5529 includes the following Vox recordings: Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration; Wagner: Lohengrin Prelude to Act 1, Tristan und Isolde (Prelude & Liebestod); Mahler: Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen (with Norman Foster), all made 1954 with the Bamberg Symphony; and Schoenberg: Transfigured Night and Chamber Symphony Op. 9, made 1956 with the Southwest German Radio S.O., Baden-Baden. This recording of Till Eulenspiegel was also included in Marshall Cavendish's 'The Great Composers' part 46 (1997 edition) in honest mono, the transfer different from the VoxBox CD, lighter but cleaner (also on the MC CD: Also Sprach Zarathustra by the St Louis S.O. with Walter Susskind, and Don Juan by the Cincinnati S.O. with Thomas Schippers, both in stereo). The Vox recordings of the Prelude from Die Meistersinger and the Tannhauser Overture were reissued with Brahms' Third Symphony (see above).
VARIOUS: Music & Arts CD-784 The Complete Paris Concert of 22 November 1956 with the Orchestre National de France included Haydn's Military Symphony (no. 100), Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (with Marian Anderson, also on Music & Arts CD-235, with Mahler's Ninth), Gluck's Alceste Aria 'Divinités du Styx' and Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony. The two-CD set begins with Beethoven's Egmont Overture (1969, with the American Symphony Orchestra) and ends with Nielsen's Sixth Symphony (1970 with the Hallé, also on Intaglio). This set was going out of print in mid-2004, replaced by the following 9-CD set of French radio recordings:
VARIOUS: Music & Arts CD-1146(9) Jascha Horenstein: Broadcast Performances From Paris, 1952:1966, all with the National Radio Orchestra. CD 1: Ravel: Piano Concerto (Monique Haas), 11 Feb. 1952. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, 1 June 1966. Roussel: Le Festin de l'araignee, Op. 17, 1 June 1966. CD 2: Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, 19 Dec. 1961. Beethoven: Symphony No. 8, 11 Feb. 1952. CD 3: Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, 19 Nov. 1956. Stravinsky: Firebird Suite, 3 Apr. 1964. CD 4: Debussy: La Mer, 1 June 1966. Stravinsky: Symphony in 3 Movements,19 Dec. 1961. Strauss: Tod u. Verklärung, 26 Sept. 1961. CD 5: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Pilar Lorengar, Marga Hoeffgen, Josef Traxel, Otto Wiener) 31 Oct. 1963. Mozart: Don Giovanni Overture, 11 Feb. 1952. CD 6: Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, 26 Sept. 1961. Brahms: Symphony No. 1, 12 or 19 Dec. 1957. CD 7: Beethoven: Symphony No. 1, 31 Oct. 1963. Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Marian Anderson), 22 Nov. 1956. Strauss: Metamorphosen, 3 Apr. 1964. CD 8: Beethoven: Egmont Overture, 27 May 1954. Ravel: Bolero, 1 July 1966. Janacek: Sinfonietta, 11 Feb. 1952. Haydn: Symphony No. 100 in G, 22 Nov. 1956. CD 9: Brahms: Tragic Overture, 19 Nov. 1956. Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto (Lola Bobesco), 13 Nov. 1950 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, Op. 100 22 Nov. 1956. Sound restoration: Maggi Payne (2004). Notes: Joel Lazar. Photographs courtesy of Peter Horenstein.
VARIOUS: Music & Arts CD-785 was a four-CD set including the Bruckner Eighth (London 1970), Mahler Sixth (Stockholm 1966) and Mahler Ninth (1969, American Symphony Orchestra).
WAGNER: All of the Wagner recorded for RCA/Readers Digest in the '60s has been reissued on Chesky; see BRAHMS First Symphony and DVORAK New World Symphony. The 1958 Faust Overture on Vox was reissued with the Bruckner Eighth, above. For more Wagner recorded for Vox see VARIOUS. The Faust Overture broadcast with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra in 1972 was on Intaglio INCD 7231 with Walton's First Symphony, on Music & Arts CD-781 with Bruckner's Ninth and on BBC Legends BBCL 4150 wirh Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Schubert's Unfinished Symphony..
WALTON: First Symphony - Intaglio INCD 7231, Royal Philharmonc Orchestra, 1971. With Wagner: Faust Overture, above.
WEBER overture: see BERLIOZ.
WEBERN: Arlecchino ARLA 34 ('The Art Of Jascha Horenstein Volume 1') contained Webern's Five Orchestral Pieces Opus 10 and Schoenberg's Transfigured Night and the Chamber Symphony No. 1, all described as a broadcast from April 1964 with the Sudwestfünk Baden-Baden; in fact Arlecchino had pirated the Webern performance with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, from the same 1972 trip that resulted in the Brahms Second, the Nielsen opera Saul and David and Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1 (a performance not yet on CD: Arlecchino took their Schoenberg from the Vox studio recordings. Our thanks to Chuck Nessa for sorting all this out.)


compiled by Donald Clarke

doneth@earthlink.net


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