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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