Artur Rodzinski Westminster Recordings [25CD]

Artur Rodzinski - Complete Westminster Recordings

Limited edition 25CD set

The complete Westminster recordings by ARTUR RODZIŃSKI date were made in London and Vienna from 1954 to 1956. While they represent a true autocrat of the podium, Rodziński drew from orchestras every last ounce of energy as well as cultivating their virtuoso talents. Most recordings in this set appear internationally for the first time, together with some (previously unpublished) rehearsal extracts.

Like his colleagues and fellow emigres Fritz Reiner, George Szell and Arturo Toscanini, Artur Rodziński did not seek to make friends in the process of making music. His rehearsal methods were as ruthless as his conducting style was fiercely driven. His caustic manner extended to fellow professionals in the business such as soloists and agents, and the new essay by James H. North for this Eloquence collection includes stories of his dictatorial behaviour. But then Rodziński’s musical values also represent another era, and he drew from orchestras every last ounce of energy as well as cultivating their virtuoso talents.

Once he had emigrated to the US, Rodziński played an instrumental role in making the Cleveland and Chicago Symphony orchestras into the superbly responsive ensembles for which they are world-renowned today. Having retired from the stress of directorships, in the mid-1950s and in variable health, he produced a remarkable Indian summer of recordings for the Westminster label.

Made mostly in London between 1954 and his death in November 1958, these Westminster albums centred on the late-Romantic and early-20th-century repertoire which responds to a virtuoso conductor’s concern for subtle orchestral colours and extremes of speed and dynamic: Mussorgsky Pictures, Kodály Dances and Richard Strauss’s tone-poems. Rodziński plays insightful accompanist to piano concertos with Paul Badura-Skoda, Youri Boukoff and Jörg Demus, but he achieved a special affinity with Erica Morini in the violin concertos of Brahms and Tchaikovsky.

Rodziński’s decades of experience in the theatre bring sweeping authority to ‘bleeding chunks’ of Wagner, suites of Bizet and Tchaikovsky ballets. Further highlights in this set of newly-remastered mono and stereo albums include a Shostakovich Fifth which testifies to Rodziński’s early commitment to the composer in the West. Other, enduringly robust interpretations of canon symphonies include Dvorak’s Ninth, Prokofiev’s First, Tchaikovsky Nos. 4-6, and his very last Westminster album, of Beethoven and Schubert. At the end of the sessions, Rodziński thanked the orchestra in a speech which was captured for posterity and reissued here. More rarities unearthed especially for this set include several rehearsal sequences, capturing Rodziński’s inimitable manner and dedication to his craft.

TRACK LIST

CD 1

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 8

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5

Rehearsal* and farewell˚ to the orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

*FIRST RELEASE ON CD

˚FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

CD 2

BIZET: L’Arlésienne Suites

Carmen Suites

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

CD 3

BLOCH: Schelomo

BRUCH: Kol Nidrei; Canzone

Antonio Janigro

FRANCK: Variations symphoniques

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Piano Concerto

Paul Badura-Skoda

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

FIRST RELEASE ON CD

CD 4

BRAHMS: Violin Concerto

TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto

Brahms & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos – rehearsal extracts*

Erica Morini; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

*FIRST RELEASE – PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED

CD 5

CHOPIN: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Paul Badura-Skoda; Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper

CD 6

DVOŘÁK: Slavonic Dances, Opp. 46 & 72

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 7

DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 9

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 8

FRANCK: Symphony

Le Chasseur maudit

Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper

FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

CD 9

GRIEG: Peer Gynt Suites*

Piano Concerto˚

Yuri Boukoff

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

*FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

˚FIRST RELEASE ON CD

CD 10

KODÁLY: Háry János Suite

Dances of Galánta

Dances of Marosszék

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 11

MOZART: Clarinet Concerto

Leopold Wlach

Bassoon Concerto

Karl Oehlberger

Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper

CD 12

MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition*

Night on Bald Mountain*

BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances*

IPPOLITOV-IVANOV: Caucasian Sketches

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

*FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

CD 13

PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf (with English narration)

Garry Moore, narrator; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Artur Rodzinski

SAINT-SAËNS: The Carnival of the Animals (with English narration)

Garry Moore, narrator; Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper / Hermann Scherchen

FIRST RELEASE ON CD

CD 14

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1*

The Love for Three Oranges*

Peter and the Wolf (version without narration)˚

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Artur Rodzinski

SAINT-SAËNS: The Carnival of the Animals (version without narration)˚

Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper / Hermann Scherchen

*FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

˚FIRST RELEASE ON CD

CD 15

SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto

Introduction and Allegro appassionato

Introduction and Concert Allegro

Jörg Demus; Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper

FIRST RELEASE ON CD

CD 16

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

CD 17

J. STRAUSS: II Waltzes

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

CD 18

R. STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche; Don Juan; Rosenkavalier Suite

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD

CDs 19–20

TCHAIKOVSKY:

The Nutcracker (complete) – performance and rehearsal extract˚

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Swan Lake & Nutcracker Suites*

Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper

˚FIRST RELEASE OF REHEARSAL – PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED

*FIRST RELEASE ON CD

CDs 21–23

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphonies Nos. 4–6

CDs 24–25

WAGNER: Orchestral music

from Die Walküre, Götterdämmerung, Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser& Die Mesitersinger von Nürnberg (including rehearsal extract for Meistersinger)

ARTISTS

ARTUR RODZIŃSKI, conductor
Various Orchestras / Soloists

***

Eloquence 25CD Set
4848489