Berliner Philharmoniker – Great Recordings – Box Set 8CDs (2014)

Product Description

2013 marked the 100th anniversary of recording between the Berliner Philharmoniker and Deutsche Grammophon, two giants in music. DG celebrated by releasing a hugely successful limited edition 50 CD Centenary Edition, with content chosen by public vote.

New for 2014 is a more bite-size box 8 CDs honouring the same iconic relationship between label and orchestra, at a fantastic price. The featured maestros at the helm of the orchestra include Karajan, Abbado, Rattle, Böhm, Giulini, Kubelik and Furtwängler.

Top of the best-seller list for units sold (and topical in Strauss Year), is Karajan s 1981 interpretation of An Alpine Symphony. Top of the best-seller list for turnover is Abbado s more recent 2002 phenomenal recording of Mahler s Symphony No. 9.

CONTENTS AND PERFORMERS
CD 1
Richard Strauss
An Alpine Symphony
Herbert von Karajan
(p) 1981

CD 2
Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Herbert von Karajan
(p) 1980

CD 3
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 9
Claudio Abbado
(p) 2002

CD 4
Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 1
Krystian Zimerman
Sir Simon Rattle
(p) 2005

CD 5
Franz Schubert
Symphonies No. 8 ( Unfinished Symphony ) and No. 9
Karl Böhm
(p) 1966/63

CD 6
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9
Varady, van Nes, Lewis, Estes
Ernst Senff Choir
Carlo Maria Giulini
(p) 1990

CD 7
Robert Schumann
Symphonies No. 2 and No. 4
Rafael Kubelik
(p) 1964/63

CD 8
Richard Wagner
Overtures & Preludes
Wilhelm Furtwängler
(p) 1979 (rec 1949/51/54)
Review

A magnificent account of the Alpine Symphony, spacious and noble… this new and masterly account is arguably the finest to have appeared in recent years --Gramophone on An Alpine Symphony - Karajan

There s sunlight and a certain tenderness in this account of the Ninth that you won t find anywhere else, a fluency and ease that s something to marvel at. --Gramophone on Mahler 9, Abbado

An ideal pairing of artists for this rhapsodic, youthful yet formidable work . . . Here are musicians inspired by one another --The New York Times on Brahms - Zimerman/Rattle