(This HMV Review is for new items and is only for reference. Novelty will NOT be available for used items despite mentioned bellow.)
10CDset
George Szell - elegance and finesse
CD 1+2
DVORAK/ Symphonies Nos. 8+9
BRAHMS/ Symphony No. 3
Concertgebouworkest, Cleveland Orchestra (1951, 1958)
CD 3+4
SCHUMANN/ Symphonies Nos. 1+2, Manfred Overture
WEBER/ Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra
Robert Casadesus (piano), Cleveland Orchestra (1952, 1957-1959)
CD 5+6
MOZART/ Symphony No. 33
BEETHOVEN/ Piano Concerto No. 5, etc
Robert Casadesus, Clifford Curzon (piano)
Cleveland Orchestra, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra
(1949, 1954, 1955)
CD 7+8
HAYDN/ Symphonies Nos. 88, 97, 104
MOZART/ Divertimento No. 2
Cleveland Orchestra (1954, 1955, 1957)
CD 9
SCHUBERT/ Rosamunde (Excerpts)
STRAUSS II/ The Blue Danube
Concertgebouworkest, Wiener Philharmoniker (1937, 1957)
CD 10
MENDELSSOHN/ A Midsummer Night‘s Dream (Excerpts)
SMETANA/ String Quartet in E minor (Orchestral version: Szell)
Concertgebouworkest, Cleveland Orchestra (1949, 1957)
George Szell (1897-1970) Conductor
“In Cleveland we start rehearsing where most orchestras finish off.” (George Szell)
George Szell was born in Budapest in 1897 and belongs to the series of influential conductors that includes Nikisch, Reiner, Dorati, Fricsay, Ormandy, Solti and Kertesz; all these great masters of their art were born in Hungary and came from the long-standing tradition of rich music history.
This compilation provides a taste of Szell’s artistic attitude - which the conductor himself described as follows: “I wanted to achieve American integrity and tonal beauty together with a virtuoso performance, combined with the European feeling for tradition, warmth of expression and sense of style.” Szell is considered an exceptional interpreter of German classicism.
In addition to highly-acclaimed interpretations of the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, this portrait of a decade of Szell’s work (between 1949 and 1959) also features works by Strauss, von Weber, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Smetana and Dvorak. The greater part of the recordings were made with the Cleveland Orchestra. George Szell was the orchestra’s conductor from 1946 up until his death in 1970 and under Szell’s auspices the Cleveland Orchestra went on to become one of the world’s leading ensembles. ( Music Alliance Membran GmbH )
