When Arturo Toscanini fell out with NBC in 1943 and refused to conduct the orchestra which had been specially founded for him in 1937, replacement conductors were engaged. Amongst these was Leopold Stokowski, who conducted a series of broadcast concerts over the next few years, until Toscanini eventually resumed his post. These Stokowski broadcasts have gained legendary status, not least because of the rare experience of hearing him in charge of Toscanini’s own orchestra. This CD brings together an important collection of those performances taken from the original broadcasts, with some items actually introduced by Stokowski himself. Also here are works that Stokowski never recorded commercially, making a release of considerable importance to collectors of great conductors on record.

When Arturo Toscanini fell out with NBC in 1943 and refused to conduct the orchestra which had been specially founded for him in 1937, replacement conductors were engaged. Amongst these was Leopold Stokowski, who conducted a series of broadcast concerts over the next few years, until Toscanini eventually resumed his post. These Stokowski broadcasts have gained legendary status, not least because of the rare experience of hearing him in charge of Toscanini’s own orchestra. This CD brings together an important collection of those performances taken from the original broadcasts, with some items actually introduced by Stokowski himself. Also here are works that Stokowski never recorded commercially, making a release of considerable importance to collectors of great conductors on record.

This is a very important record for collectors of great orchestral interpretations, in that it reveals aspects of the great Hungarian-born but naturalised American conductor Fritz Reiner which have rarely been made available on disc before. There are two major highlights on this CD – Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ with the magnificent tenor Lauritz Melchior adopting a new role on disc as narrator, and an early war-time performance of Shostakovich’s epic Sixth Symphony with the Phlharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York. This very well-filled CD is completed by a brilliant performance of Mozart’s ‘Impresario’ Overture, and masterly accounts of the March from Tchaikovsky’s First Orchestral Suite, Debussy’s Fetes from his three Nocturnes and a beautifully transcription by Lucien Caillet of Bach’s ‘Little’ Fugue in G minor – the last three with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Excellent sound.

This is a record of considerable interest to students of 20^th-century music in that it contains four important orchestral works by the much-admired Swiss composer Hans Schaeuble (1906-1988) in previously unavailable performances under the outstanding conductor Paul Burkhard, who is heard conducting the Tonhalle-Orchester of Zurich and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Beromunster.  The highly distinguished pianist Carl Seeman is the soloist in Schaeuble’s Piano Concerto, recorded in 1952.
Considerable critical notice was paid to an earlier Guild recording which included Schaeuble’s String Quartet played by the Casal Quartet and this has led to a growing interest in the music of this fine musician and composer. The original recordings have been enhanced with the latest sound techniques.

GHCD 2330_31 Barbirolli – New York Philhammonic Symphony Orchestra CD1–Franck Symphony in D minor – 15 October 1939 – Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini Overture – 30 October 1938 - Griffes The White Peacock – 30 October 1938 – Debussy Iberia - 14 November 1937- [75:22]CD2 - Castelnuvo-Tedesco King John Overture. – 15 March 1942 - - Johannes Brahms Double Concerto in A minor op. 102  – 26 March 1939- Benjamin (1893-1960) Overture to an Italian Comedy – 20 April 1941- Corelli /Barbirolli Concerto Grosso – 23 February 1943 [BONUS TRACK] Mahler Symphony No.5 – 4^th Movement- Adagietto in F major (ex) – 17 December 1939 [71:53]

GHCD 2329 Leopole Stokowski - Modest Mussorgski: Prelude to Act IV from Khovanching - Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor op.64 - Richard Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart Rec live at Straßenbahner-Waldheim – Stuttgart, 20 May 1955 - Claude Debussy: «Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune » Radiosymphonieorchester Frankfurt, Rec. Live at Sendesaal des HR, Frankfurt, 31 May 1955 – 76:05

Leopold Stokowski was one of the very greatest conductors of the 20^th-century. He died in 1977 at the age of 95, leaving a remarkable discography of wide range. His greatest quality was to obtain the finest orchestral balance and tonal colour from whichever orchestra he was conducting, and this unique collection – taken from German broadcast concerts given in Stuttgart and Frankfurt in 1955 – demonstrates Stokowski’s genius anew to later generations.  The result is an amazing CD of superfine performances, captured in the best possible sound obtainable from such sources

GHCD 2328 Guido Cantelli – Concert Performances – Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition Orchestrated by Maurice Ravel - New York Philharmonic Orchestra Carnegie Hall, New York, 29 March 1953 – Wagner: A Faust Overture - Siegfried’s Rhine Journey (Gotterdammerung) - New York Philharmonic Orchestra Carnegie Hall, New York, 1953 – Roussel: Sinfonietta for string orchestra, Op. 52 – Berlioz: Hungarian March (Damnation of Faust)- NBC Symphony Orchestra Carnegie Hall, New York, 15 December 1951- Vivaldi: Concerto Op. 3, No. 8 in A minor, RV522 (L’Estro Armonico) Daniel Delay & Remo Bolognini – violins - NBC Symphony Orchestra - Carnegie Hall, New York, 1951 – 79:41

GHCD 2327 Charles Munch Charles Debussy Ibéria No 2 from images pour orchestre – Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin – Roussel Suite No 2 from Bacchus et Ariane - NBC Symphony Orchestra / Charles Munch, Rec. live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 28 March 1954 -  55:40

The life of Charles Munch mirrors the changing face of Europe during the half-century from 1890 to 1940. A brilliant concert violinist, he became one of the greatest French conductors of his era - first in Paris in the 1930s and 1940s and then, after the War, in the United States, where he was chief conductor of the Boston Symphony in succession to Serge Koussevitsky from 1949-1962. On his retirement from Boston, he returned to Europe where he founded the Orchestre de Paris. Munch's repertoire was very wide, ranging from the established classical repertoire to world premieres of new music, but it was upon French music that his international reputation was founded. In this rare selection of music by his compatriots, we can hear for ourselves the truth of that claim. The three composers represented - Debussy, Ravel and Roussel - were contemporaries of each other and of Munch himself, which gives his interpretations a unique insight. The sound has been refurbished brilliantly.

GHCD 2326 Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) - DELIUS: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - BBC Symphony Orchestra - Sir Malcolm Sargent- Recorded ‘live’ at the Proms – 13 September 1955 - Royal Albert Hall, London  - RACHMANINOV: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Introduction – Variation I – Theme – Variation II to XXIV - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Recorded ‘live’ at the Proms – 8 September 1955, Royal Albert Hall, London – RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.18 - Philharmonia Orchestra , Hugo Rignold, conductor, Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, London, 13 & 14 August 1955 – 73:32

Benno Moiseiwitsch was one of the most popular and best-loved of all concert pianists of his generation. Born in and trained in Russia and in Vienna, he made his home in London during World War I, dying there at the age of 73 in 1963. He had a wide repertoire, and was particularly noted for his interpretations of the music of his close friend, Serge Rachmaninoff, as well as championing much music by British composers.  This very important issue contains three performances from 1955. Many admirers of the music of Delius consider this to be the finest performance of his Piano Concerto in C minor, recorded at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 1955, and conducted by Moiseiwitsch’s long-term musical companion Sir Malcolm Sargent – a reading of considerable insight and sensitivity.  Also on the disc are Moiseiwitsch in two of Rachmaninoff’s most popular works for piano and orchestra – the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, also from that year’s Proms season, and similarly conducted by Sargent, and the Second Piano Concerto, the HMV Studio recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Hugo Rignold, taped a month earlier.

GHCD 2326 Benno Moiseiwitsch (1890-1963) - DELIUS: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - BBC Symphony Orchestra - Sir Malcolm Sargent- Recorded ‘live’ at the Proms – 13 September 1955 - Royal Albert Hall, London  - RACHMANINOV: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Introduction – Variation I – Theme – Variation II to XXIV - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Recorded ‘live’ at the Proms – 8 September 1955, Royal Albert Hall, London – RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.18 - Philharmonia Orchestra , Hugo Rignold, conductor, Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, London, 13 & 14 August 1955 – 73:32

Benno Moiseiwitsch was one of the most popular and best-loved of all concert pianists of his generation. Born in and trained in Russia and in Vienna, he made his home in London during World War I, dying there at the age of 73 in 1963. He had a wide repertoire, and was particularly noted for his interpretations of the music of his close friend, Serge Rachmaninoff, as well as championing much music by British composers.  This very important issue contains three performances from 1955. Many admirers of the music of Delius consider this to be the finest performance of his Piano Concerto in C minor, recorded at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 1955, and conducted by Moiseiwitsch’s long-term musical companion Sir Malcolm Sargent – a reading of considerable insight and sensitivity.  Also on the disc are Moiseiwitsch in two of Rachmaninoff’s most popular works for piano and orchestra – the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, also from that year’s Proms season, and similarly conducted by Sargent, and the Second Piano Concerto, the HMV Studio recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Hugo Rignold, taped a month earlier.

 GHCD 2325 Barbirolli - Russian Favourites
Rimskij-Korsakov – Capriccio Espagnol, 20 December 1953 – Lyadov – The Enchanted Lake, 23 December 1953 – Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake – excerpts, 17 October 1950 - Romeo & Juliet 13 June 1957 - 'Marche slave'  April 1959 – 67:13

Since his sudden death in 1970, the reputation of the great British conductor
Sir John Barbirolli has grown, aided by a series of broadcast recordings which were never available during his lifetime. We can now appreciate many of the qualities which marked him out as a conductor of the front rank, and this new anthology of his performances with the Halle Orchestra from the 1950s demonstrates Barbirolli’s genius anew in a collection of some of the most popular Russian orchestral works of all time. Here is music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Anton Liadov and no fewer than three works by Peter Tchaikovsky, all given deeply sympathetic and virtuosic performances in admirable sound to make a highly desirable record.

GLCD 2324 Sergei Aleksandrovich Koussevitzky (1874 – 1951) -  Volume II - Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 5 in D major Mussorgsky – A night on the bare mountain, Prelude – Khovanschina, Tchaikovsky – Fantasy – Francesca da Rimini – Live Recordings 1943-1948 – Boston Symphony Orchestra – 78:35

The Russian-born conductor Serge Koussevitsky was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over 35 seasons, beginning in 1924, during which time he raised the stature of thee orchestra to a position of international pre-eminence.Apart from his championship of the Russian repertoire, Koussevitsky’s interests were very wide: he commissioned and premiered many works by American composers, and was also a great champion of British music. It is therefore with considerable pride that Guild presents the American premiere performance of Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony conducted by Koussevitsky, a performance that all admirers of both composer and conductor will wish to study. This very well-filled CD also contains three works by Russian composers: a thrilling performance of Mussorgsky’s Night on the bare mountain, and a beautifully lyrical account of the same composer’s Khovanschina Prelude, alongside a truly memorably version of Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, to make an important album which all lovers of great conducting will wish to own.

 GHCD 2323 WITOLD MALCUZYNSKI

WITOLD MALCUZYNSKI:CONCERTOS by CHOPIN & RACHMANINOFF
Frederic Chopin: Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor Opus 21
Serge Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor Opus 30
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Paul Kletzki

Recorded at EMI’s No 1 Studio in Abbey Road in 1946 and 1949 respectively, these two magnificent accounts of Piano Concertos by Chopin (No 2) and Rachmaninoff (No 3) are amongst the most sought-after of all recordings by the legendary Polish virtuoso Witold Malcuzynski.  They were also the two most significant Concerto recordings by Malcuzynski which did much to establish his name throughout every continent in the years immediately after World War II. 

The famous full-price English Columbia 78rpm sets of these performances have long been sought by connoisseurs, and this disc marks their first appearance on CD. The original recordings have been lovingly transferred to enable collectors today to enjoy the masterly pianism of one of the greatest Chopin interpreters of the 20^th-century. - 65:11

GHCD 2322 - ARTUR RODZINSKI (1892-1958)  conducts Dmitri Shostakovich SYMPHONY No 8 in C minor Opus 65 (1943) –-  Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York live recording - October 1944  - 59.06

The great Polish-born conductor Artur Rodzinski (1892-1958) was one of the most charismatic transcontinental conductors during the twenty-five years from 1933-58.
A brilliant pianist and conductor, he was Stokowski’s choice as assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Three years later, Rodzinski became chief conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in 1933 chief conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. Ten years later Rodzinski was appointed chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, when this historically vital recording of Shostakovich’s monumental Eighth Symphony was made in 1944, not long after conductor and orchestra had given the US premiere of this war-time Soviet masterpiece. It is therefore a document of the highest significance, and this modern digital transfer marks the first time this performance has ever been issued on disc.

GHCD 2321 Koussevitzky
SERGE KOUSSEVITSKY AND THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Live recordings 1943-1948
Richard Strauss: Don Juan Opus 20
Bela Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra – December 30^th 1944       
Igor Stravinsky: Ode – Elegiac chant WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE  - October 8^th 1943
 Weber: ‘Oberon’ Overture - 74.58

 This disc enshrines performances of considerable historical significance – the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra (commissioned by Koussevitzky) is of the second performance of this masterpieces, and Stravinsky’s Ode (similarly commissioned by Koussevitzky) is of the world premiere itself.  The brilliance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra – which Serge Koussevitzky had fashioned since 1924 – is demonstrated in superlative fashion in Richard Strauss’s Don Juan and in Carl Maria von Weber’s overture Oberon

GHCD 2320 Barbirolli at the Proms

Sir JOHN BARBIROLLI AT THE PROMS – Music by Haydn and Brahms  Haydn: Overture and aria from ‘The Creation’Joseph Galliver (tenor) Brahms: Symphony No 1 in C minor Opus 68Halle Orchestra Live at the ‘Proms’ Royal Albert Hall London August 1954 - 55.30

Although Sir John Barbirolli was famous for his interpretations of a wide range of repertoire, among the least-appreciated aspects of his programming was the championing of the music of Josef Haydn, at a time when the composer’s works were far less well-known than they are today. From a fascinating Henry Wood Promenade Concert, given by the Halle Orchestra under Barbirolli’s inspired leadership, we have extracts from Haydn’s The Creation alongside Brahms’s mighty First Symphony, which Barbirolli never recorded commercially with ‘his’ Halle Orchestra.  This CD captures this well-loved conductor at his most inspiring.

PAUL KLETZKI conducts Symphonies by BRAHMS and SCHUBERT
Brahms: Symphony No 4 in E minor Opus 98
Lucerne Festival Orchestra – recorded 1946
Schubert: Symphony No 8 in B minor D759
Philharmonia Orchestra – recorded 1946 – 65:44

These two famous recordings established the young Polish-born conductor Paul Kletzki on the world stage in the years immediately following the end of World War II. Both were recorded by English Columbia in 1946. Kletzki deputised in the Brahms symphony for Wilhelm Furtwangler – then still banned from conducting – and made such an impression that he was immediately engaged to come to London and record at Abbey Road with the newly-formed Philharmonia Orchestra. 

Both symphonies were originally issued on 78rpm discs and declared to the world that a new and important conductor had arrived.  The playing from both hand-picked orchestras is superb, and the original recordings have been lovingly transferred so that – for the first time on CD - today’s music-lovers can recapture the excitement and deeply musical qualities that characterised Kletzki’s performances.

Symphony No.2 in C Minor "The Resurrection"
RoyalConcertgebouw Orchestra - Holland Festival July 12th 1951

This concert has been previously available on different labels for some years but never in this sound, nor with the original occasion recreated by inclusion of the broadcast commentary in Dutch and German as well as the stupendous ovation accorded Ferrier, the others and Klemperer at the conclusion. The decision to issue the broadcast arose after careful comparison was made to the sonics of all previous issues; the original broadcast sound was sufficiently better that we decided it had to be published. Includes a generously illustrated booklet with extensive articles about Mahler, about the symphony and about Ferrier’s relationship to Mahler’s music as well as a comprehensive biography about this great singer. Produced as a Ferrier Memorial, all royalties due the Immortal Performances Archive to be contributed to the Ferrier Cancer Fund.
GHCD 2210