Koeckert quartet on Spotify Bruckner Wolf Dvorak and Egk

For many years now I go sheep shaving in the eastern part of the Netherlands. In a village called Rheden there is a market with shavers, crafts and second hand stuff. On that market (note, fully dressed in shavers clothing) I found this LP on the market; the German Koeckert quartet on the Deutsche Gramophon label . It was a fascinating 1952 performance, one of the first recordings of this piece. To my surprise, DG also uploaded a transfer on Spotify, so you can also enjoy this performance, together with a couple of other recordings of the Koeckert Quartet that are on-line. 

Enjoy the selection! 

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

String quintet in F-major WAB 112 (1878-79)

with Georg Schmid on viola

Recorded 1952

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)

Italian Serenade (1887)

Recorded 1951, issued on 45 RPM single

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

String quartet in F major op 96 “American” (1893)

Recorded 1953

Werner Egk: (1901-1983)

La Tentation de Saint Antoine (1945)

This work is written after 18th Century verses and tunes set for Contralto, String Quartet and String orchestra.

Janet Baker, Contralto

Koeckert-Quartet,

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Werner Egk, Conductor

Recorded 1965

Rudolf Koeckert (1913-2005), violin

Willi Buchner (1910-1965), violin

Oskar Riedl (1912-2008), viola

Josef Merz (1911-Still alive??) cello

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/5Ojla7TzyIbRuI2IkKc3ku

(Spotify Webplayer link)

Carl Schuricht radio recordings (part 1 - 20 CD's)

Ok, normally I don’t buy CD’s anymore. But this 20 CD set was on my “omg I want to have this” list for several years. Also important, it was sold for a staggering 12 euro’s at a local CD shop. 

The box is dedicated to the German born (Gdansk, now Poland) Carl Schuricht (1880-1967), a name I knew from the many Musical Masterpiece Society LP’s he made. Although the orchestra’s on those LP’s are often not top class, Schuricht always knows how to get a crisp and lively performance from those sources. That same quality can be heard on this box with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, radio recordings from the period 1950-1966. These radio recordings were the backbone of what German radio listeners on the radio, and for many (south)German people their first contact with classical music. The repertoire ranges from the standard repertoire to unknown, 19th and early 20th century Austro/German repertoire. From Arkiv I borrowed the tracklist of this box. Normally, the playlists on this blog are not that lengthy (assuming you want to listen to the playlists :-) so I added a hint where on the list the CD’s could be found.

Hope you will enjoy this splendid box as much as I did…! 

Tracks: 01 to 08 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 10/24/1952 (33: 24). SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2 10/31/1959 (36:20) 

Tracks: 09 to 13 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 Maria Stader (sop); Marga Höffgen (alt); Murray Dickie (ten); Otto Wiener (bs); 9/13/1961 (64:24). Coriolan Overture 9/25/1952 (8:07) 

Tracks: 14 to 19 BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 3/16/1966 (41:30). Schicksalslied SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart; 1/26/1954 (15:07). Nänie SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart; 1/25/1954 (13:22) 

Tracks: 20 to 26 BRAHMS Ein Deutsches Requiem Maria Stader (sop); Hermann Prey (bar); SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart; 11/7/1959 (68:12) 

Tracks: 27 to 30 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 4/5/1955 (69:03) 

Tracks: 31 to 34 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 5 10/18/1962 (72:54) 

Tracks: 35 to 40 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 3/6/1953 (60: 04). WAGNER Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod 4/29/1950 (18:18) 

Tracks: 41 to 44 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 8 3/10/1954 (79:45) 

Tracks: 45 to 47 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 11/2/1951 (56: 00) 

Tracks: 48 to 53 GRIEG Im Herbst Concert Overture 12/2/1954 (11:21). BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 Hansheinz Schneeberger (vn); 9/15/1960 (25:11). GOETZ Violin Concerto Roman Schimmer (vn); 4/10/1953 (16:39). VOLKMANN Richard III Overture 9/12/1952 (13:23) 

Tracks: 54 to 64 HAYDN Symphony No. 100 4/8/1958 (22:27). Cello Concerto in D Enrico Mainardi (vc); 11/5/1950 (27:08). Symphony No. 95 4/5/1955 (19:52) 

Tracks: 65 to 92 MAHLER Symphony No. 3 Rut Siewart (mez); SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart; Boys’ Choir of the Eberhard-Ludwig-Gymnasium Stuttgart; 4/7/1960 (66:40) R. STRAUSS Ein Alpensinfonie 1/4-7/1955 (45:32) 

Tracks: 93 to 106 MOZART Symphony No. 35 7/4/1956 (16:53). Symphony No. 38 7/4/1956 (23:05) Symphony No. 40 5/19/1961 (23:23). No, no che non sei capace K 419 Ruth-Margret Pütz (sop); 4/9/1959 (4:23). Le Nozze di Figaro: “Porgi, amor” Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (sop); 4/6/1959 (4:18). Die Zauberflöte: “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön” Fritz Wunderlich (ten); 4/12/1959 (4:15) 

Tracks: 107 to 112 MOZART Piano Concerto No. 9 Clara Haskil (pn); 5/23/1952 (30:17)” Piano Concerto No. 19 Clara Haskil (pn); 7/4/1956 (27:17) 

Tracks: 113 to 125 VON REZNICEK Theme and Variations Barry McDaniel (bar); 12/2/1954 (17:17). R. STRAUSS Guntram: Overture 3/20-23/1956 (11:16). PFITZNER Käthchen von Heilbronn: Overture 1/20/1956 (12:26). REGER Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart 11/5/1950 (31:45) 

Tracks: 126 to 134 SCHUMANN Manfred Overture 9/14-15/1960 (11:22). Overture, Scherzo, and Finale 9/21/1954 (16:09). MENDELSSOHN Hebrides Overture 1/4/1955 (10:06). Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage 3/10/1961 (12:27). Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture, Nocturne, and Scherzo 1/26/1954 (21:46) 

Tracks: 135 to 141 WAGNER Parsifal: Act I Prelude 3/17/1966 (12:31). Parsifal: Good Friday Music 9/23/1954 (9:49). Parsifal: Act I Prelude 3/17-19/1966 (5:30). Tristan und Isolde: Act I Prelude 4/29/1950 (18:18). Götterdämmerung: Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey 9/28/1955 (11:10). Götterdämmerung: Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March 9/28/1955 (7:12) Siegfried Idyll 9/28/1955 (17:20) 

Tracks: 142 to 150 MAHLER Symphony No. 2 Hanni Mack-Cosack (sop); Hertha Töpper (alt); SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart; Bach Choir Stuttgart; 4/17/1958 (45:43) HAYDN Symphony No. 86 5/20/1954 (25:26) 

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/7iRpka7cnjT2kMlMGCNLSG

(HTTP link)

Jaap van Zweden on Spotify

A fine and critically acclaimed Bruckner 6, superb partnership in Beethoven’s Spring sonata, a we-have-to-get-in-to-it-but-then-sparkle Brahms horn-trio and a Magnificent Mahler 5 is what we have for you, this time. Central figure in these performances is Violinist and Conductor Jaap van Zweden.

He started his career with a remarkable step; in 1979, at the age of 19, he became the youngest concertmaster ever of the Concertgebouworchestra. While performing this function, he also maintained a soloist and chamber music career. In 1986, van Zweden put his first outings as a conductor on record which *in short* led him to his present day partnership with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

The Arts desk wrote about the performance of the Brucker 6 recording:
Listen to this disc several times and you’ll fall in love with this symphony…
Seconded. this is a fine version of Bruckner’s most accessible symphony. 

Ronald Brautigam is now a renown fortepiano player, but don’t forget he’s an excellent „modern” pianist as well. His 1980’s partnership with Jaap van Zweden is shown here in a recording of Beethoven’s Spring sonata, where the joy of playing chamber music together jumps out of every page the play. 

Jacob Slagter was the principle horn player of the Concertgebouworchestra from 1985 till 2007 and he joins in with van Zweden and Brautigam in Brahms’ horn trio. After a cautious start, the performance starts to shine at the end of the first movement, and really takes off in the Scherzo. 
They keep that energy till the end of the work…

Last but not least a magnificent live Mahler 5, recorded in the Royal festival hall, 2008. An outstanding Mahler Fifth in a field crowded with great ones!

Anton Bruckner - Symphony no 6 in A major.
Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden, conductor.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata for piano and violin no 5 in F major „Spring”
Jaap van Zweden, violin
Ronald Brautigam, piano

Johannes Brahms - Horn trio in  op. 40
Jacob Slagter, Horn
Jaap van Zweden, violin
Ronald Brautigam, piano

Gustav Mahler - Symphony no 5 in c# minor
London Philharmonic orchestra, Jaap van Zweden, conductor
Live 2008




http://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/1ZeXE5FgmXjKtdlBf3ebqB (HTTP link)