by Daniel Hathaway
Are you a big George Szell fan? Do you have 88 hours you’d like to devote to binge listening? Do you have room on your shelf for over a hundred CDs weighing 12.4 pounds? Are you interested in exploring monophonic recordings that have never appeared in digital form? If so, you’ll be delighted to know that a boxed set of the complete recordings George Szell made for Columbia Masterworks will be released by Sony Classical on August 10.
The 106 discs preserve 92 recordings remastered from original analogue tapes, including Szell’s performances with The Cleveland Orchestra from 1946 through 1969, as well as his collaborations with the New York Philharmonic and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. Among the featured soloists are Robert Casadesus, Rudolf Firkušný, Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, Vladimir Horowitz, Rudolf Serkin, Zino Francescatti, Isaac Stern, Joseph Szigeti, Pierre Fournier, Leonard Rose and Judith Raskin.
In addition to performances of the Beethoven Symphonies that critics have declared the gold standard — and that cemented The Cleveland Orchestra’s international reputation — the discs chronicle Cleveland’s Mozart piano concerto cycle with Robert Casadesus, its Beethoven concerto collection with Leon Fleisher, the complete Schumann and Brahms symphonies, Szell’s Severance Hall Wagner collection from 1965, Dvořák’s complete Slavonic Dances and last three symphonies, the conductor’s famous readings of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth and Mahler’s Fourth, and his masterful performances of Richard Strauss, including Don Quixote with Pierre Fournier and the First Horn Concerto with Myron Bloom. Also included: Szell’s famous takes on waltzes and overtures by Johann Strauss, Jr. and family.
Szell and Rudolf Serkin rehearsing, 1948.
Among the 20th century works Szell championed are William Walton’s Second Symphony, Partita, and Variations on a Theme by Hindemith, and Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with John Browning.
Other tracks in the collection feature Szell as pianist (Mozart’s Quartets 1 and 2 with the Budapest Quartet) and as himself in extensive interviews.
The set can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. A listing of the complete contents follows.
DISC 1: Dvořák: Slavonic Dances · Smetana: String Quartet No. 1
DISC 2: Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 · Schumann: Symphony No. 4
DISC 3: Mozart: Symphony No. 39 · Haydn: Symphony No. 92 “Oxford”
DISC 4: Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 “Italian” · Hindemith · Strauss
DISC 5: Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
DISC 6: Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 · Weber | Casadesus
DISC 7: Schumann: Symphony No. 2
DISC 8: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Serkin
DISC 9: Bach · Handel · Tartini | Szigeti · Francescatti (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 10: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 24 & 26 | Casadesus (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 11: Dvořák: Piano Concerto · Tchaikovsky | Firkušný · Rose (New York Philharmonic)
DISC 12: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 · Schubert: Symphony No. 8
DISC 13: Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 88 & 104 “London”
DISC 14: Dvořák: Slavonic Dances
DISC 15: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 40 & 41 “Jupiter”
DISC 16: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 10 & 12 | Casadesus (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 17: Wagner: Orchestral Highlights from the “Ring”
DISC 18: Rachmaninoff · Franck · Delius | Fleisher
DISC 19: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 25 | Serkin (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 20: Brahms: Symphony No. 1
DISC 21: Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”
DISC 22: Schubert: Symphony No. 9 “The Great”
DISC 23: Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel · Don Juan · Tod und Verklärung
DISC 24: Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 97 & 99
DISC 25: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 18 & 20 | Casadesus (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 26: Tchaikovsky · Borodin · Rimsky-Korsakov · Mussorgsky
DISC 27: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Fleisher
DISC 28: Merry Overtures
DISC 29: Dvořák: Symphony No. 8
DISC 30: Walton: Partita · Mahler: Symphony No. 10
DISC 31: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 · Mozart | Fleisher
DISC 32: Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
DISC 33: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
DISC 34: Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
DISC 35: Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
DISC 36: Grieg・Schumann: Piano Concertos | Fleisher
DISC 37: Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
DISC 38: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 35 “Haffner”, 39 & 40
DISC 39: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 & 23 | Casadesus (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 40-41: Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1–4
DISC 42: Strauss: Don Quixote I Fournier
DISC 43: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Fleisher
DISC 44: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 | Fleisher
DISC 45: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5“Emperor” | Fleisher
DISC 46-47: Beethoven: Symphonies No. 9 “Choral” & No. 8
DISC 48: Stravinsky: L’Oiseau de feu · Walton: Symphony No. 2
DISC 49: Schubert: Symphony No. 8 · Haydn: Symphony No. 92
DISC 50: Mozart: Clarinet Concerto · Strauss | Marcellus
DISC 51: Wagner: Preludes
DISC 52: Mendelssohn · Bruch: Violin Concertos | Francescatti (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 53: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”
DISC 54: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 | Fleisher
DISC 55: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 26 & 27 | Casadesus (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 56: Bartók・Prokofiev: Piano Concertos | Serkin (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 57: Johann Strauss II & Josef Strauss
DISC 58: Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 “Italian” · Overtures
DISC 59: Debussy: La Mer · Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé · Pavane
DISC 60: Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 · Leonore No. 3
DISC 61: Smetana: The Moldau · Dvořák: Slavonic Dances
DISC 62: Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition ・ Liadov
DISC 63: Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 28 & 33 · Divertimento No. 2
DISC 64: Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 3 & 5 | Stern (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 65: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 20 | Serkin (Columbia Symphony Orchestra)
DISC 66: Mozart: Sinfonia concertante · Exsultate, jubilate
DISC 67: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 · Mozart: Symphony No. 41
DISC 68: Strauss: Sinfonia domestica
D|SC 69: Barber: Piano Concerto · Schuman I Browning · Rose
DISC 70: Brahms: Symphony No. 3 · Haydn Variations
DISC 71: Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
DISC 72: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 24 | Casadesus
DISC 73: Dvořák: Slavonic Dances
DISC 74: Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra · Janaček: Sinfonietta
DISC 75: Mahler: Symphony No. 4 | Raskin
DISC 76: Bizet: L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1 · Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
DISC 77: Bruckner: Symphony No. 3
DISC 78: Wagner: Preludes
DISC 79: Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 | Graffman
DISC 80: Beethoven: Overtures
DISC 81-83: Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 4 · Overtures
DISC 84: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 | Serkin
DISC 85: Mendelssohn · Schubert: Incidental Music
DISC 86: Rossini: Overtures
D|SC 87: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Serkin
DISC 88: Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 93 & 94 “Surprise”
DISC 89: Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis · Walton
DISC 90: Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 15 & 17 | Casadesus
DISC 91: Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik · Posthorn Serenade
DISC 92: Wagner: Great Orchestral Highlights from the “Ring”
DISC 93: Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Graffman
DISC 94: Kodály: Háry János Suite · Prokofiev
DISC 95-96: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
DISC 97: Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 95 & 96 “The Miracle”
DISC 98: Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 97 & 98
DISC 99: Mahler: Symphony No. 6 “Tragic”
DISC 100: Smetana: The Moldau · From Bohemia’s Fields and Groves (New York Philharmonic)
DISC 101: Wagner · Weber: Overtures (New York Philharmonic)
DISC 102: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral” (New York Philharmonic)
DISC 103: Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 | Horowitz (New York Philharmonic)
DISC 104: Mozart: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 | Budapest String Quartet
DISC 105: Mozart: Violin Sonatas K 296, 301, 304 & 376 | Druian
DISC 106: Christmas Melodies & Interviews
Published on ClevelandClassical.com July 24, 2018.
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