West Hill Radio Archive
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Sviatoslav Richter’s Boston Debut
first release of the complete concert from the original broadcast tapes
Sviatoslav Richter (piano)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch
Richter and his accompanists are elegant and airy as well as noble, with the pianist offering a curtailed version of the longest cadenza option. The slow movement has a rapt, meditative quality... —
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Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, K620
Laurel Hurley, Lucine Amara, Brian Sullivan, Theodor Uppman, Roberta Peters, Jerome Hines, George London, Paul Francke
Bruno Walter
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Arrau in Boston: Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5
Claudio Arrau (piano)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, Pierre Monteux
Arrau at his most direct and committed, with any hints of earthbound stolidity transfigured by the pianist's warm tone and the Boston Symphony's joyful playing. —
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Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527
Cesare Siepi (Don Giovanni), Eleanor Steber (Donna Anna), Jan Peerce (Don Ottavio), Lisa Della Casa (Donna Elvira), Fernando Corena (Leporello), Giorgio Tozzi (Il Commendatore), Theodor Uppmann (Masetto), Roberta Peters (Zerlina)
Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Karl Böhm
Despite poor sound, there are attractions in the all-star cast, notably Siepi, the Don Giovanni of his day, but Böhm's Mozart style now seems outdated. —
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3 CDs
$34.50 -
This WHRA set is a splendid one. The sound quality is good while the documentation is fully up to the label’s usually high standards. As for the music-making, well the quality of that is quite... —
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Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72
Two legendary performances from the New York Met, 1941 & 1951
February 22, 1941 broadcast: Kirsten Flagstad (Leonore), René Maison (Florestan), Julius Huehn (Don Pizarro), Alexander Kipnis (Rocco), Marita Farell (Marzelline), Karl Laufkoetter (Jaquino), Herbert Janssen (Don Fernando). March 10, 1951 matinee broadcast: Kirsten Flagstad (Leonore), Set Svanholm...
Two live Met versions (1941 and 1951) of Beethoven's opera show little diminution in the power of Flagstad's Leonore and Walter's conducting. Good sound. —
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Mozart: Don Giovanni & Le Nozze di Figaro
Ezio Pinza (Don Giovanni), Rose Bampton (Donna Anna), Charles Kullman (Don Ottavio), Jarmila Novotná (Donna Elvira), Alexander Kipnis (Leporello), Norman Cordon (Il Commendatore), Mack Harrell (Masetto), Bidù Sayão (Zerlina), Ezio Pinza (Figaro), Bidù Sayão (Susanna), John Brownlee (Il Conte Almaviva),...
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Jussi Björling Live
Broadcast Concerts 1937-1960
Jussi Björling (tenor), Eleanor Steber (soprano), Licia Albanese (soprano), Anna-Lisa Björling (soprano), Bidú Sayão (soprano), Renata Tebaldi (soprano)
Björling recorded [Lensky's aria] many times but never, I think, so poignantly as here. As a prologue to this year's centenary celebrations the album is a worthy offering and this track an especially... —
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4 CDs
$41.25 -
Arrau with Szell: Live from Carnegie Hall
Claudio Arrau (piano)
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, George Szell
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2 CDs
$34.50 -
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Beverly Sills (Lucia), Alfredo Kraus (Edgardo), Gian-Pero Mastromei (Ashton) & José Nait (Arturo)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Colón, Juan Emilio Martini
The amazing thing about her Lucia is not so much the way she sings it, though that has moments of incandescent beauty, but the way she manages to make a living, breathing creature of the unhappy... —
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2 CDs
$19.00
