Krauss,Clemens Complete Decca Recordings CD

The most comprehensive collection ever issued of Clemens Krauss's commercial legacy of recordings, newly remastered and presented as an original jackets limited edition. In Mark Obert-Thorn's new remasterings for this Eloquence box set, we can appreciate anew the genius for colour, pacing and timing which made Clemens Krauss the unrivalled conductor of his day in the music of Johann and Richard Strauss. He began recording for Decca in 1947 - three sessions of Brahms in London including a famous account of the Alto Rhapsody which found Kathleen Ferrier in glorious voice - allowing for less than eight years of activity in the studio before the conductor's untimely death from a heart attack in May 1954, hours after conducting a concert in Mexico City. In that time, however, Decca secured Krauss in much of the repertoire for which he was renowned as a peerless interpreter. A Richard Strauss series captured all the major symphonic poems except the Alpine Symphony, plus a complete Salome with Christel Goltz, and, for Polydor (Deutsche Grammophon) the rapturous final Trio from Der Rosenkavalier recorded in pre-war Berlin with his wife, the soprano Viorica Ursuleac, as the Marschallin. Unlike many later recordings, these are not performances which pull out the modernist strands in Strauss's form and harmony. Rather they place the composer in a lineage of lyricists and musical dramatists stretching back to Mozart. Strauss himself apparently regarded Krauss as the supreme conductor of his generation, supporting the younger man's rise to a succession of top jobs of 1930s and 40s Austria and Germany. During the war, Krauss founded the tradition of New Year's Day concerts in Vienna, and Decca capitalised on their popularity with three albums which have become touchstones of interpretation in the music of the Strauss family - 'by turns committed and distanced, never pasteurized or bent on proving anything', as Carlos Kleiber remarked of the Decca recording of Die Fledermaus, which became a library choice for the work as soon as it was released in January 1951. The trio of Beethoven concertos with Backhaus has also been a perennial favourite among collectors; much less familiar is the album of Leonore/Fidelio overtures which marked the premature end to Krauss's Decca career, charged with visceral intensity and elevated by needle-point rhythmic detail. Sleeves feature the original Decca covers and the booklet includes a survey of Krauss's remarkable life and times by Peter Quantrill.

1. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Overture - Leonore No. 1, Op. 138* 2. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Overture - Leonore No. 2, Op. 72a 3. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Overture - Leonore No. 3, Op. 72b 4. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Overture - Fidelio, Op. 72 5. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19 6. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 7. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor' 8. JOHANNES BRAHMS - Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 9. JOHANNES BRAHMS - Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80* 10. JOHANNES BRAHMS - Variations on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56a* 11. JOHANNES BRAHMS - Hungarian Dances Nos. 1 ; 3 (orch. Brahms)* 12. ANTON?N DVOR?K - Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 (B.83) Nos. 3, 5 ; 8* 13. RICHARD STRAUSS - Don Juan, Op. 20 14. RICHARD STRAUSS - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 15. RICHARD STRAUSS - Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 16. RICHARD STRAUSS - Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 17. RICHARD STRAUSS - Don Quixote, Op. 35 18. RICHARD STRAUSS - Symphonia domestica, Op. 53 19. RICHARD STRAUSS - Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - Suite, Op. 60 20. RICHARD STRAUSS - Aus Italien, Op. 16 21. RICHARD STRAUSS - Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28* 22. RICHARD STRAUSS - Tod und Verkl?rung, Op. 24* 23. RICHARD STRAUSS - Salome, Op. 54 24. RICHARD STRAUSS - Herod: Julius Patzak 25. RICHARD STRAUSS - Herodias: Margareta Kenney 26. RICHARD STRAUSS - Salome: Christel Goltz 27. RICHARD STRAUSS - Jochanaan: Hans Braun 28. RICHARD STRAUSS - Narraboth: Anton Dermota 29. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN - Overture - Fidelio, Op. 72* 30. RICHARD WAGNER - Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod (concert version) 31. RICHARD WAGNER - Parsifal: Karfreitagszauber (concert version) 32. RICHARD STRAUSS - Der Rosenkavalier: Hab mir's gelobt 33. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - Don Giovanni: Deh vieni* 34. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - Le nozze di Figaro: Se vuol ballare* 35. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - Le nozze di Figaro: Voi che sapete; Giunse alfin il momento à Deh vieni 36. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - Idomeneo: Se il padre; Non pi?, tutto ascoltai à Non temer, amato bene, KV 490 37. GIUSEPPE VERDI - Rigoletto: Caro nome; Tutte le feste à Ah, solo per me 38. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Die Fledermaus 39. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Die Fledermaus 40. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Der Zigeunerbaron 41. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Der Zigeunerbaron 42. JOHANN STRAUSS - G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald - Walzer, Op. 325 43. JOSEF STRAUSS - Die Libelle - Polka mazurka, Op. 204 44. JOSEF STRAUSS - Mein Lebenslauf ist Lieb und Lust! - Walzer, Op. 263 45. JOSEF STRAUSS - Jokey - Polka schnell, Op. 278 46. JOHANN STRAUSS II - ?ljen a Magyar! - Polka, Op. 332 47. JOHANN STRAUSS II - ?gyptischer Marsch, Op. 335 48. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Im Krapfenwald'l - Polka, Op. 336 49. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Vergn?gungszug - Polka, Op. 281 50. JOHANN STRAUSS II ; JOSEF STRAUSS - Pizzicato Polka 51. JOHANN STRAUSS II - K?nstlerleben - Walzer, Op. 316 52. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Fr?hlingsstimmen - Walzer, Op. 410 53. JOSEF STRAUSS - Dorfschwalben aus ?sterreich - Walzer, Op. 164 54. JOSEF STRAUSS - Moulinet - Polka fran?aise, Op. 57 55. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Morgenbl?tter - Walzer, Op. 279 56. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Ritter Pßsmßn - Csßrdßs, Op. 441 57. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Auf der Jagd - Polka schnell, Op. 373 58. JOSEF STRAUSS - Ohne Sorgen! - Polka schnell, Op. 271 59. JOSEF STRAUSS - Feuerfest! - Polka fran?aise, Op. 269 60. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Stadt und Land - Polka, Op. 322 61. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Perpetuum Mobile - Musikalischer scherz, Op. 257 62. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Bei uns z' Haus - Walzer, Op. 361 63. JOSEF STRAUSS - Sph?renkl?nge - Walzer, Op. 235 64. JOHANN STRAUSS II - An der sch÷nen blauen Donau - Walzer, Op. 314 65. JOSEF STRAUSS - Plapperm?ulchen - Polka schnell, Op. 245 66. JOSEF STRAUSS - Auf Ferienreisen! - Polka schnell, Op. 133 67. JOHANN STRAUSS II - Annen-Polka, Op. 117 68. JOHANN STRAUSS - Radetzky-Marsch, Op. 228