Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Clara Haskil, Robert Casadesus
Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor: Otto Klemperer, Dimitri Mitropoulos
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Audite
Catalogue: AUDITE95623
Release: 2013
Size: 214 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Romance
03. III. Rondo: Allegro assai
04. Applause
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ‘Emperor’
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Adagio un poco mosso
07. III. Rondo: Allegro
The launch of a new recording series from Audite: ‘Lucerne Festival Historic Performances’ provides a re-encounter with two outstanding pianists of the 20th century. In 1959 the leading Mozart performer, Clara Haskil, joined Otto Klemperer and his Philharmonia Orchestra to give a moving interpretation of the Piano Concerto in D minor (K466), which Haskil herself considered “unforgettable”, as she remarked in a letter.
Paired with Haskil’s Mozart is a live recording, by the French pianist Robert Casadesus, of Beethoven’s heroic Fifth Piano Concerto made in the summer of 1957. This live performance remains captivating thanks both to Casadesus’ radiant virtuosity, always at the service of musical content, and to the intense intimacy between conductor and soloist, which makes for a fascinating comparison with the studio recording of the same work which Casadesus, Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic released two years previously. Casadesus found congenial partners in Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Vienna Philharmonic. At the same time, the recording documents the Vienna Philharmonic’s first-ever appearance at the Lucerne Festival.
In cooperation with Audite, the Lucerne Festival presents outstanding concert recordings of artists who have shaped the festival throughout its history. The aim of this CD edition is to rediscover treasures – most of which have not been released previously – from the first six decades of the festival, which was founded in 1938 with a special gala concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini. These recordings have been made available by the archives of SRF Swiss Radio and Television, which has broadcast the Lucerne concerts from the outset.
Carefully re-mastered and supplemented with photos and materials from the Lucerne Festival archive, they represent a sonic history of the festival.