Music.... The Universal Language I (10 CDs)

We're talking the mid-1950s when Germany was working her fingers to the bone and trying to reconcile herself with a huge collective guilt. Musical standards were uncommonly high and DG's chosen selections attest to the highest levels of care and devotion. Rehearsals were plentiful, stretching to 22 hours spread over six days for Igor Markevitch's Berlin Philharmonic "Symphonie fantastique". Few versions have married temperament and formal argument as successfully, the sudden rushes of adrenalin used to intensify rather than distort Berlioz's endless melodic lines. Some of these recordings have been hugely influential, Furtwängler's passionate yet malleable Schumann No. 4 for example. Jochum's Mozart is supplemented by his deeply devotional and occasionally raging Bruckner Ninth, while in addition to Berlioz, Markevitch offers us perceptive early Schubert (the sorrowful opening of the Fourth is unforgettable) and Bizet's witty suite "Jeux d'entfants". There's a slowbreathing Beethoven Second under Kurt Sanderling, a stolid pairing of Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 and a beefy Brahms Second from Karl Böhm, and a thoughtful trio of Haydn symphonies (Nos. 44, 94 and 98) under Ferenc Fricsay. But the gem of the collection, where pondered musicianship and painstaking preparation reach the same exalted goal, is Fritz Lehmann's selection from Schubert's "Rosamunde" . . . It's style through and through – as music, performance and presentation, a superb production, hopefully to be followed by a second volume.

Record Review / Rob Cowan, Independent (London)

• Franz Joseph Haydn - RIAS Symphonie-Orchester - Ferenc Fricsay
  Symphony No. 44 in E minor ("Trauer" /"Funeral"/"Letter E"), H. 1/44
• Franz Joseph Haydn - RIAS Symphonie-Orchester - Ferenc Fricsay
  Symphony No. 95 in C minor, H. 1/95
• Franz Joseph Haydn - RIAS Symphonie-Orchester - Ferenc Fricsay
  Symphony No. 98 in B flat major, H. 1/98
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Eugen Jochum
  Symphony No. 36 in C major ("Linz"), K. 425
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Eugen Jochum
  Symphony No. 33 in B flat major, K. 319
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Eugen Jochum
  Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K. 543
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Leningrad Philharmonic - Kurt Sanderling
  Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Vienna Symphony Orchestra with Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter - Kurt Sanderling
  Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Karl Bohm
  Symphony No. 5 in C minor ("Fate"), Op. 67
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Karl Bohm
  Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
• Franz Schubert - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Symphony No. 3 in D major, D. 200
• Franz Schubert - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Symphony No. 4 in C minor ("Tragic"), D. 417
• Franz Schubert - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Fritz Lehmann
  Rosamunde, Fürstin von Cypern, incidental music, D. 797 (Op. 26)
• Franz Schubert - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Fritz Lehmann
  Die Zauberharfe, melodrama, D. 644 Ouvertüre
• Franz Schubert - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Michael Raucheisen - Fritz Lehmann
  Ständchen ("Zögernd, leise"), for alto, chorus & piano ("Notturno"), D. 920 (Op. posth. 135)
• Hector Berlioz - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Symphonie fantastique for orchestra ("Episode de la vie d'un Artiste…en cinq parties"), H.48 (Op. 14)
• Georges Bizet - Lamoureux Concert Association Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Jeux d'enfants (Children's Games), pieces (12) for piano, 4 hands, Op. 22 1. Satz: Marche, Trompette et Tambour
• Georges Bizet - Lamoureux Concert Association Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Jeux d'enfants (Children's Games), pieces (12) for piano, 4 hands, Op. 22 2. Satz: Berceuse, La poupée
• Georges Bizet - Lamoureux Concert Association Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Jeux d'enfants (Children's Games), pieces (12) for piano, 4 hands, Op. 22 3. Satz: Impromptu, La toupie
• Georges Bizet - Lamoureux Concert Association Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Jeux d'enfants (Children's Games), pieces (12) for piano, 4 hands, Op. 22 4. Satz: Duo, Petit mari, petite femme
• Georges Bizet - Lamoureux Concert Association Orchestra - Igor Markevitch
  Jeux d'enfants (Children's Games), pieces (12) for piano, 4 hands, Op. 22 5. Satz: Galop, Le bal
• Robert Schumann - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Wilhelm Furtwangler
  Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120
• Franz Joseph Haydn - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Wilhelm Furtwangler
  Symphony No. 88 in G major ("Letter V"), H. 1/88
• Johannes Brahms - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Karl Bohm
  Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
• Max Reger - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Karl Bohm
  Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart for orchestra, Op. 132
• Anton Bruckner - Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Eugen Jochum
  Symphony No. 9 in D minor ("Unfinished"), WAB 109 (various versions)
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