Mahler, Wagner, Haydn & Brahms: Works for Orchestra

Featuring

Bruno Walter
Irmgard Seefried
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Chorus
Gustav Mahler
Richard Wagner

Joseph Haydn
Johannes Brahms

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Performer Biography

Leonard Bernstein, a renowned conductor, was so impressed by Bruno Walter's final studio recording of Mahler's First Symphony that he abandoned his own plans to record the work, exclaiming, 'It's his!'

Recording & Production

These recordings by Bruno Walter with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, made in 1955, are being released on CD for the first time.

Performer Biography

Bruno Walter, the conductor on this album, knew Gustav Mahler since 1894 and worked closely with him until Mahler's death in 1911, including serving as his assistant and first conductor at the Vienna Court Opera.

Composition History

Haydn's Symphony No. 96, known as 'The Miracle', gained its nickname from a belief that the audience at its 1791 premiere narrowly missed a falling chandelier, though recent research suggests this event happened at a later symphony's premiere.

Notable Performances

After Mahler's death in 1911, Bruno Walter was entrusted with the first performances of Mahler's Ninth Symphony and his orchestral song cycle Das Lied von der Erde.

Historical Context

Bruno Walter's 1955 appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra were part of the BBC's May Festival, an annual event featuring international-calibre concerts in London.

Composition History

Richard Wagner's A Faust Overture, featured on this album, was originally intended as the first movement of a symphony inspired by Goethe's drama, but Wagner revised it into a concert overture.

Carl Schuricht Edition

Carl Schuricht - The Collection

The Maestro

Bernard Haitink - The Philips Years

Alla Hornpipe. Beethoven: Choral Symphony - Handel: Water Music & Ombra mai fu - Wagner: Lohengrin & Tristan und Isolde - Mozart: Ave verum & Requiem - Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique