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George Szell, The Cleveland Orchestra – Schumann: Symphonies 1, 3 & Manfred Overture (2001)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 63:40 minutes | 2,99 GB
FLAC 2.0 Stereo (PS3 ISO extract / Weiss Saracon conversion) 24bit/88.2 kHz | 1,55 GB
Japan Import | Year: 1960, 2001 | Full Scans | 3% Recovery Info
These performances remain as great as ever, and the remastering is a source of wonder; if you don’t own these recordings, here’s a rare chance to correct the oversight. Take advantage of it while you can.
Magical and stunning music! You don’t have to spend a fortune going back to vinyl, these SACD versions of 50 year-old analog recordings contain all that warmth and transparency you’re looking for. It’s not about digital vs analog, it’s about superb reproduction qualities with no gimmicks or artificial studio effects.
Szell’s Schumann is a MUST for any serious listener of nineteenth-century music. These discs are not merely an essential addition to a collection: this is the only account of the Schumann symphonies you should have. So why Schumann? And why Szell?
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George Szell – Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Erika Morini and George Szell live (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:08:12 minutes | 671 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archipel
George Szell (/ˈsɛl/; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest conductors. He is remembered today for his long and successful tenure as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and for the recordings of the standard classical repertoire he made in Cleveland and with other orchestras.
Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over a respected if undersized orchestra, which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into “what many critics regarded as the world’s keenest symphonic instrument.
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George Szell – Stravinsky, Mozart & Schubert: Orchestral Works (Remastered 2023) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:27:44 minutes | 952 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archipel
George Szell (/ˈsɛl/; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century’s greatest conductors. He is remembered today for his long and successful tenure as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and for the recordings of the standard classical repertoire he made in Cleveland and with other orchestras.
Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over a respected if undersized orchestra, which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into “what many critics regarded as the world’s keenest symphonic instrument
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Robert Casadesus, George Szell – Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 26 & 27 (Remastered) (1963/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 59:33 minutes | 576 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Robert Casadesus plays Mozart: What Bach means for Glenn Gould, Mozart means for the French pianist Robert Casadesus. His Mozart shots continue to set standards.
Casadesus’ interpretations do not intrude on the listener, rather he lets Mozart’s fantastic music speak for themselves. Especially in the slow movements, his tasteful play with subtle dynamics and nuanced color design.
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Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell – R. Strauss: Sinfonia Domestica, Op. 53 (Remastered) (1964/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:29 minutes | 1,70 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Part of the wave of great Hungarian conductors who took over American musical life just before and after World War II (the others included Fritz Reiner, Antal Dorati, and Eugene Ormandy), George Szell quickly transformed a middling Midwestern orchestra into one of the nation’s Big Five. His cultivation of the Cleveland Orchestra set an example of discipline and hard work that gradually helped raise the standards of orchestras across America.
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Carlo Maria Giulini, George Szell – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. VIII – Annie Fischer plays Schumann – Leon Fleisher plays Beethoven (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:26 minutes | 383 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
The eighth disc in the series Lucerne Festival Historic Performances is dedicated to two piano icons: in 1960 and 1962, with two years between them, Hungarian-born Annie Fischer and the American Leon Fleisher made their debuts at Lucerne Festival. Released here for the first time in their entirety, these live recordings document them at the peak of their art.
Sviatoslav Richter called her a “brilliant musician”, accrediting her with “great breath and true depth”. András Schiff acknowledged: “I have never heard more poetic playing in my life.” Annie Fischer, born in Budapest in 1914, gave public performances even as a child, winning the International Liszt Competition in 1930 and after that, except during the war, touring worldwide. Nonetheless, she tends to be rated as an insider’s tip, not least because she left behind only a handful of studio recordings. That makes live recordings such as this, released for the first time, all the more precious: at her only performance in Lucerne in summer 1960, Annie Fischer realised a sensitive, chamber-like and exceptionally poetic reading of the Schumann Piano Concerto with which she “garnered unusually fervent success”, according to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. She found congenial musical partners in Carlo Maria Giulini and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Leon Fleisher made his Lucerne debut in 1962 at the age of 34: on the peak of his rapid career which had – as had been the case with Annie Fischer – catapulted him into musical life while he was still a child. However, only a few months after his Lucerne performance – released for the first time in its entirety – he developed focal dystonia, making the use of his right hand impossible. During the following decades, Fleisher became a specialist of the left-handed repertoire until, in his old age, he was once again able to play with both hands, thanks to new medical treatments. In Lucerne, he presented himself with one of his party pieces – Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto, which he played with an elegant and transparent tone. The Swiss Festival Orchestra was conducted by George Szell, with whom he had made a studio recording of the concerto one year previously – an interesting comparison. The second half of this concert, Brahms’ First Symphony, is already available in this series of Lucerne Festival Historic Performances and has been awarded the Diapason d’Or as well as a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).
The 32-page booklet in three languages provides extensive background information on Annie Fischer and Leon Fleisher, and also features photos from the festival archives of all artists involved, published here for the very first time.
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Bruno Belcik, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, George Szell – Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. III – George Szell conducts Dvorák & Brahms (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:21:04 minutes | 898 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Audite Musikproduktion
Rhythmic precision, formal awareness, absolute faithfulness to the work and razor-sharp orchestral control: George Szell (1897-1970) is seen as one of the great orchestral disciplinarians of the 20th-century, as a superior musical director and an uncompromising perfectionist: a reputation which he gained, first and foremost, during his 24 years as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, which he formed into one of the world’s finest ensembles. The musical roots of the Hungarian-born conductor, however, are in the ‘Old World’, and after the Second World War he was one of the first musicians in American exile to return to Europe for concerts.
During the ’50s and ’60, George Szell regularly appeared at Lucerne Festival. The concert recordings presented here, both of which are first releases, encompass two works central to his repertoire. In 1962, the ‘anti-romantic and master of precision’ (Harold C. Schonberg), alongside the Swiss Festival Orchestra, achieved a powerful and intensely determined interpretation of Brahms’ First Symphony: the transparently played, chamber-like middle movements are framed by outer movements full of suspense. In the summer of 1969, one year after the violent defeat of the ‘Prague Spring’, Szell was reunited with the Czech Philharmonic in Lucerne. He had worked with the orchestra as early as the 1930s during his tenure at the New German Theatre in Prague. His thrillingly energetic reading of the Eighth Symphony by Antonín Dvorák enthused the audience and critics in equal measure. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: “Szell’s art of expressive tempo modification, preparing, building towards and resolving formal and dynamic tensions was demonstrated to such an extent that the entire symphony, from the beginning, seemed to have been lifted onto a higher level”.
Both recordings demonstrate that Szell’s concert recordings are particularly appealing, thanks to his willingness to take risks, lively musical flow and heightened emotional content: in contrast to his perfectly balanced studio recordings.
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George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra – Live In Tokyo (1970) [Japanese Reissue 2000]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 83:39 minutes | Scans included (PDF) | 3,37 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included (PDF) | 1,62 GB
This 1970 concert, recorded live in Tokyo by NHK radio engineers, is the stuff of which legends are made. Already fatally ill with the cancer that would kill him two months later, George Szell led the orchestra he had nurtured since 1946 on a triumphant tour of the Far East, sharing the podium with Pierre Boulez, husbanding his strength, refusing to give in to increasing frailty and exhaustion. On the evening of May 22, he directed the program recorded here, and it remains arguably the single-most astonishingly perfect live performance ever captured by the microphones. This is all music that Szell conducted in the studio, and superbly well too. What, you already own those recordings? Never mind. The Oberon Overture has not been available in anything other than the Japanese Sony Szell Edition (in which this concert also features prominently), so its presence here is doubly welcome. The Mozart G minor Symphony should erase any notion of this conductor’s lack of flexibility. Yes, he was a severe disciplinarian, but his reputation tends to cloud people’s judgment (and clog their ears) when listening to the actual performances. This rendition thrives on subtle variations of pulse; Szell’s always-fresh way of introducing the upbeats to the principal theme whenever it returns offers one example, just as the unparalleled elegance (and yes, even playfulness) of phrasing throughout the slow movement provides another. Szell recorded a stellar Sibelius Second with the Concertgebouw for Philips, recently reissued in magnificently remastered sound. It has long been a version of reference for the work. This performance resembles the earlier one, interpretively speaking, but even the excellence of the Dutch orchestra cannot approach the ferocious virtuosity on display here. Start with the extraordinary energy and finely layered sonorities of the first movement’s central development section, and move on from there to the dazzling sectional interplay that ignites the second movement’s agitated climaxes (another classic example of Szell flexibly and fearlessly exploiting a huge range of tempo). By the time you reach the sizzling yet lighter-than-air strings in the scherzo (like Mravinsky/Leningrad at their peak, only with more colorful articulation), it should be clear that this performance sets a standard that remains unmatched to this day, technically and interpretively. Listen to the way Szell constructs the transition to the finale, and to its ideal mixture of Romantic expansiveness and structural solidity. The final climax rises out of the depths of the orchestra like a force of nature, a massive physical presence, and an incomparable musical experience. Berlioz’s Rákóczy March, the brilliantly played encore, is merely the icing on the cake.
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George Szell and Cleveland Orchestra – Grieg – Bizet – Mussorgsky (2001)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 76:02 minutes | Scans included | 3,07 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,48 GB
Originally Released in 1958 / 1963 / 1966 | Sony Classical
Sony Masterworks’ new “Expanded Edition” offers well-known recordings newly remastered using DSD technology, along with “bonus” material extending the playing time of the original LP (not the previous CD edition, if any), all at a very attractive price. The question for most collectors is a simple one: does it sound better? The answer, without reservation, is “Yes”–at least for this present issue, which offers Szell’s magnificent Pictures at an Exhibition, already well known from its Essential Classics incarnation…although Russian music was not an area in which Szell made his reputation, both he and the Cleveland Orchestra are on top form throughout. Sonically the performances feature a more open top, enhanced clarity, and richer bass than any previous edition, making this a truly first class experience on all counts.
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George Szell – Szell Conducts Two Musical Fables (Remastered) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:16 minutes | 799 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
This recording of the Kodaly Hary Janos suite is one of the greatest ever made, of any performance in the entire orchestral repertoire, in the history of mankind. The composition itself, the musical execution by Maestro Szell, as well as the technical aspect of recording, all utterly breathtaking.
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George Szell – Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Remastered) (1967/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 57:56 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Part of the wave of great Hungarian conductors who took over American musical life just before and after World War II – the others included Fritz Reiner, Antal Dorati, and Eugene Ormandy – George Szell quickly transformed a middling Midwestern orchestra into one of the nation’s Big Five. His cultivation of the Cleveland Orchestra set an example of discipline and hard work that gradually helped raise the standards of orchestras across America.
Read more
George Szell – George Szell Conducts Wagner (Remastered) (1966/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:35 minutes | 940 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Available for the first time on HighResAudio, this set from the Sony Classical Masters Series features George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in Wagner’s Overture.
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George Szell – Dvorák: The Slavonic Dances (Remastered) (1969/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:21 minutes | 1,49 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Brahms’s Hungarian Dances were the model for these Slavonic Dances by Antonín Dvorák. Brahms, however, was a German writing in the Gypsy style, while Dvorák composed using elements from his native land. Indeed, much of Dvorák’s work – including his symphonies, string quartets, and operas – has a folklike character. There are two sets of eight dances, and what’s most remarkable about them is their wide range of emotions. Sure, many of them are rollicking and boisterous, but there are also dances that are gracious, some that are nostalgic, and a few that are dripping with gorgeous melancholy. George Szell was actually born in Hungary, but he worked in Prague for a number of years and was a terrific conductor of Czech music. When this recording was made in the early 1960s, many players from the Cleveland Orchestra had emigrated from Central Europe and had this music in their blood; their collective affection is palpable in every note.
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George Szell – Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor (Remastered) (1966/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:22 minutes | 1,10 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Available for the first time on HighResAudio, this set from the Sony Classical Masters Series features George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 in D Minor.
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George Szell – Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 “Pastoral” (1962/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:26 minutes | 1,96 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
George Szell brings classical lightness and drive to Beethoven’s early symphony, all the while pointing up the composer’s daring formal and harmonic inventiveness. In the first-movement introduction Szell achieves authentic-performance-style clarity yet maintains a welcome solidity of orchestral tone (without becoming weighty) before springing zestfully into the allegro proper. Only the finale, although done with much finesse and polish, sounds a bit restrained compared to the quicksilver renditions of Harnoncourt and Gardiner.
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