Lorin Maazel - The Unreleased Berlin Recordings

Lorin Maazel — The Unreleased Berlin Recordings

Recorded at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on Apri 15, 1980

180-gram mono 2LP 33 1/3 RPM limited to 3,000 copies!

Meticulously restored from original analog tapes

Lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio

Pressed by Phoenix Pressings

Tip-on gatefold jacket printed in Italy

"When I first discovered Maazel's recordings conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, I was completely captivated by his singular artistic choices, particularly in Beethoven's 4th Symphony. It is only at the end of the Finale, that the listener has the feeling of having experienced a unique reading, truthful and as inspired as it is organic. The version of La Mer sparkles with a thousand lights and one could not imagine more authentic Bartók. Maazel is definitely a conductor of the highest range and these recordings are simply fascinating." — Frédéric D'ORIA-NICOLAS, Musical Treasure Hunter

Many musicians feared Maazel's chilly authoritarianism, his inability to make concessions. Unfailingly demanding, he insisted that the orchestras show him blind obedience and that the boards in charge run operations smoothly. His temper was legendary.

But if he was demanding, it was first and foremost of himself. "Little Lorin," as the former child prodigy was known then, was first asked to lead a professional orchestra when he was nine years old and already a violin virtuoso. When he was eleven, Toscanini invited him to take the baton of the NBC orchestra in New York.

Maazel had phenomenal gifts. These, coupled with his sheer hard work and exceptional resilience, resulted in a career of 72 years that encompassed more than 7,000 performances with the most prestigious orchestras worldwide. His repertoire was seemingly boundless. During the 1960s and 1970s, when he was at the helm of the Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, Maazel proved himself to be a maestro of style, a magician of sound gifted with not only a perfect sense of line and color, but also infallible technique.

The Lost Recordings found these hitherto unpublished recordings, made in October 1969 in Studio 1 of Berlin Radio. Here Maazel's inspiration takes him to the very summit of refinement and expressive intensity.

 

LP 1

1. Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60

-I. Adagio-Allegro vivace

-II. Adagio

-III. Allegro vivace - Trio

-IV. Allegro ma non troppo

LP 2

1. Debussy: La Mer, L. 109

-I. De l'aube à midi sur la mer (From Dawn till Noon on the Sea)

-II. Jeux de vagues (Play of the Waves)

-III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea)

2. Bartók: Danse Suite, Sz. 77

-I. Moderato

-II. Allegro molto

-III. Allegro vivace

-IV. Molto tranquillo

-V. Comodo

-VI. Finale

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