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One of the great unsung conductors of the 20th century, Graz-born Hans Rosbaud (1895-1962) was famous above all for his eloquent championship of new music, and composers from Schoenberg and Stravinsky through to such seminal post-war figures as Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen were unstinting in their praise of his tireless efforts on their behalf. Mozart, Bruckner and Sibelius were also Rosbaud-specialities--and he was a marvellous Mahler conductor too, as the present 1957 recording of the Seventh Symphony (hardly a repertory piece at the time) thrillingly confirms. Drawing a searingly committed response from his admirable Baden-Baden radio orchestra (of which he was chief from 1948 right up to his death), Rosbaud directs with an eagle-eyed intelligence and blistering concentration. Above all, he makes good symphonic sense of Mahler's phantasmagoric, astonishingly forward-looking inspiration; indeed, only a select handful of interpreters since have held together both outer movements with comparable iron grip and comprehensive emotional scope. The Wergo technicians have extracted maximum vividness from the excellently balanced mono tapes. An utterly compelling document that no die-hard Mahlerian can afford to be without. --
Andrew Achenbach
Product Description
Gustav Mahler - Sinfonie No. 7 (1905/05), CD
booklet writer: Häusler, Josef
conductor: Rosbaud, Hans
composer: Mahler, Gustav
orchestra/ensemble: SWF-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden
Publisher: Wergo
The CD-edition dedicated to one of the great conductors of our century will be continued by the historical recording of Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony. In 1948, Arnold Schönberg wrote in the "New York Times" about the Seventh: "A person who is able to study a score ... will see all those strokes of genius, which never are to be found in the works of composers of lower mastery. One will discover them on every page of this work, in every measure, in every succession of tones and harmonies."
Content:
- 1. Langsam - Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo
- 2. Nachtmusik I: Allegro moderato
- 3. Scherzo: Schattenhaft
- 4. Nachtmusik II: Andante amoroso
- 5. Rondo-Finale
