Wiener Philharmoniker & Simon Rattle – Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Op. 67 (Remastered) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 31:57 minutes | 298 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor of Ludwig van Beethoven, Op. 67, was written between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in classical music and one of the most frequently played symphonies, and it is widely considered one of the cornerstones of western music. First performed in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterward. E. T. A. Hoffmann described the symphony as “one of the most important works of the time”. As is typical of symphonies during the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is in four movements.
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Christian Thielemann, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Bruckner: 11 Symphonies (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 11:11:19 minutes | 11,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Last Saturday, the Vienna Philharmonic announced the complete edition of recordings of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies with conductor Christian Thielemann at the Salzburg Festival as part of a press conference about their season highlights, which will be released on Sony Classcial on October 13.
“Anton Bruckner: 11 Symphonies” is the first complete recording of the symphonies of the Vienna Philharmonic under a single conductor – Christian Thielemann, who enjoys a close relationship with the world-class orchestra and has established himself as one of the most respected performers of the romantic Austro-German repertoire of his generation.
In addition to the well-known symphonies Nos. 1 to 9, the edition also contains the so-called “nullte” on 11 CDs, as well as the “Studiensinfonie”, as well as a 172-page booklet.
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral’ (1966)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:08:30 minutes | 696 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many critics and musicologists as a masterpiece of Western classical music and one of the supreme achievements in the entire history of music. One of the best-known works in common practice music, it stands as one of the most frequently performed symphonies in the world
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti – Wagner: Götterdämmerung (Remastered 2022) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 04:25:08 minutes | 10,07 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of Sir Georg Solti’s passing, Decca classics releases a brand new remaster of “The Greatest Recording Of All Time”, now sounding better than ever before! Remastered in HD sound at 24bit / 192kHz from the original two-track stereo master tapes, this is the first all-new transfer in over twenty-five years. Sir Georg Solti’s rendition of Wagner’s legendary Götterdämmerung was the first-ever stereo production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, still considered the benchmark today. “Here is the greatest achievement in gramophone history yet”, wrote Gramophone in 1965. For many, it still is
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Wagner: Siegfried (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:57:03 minutes | 9,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
There is perhaps no other musical ensemble more consistently and closely associated with the history and tradition of European classical music than the Vienna Philharmonic. In the course of its history, the musicians of this most prominent orchestra of the capital city of music have been an integral part of a musical epoch which due to an abundance of uniquely gifted composers and interpreters must certainly be regarded as unique.
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Strauss, Schubert & Others: Orchestral Works (Live) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:44:09 minutes | 2,11 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archipel
Clemens Krauss leads a collection of orchestras through a stunning programme of works from Richard Strauss, Franz Schubert, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, and Modest Mussorgsky. Archipel has lovingly remastered this legacy recording from its original analogue sources for high fidelity digital formats!
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – The Golden Ring: Great Scenes from Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:16:49 minutes | 2,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
This new 2022 remastering was done by Philip Siney, longtime sound engineer of Decca, & supervised by Dominic Fyfe, Decca Classics Label Director. Thanks to these new transfers and new, optimized remastering technologies, significant sound improvements could be achieved. For the first time, Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk can also be experienced in Dolby Atmos surround sound.
This hybrid SACD presents a selection of the highlights of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, with a dream cast and Sir Georg Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Wagner: Die Walküre (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:49:01 minutes | 8,63 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca
This memorable 1954 recording of “Die Walküre” was both the first complete studio recording of the opera, and the last studio recording made by Wilhelm Furtwängler, who would die less than two months later. The first review of the recording, in the September 1955 issue of The Gramophone described Furtwängler and the Vienna Philharmonic as “the bright particular stars of this performance, every department of the finest quality so [the opera] shines and glows with light and warmth under Furtwängler’s inspired direction”.
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Edward Gardner, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, English National Opera Chorus – Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage (Live) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 02:38:09 minutes | 1,54 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © London Philharmonic Orchestra
This is the first commercially available recording of Tippett’s first opera in over 50 years, recorded in a landmark performance conducted by Tippett enthusiast Edward Gardner. Performed at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, this performance was a thrilling start to Edward Gardner’s tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle – Beethoven: Symphony No. 4, Op. 60 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 33:52 minutes | 313 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Die Wiener Presse scheute keine Superlative nach den Beethoven-Konzerten aus dem Goldenen Saal des Wiener Musikvereins (im Rahmen der Festwochen 2002) und lobte die “”uberw”altigende Pr”azision”, “Leuchtkraft” und “idyllische Sch”onheit” der Interpretation. Doch Rattles Besch”aftigung mit Beethoven hat schon lange vor diesem Konzertzyklus angefangen, eine weltbewegende Dimension einzunehmen. Ich denke an die Gesamtaufnahme der Klavierkonzerte mit Alfred Brendel, die 1999 Furore machte und seitdem ein H”ohepunkt der stattlichen Beethoven-Diskografie darstellt. Auch der danach erschienenen CD mit Beethovens 5. Sinfonie hat Rattle sein unverwechselbares sch”opferisches Zeichen aufgedr”uckt. Bereits hier erhielt man eine Vorahnung dessen, was Rattle nun mit der Gesamteinspielung der Sinfonien hervorbringt: ein Paradigmen-Wechsel, eine sanfte Revolution unserer H”orsitten “uber diese sinfonischen Meilensteine des 19. Jahrhunderts.
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8 “Unfinished” (1979/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:49 minutes | 799 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Carlos Kleiber’s recordings are rare events, almost invariably worth the wait. This performance of the Unfinished is typical: direct, unfussy, superbly played, and unflaggingly intense. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have the Vienna Philharmonic as an eager participant in the process, contributing their customary warmth and inbred sense of style. The delightful Third Symphony gets taken out for a charming workout, with the second movement zipping along at a controversially fast speed. At midprice, this reissue offers excellent value, and it’s particularly nice to have the Unfinished featured as the major work. As Kleiber shows, it deserves the attention. -David Hurwitz
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra – Classical Slowed and Reverb Vol.1: Tchaikovsky (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 27:28 minutes | 264 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca (UMO) (Classics)
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; German: Wiener Philharmoniker), founded in 1842, is an orchestra considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. Selection involves a lengthy process, with each musician demonstrating their capability for a minimum of three years’ performance for the opera and ballet. After this probationary period, the musician may request an application for a position in the orchestra from the Vienna Philharmonic’s board.
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm – Beethoven: Symphony No.6 “Pastoral” – Schubert: Symphony No.5 (2015/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:09 minutes | 1,31 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
For many music lovers, this is the most purely beautiful performance of Beethoven’s most purely beautiful symphony ever recorded. The playing of the Vienna Philharmonic is the last word in gorgeousness-the woodwind chords chime with such purity that they practically glow with an inner light. But it’s not a self-indulgent interpretation at all: the storm rages as violently as anyone has a right to expect, and Karl B”ohm keeps the music moving along impulsively, always highlighting the symphonic strength of Beethoven’s musical argument. What makes the recording even more special is a Schubert Fifth with exactly the same qualities. Someone at DG clearly knows where the treasures are buried. A great disc. -David Hurwitz
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle – Beethoven: Symphony No. 8, Op. 93 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 25:56 minutes | 248 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Die Symphonie Nr. 8 F-Dur op. 93 ist Ludwig van Beethovens k”urzeste Symphonie. Nach den Vorst”ossen in vollkommen neue symphonische Gefilde besonders mit den Symphonien Nr. 3, 5 und 7 erscheint die Achte wie eine R”uckbesinnung auf ein klassisches Grundmodell und auf Haydn. Das kompakte Werk ist allerdings hochexplosiv und enth”alt neuartige Substrate, die f”ur das weitere Gedeihen der Gattung Wirkung zeigten. Viele Skizzen zum ersten Satz weisen auf eine urspr”ungliche Konzeption als Klavierkonzert hin. Irgendwann schwenkte Beethoven aber zur Symphonie um, die er haupts”achlich im Sommer und Herbst des Jahres 1812 komponierte. In Linz, wo sich Beethoven in Familienangelegenheiten wegen seines Bruders Johann aufhielt, begann er offenbar mit der Niederschrift der Partitur der weitgehend fertig skizzierten Symphonie. Jedenfalls findet sich auf der Originalhandschrift der Hinweis <>. …. Schon bevor Simon Rattle sein Einstandskonzert als Chef der Berliner Philharmoniker gab, sorgte er mit einem anderen Weltklasseorchester f”ur Schlagzeilen: Es war der Zyklus der neun Beethoven-Sinfonien, den er mit den Wiener Philharmonikern in Tokio, Berlin und – nat”urlich – Wien dirigierte. Rattle setzte damals im Mai 2002 Massst”abe mit dem traditionsreichsten Orchesterrepertoire “uberhaupt. Der Live-Mitschnitt erschien im M”arz 2003. Nach wie vor gilt dieser Zyklus, der jetzt im Budget-Segment wiederver”offentlicht wird, als Referenzeinspielung des neuen Jahrtausends
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Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle – Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, Op. 68 “Pastoral” (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:41 minutes | 412 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Beethoven’s Sixth evolves as an exploration of an unemphatic harmonic progression that embodies a feeling of calm. Beethoven employs this exploration in charting the broad structure of the symphony’s movements individually, and of the work as a whole. The first movement prefigures the aura of calm by drawing out harmonies over uncharacteristically long spans, spacious expanses of serene relaxation in which the ear is busied only by the surface details of fragmented melodies. So when the first movement returns to action after its opening phrase, it quickly stumbles into a sort of stuttering repetition. The same melodic fragment is repeated verbatim through ten measures, changed only by a swelling and then a diminishing of volume, with the bassoons reinforcing the texture at the loudest point. Similar repetitions appear elsewhere in the movement. The harmony can prove just as static as the melody. In fact, the first movement is practically devoid of dissonance-the spice of harmony-and even minor chords are nearly banished. Like a good recreation director at a summer retreat, Beethoven is forcing his audience to relax. The proceedings do not grow bland, however, thanks in part to the composer’s ingenious use of rhythmic dissonance, with conflicting groups of two and three notes overlapping in the same spaces of time.
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