On a superb-sounding SACD, Audite gives us Janáček’s string quartets performed by the Mandelring Quartet, whose Shostakovich cycle was so rewarding. The wrinkle here is that “Intimate Letters” (Quartet No. 2) is heard both in the familiar version and with viola d’amore substituting for viola. Janáček, infatuated with Kamila Stosslová, originally planned to employ this “instrument of love,” and its presence subtly modifies the effect of the piece.

The wonderful regional orchestras of Germany, from Bavaria, Dresden, and in the present case Cologne, broadcast a richness and intensity of expression that is sometimes skirted by the slicker high-voltage bands in Berlin, Vienna, and London. You can certainly hear it here, in these passionate and gutsy performances. It helps that the Cologne forces are led by the charismatic young Norwegian conductor Eivind Aadland, who was a violinist, and one of the last student of Menuhin, before turning his attention to the podium. This is Volume 1 of Audite’s projected set of five CDs of the complete orchestral music of Grieg, with these same forces, all derived from live broadcasts. I can’t say that there are any revelations in these readings, but they are immensely enjoyable, and the recorded sound is excellent, full-bodied, very even across the frequency spectrum, and very natural. The many solo appearances in the scores allow for demonstrations of the depth of the orchestra’s musicianship in a vivid way. The only times the performances seem lacking vis-à-vis the big boys is in the most virtuosic passages, most notably in the crescendo and accelerando of “Hall of the Mountain King,” but even here I prefer the earthiness of this reading to the slickness of Karajan, Ormandy, et. al. This is my new go-to album for these sturdy warhorses.

Celibidache, famously, was the conductor who didn’t make recordings; he was long a cult figure, though since he died in 1996 he has been, if anything, overexposed through reissued broadcasts. This collection has particular interest, both historical and musical. Celibidache conducted the Berlin Philharmonic from 1945, when Furtwangler was banished, to the beginning of Karajan’s tenure in 1952. It was still very much Furtwangler’s orchestra, though some things had changed, as a glance at the contents indicates: this is music banned by the Nazis and so new to Berlin audiences in 1948-50. (The three pieces by Heinz Tiessen, Celibidache’s teacher, were recorded for the RIAS in 1957). Celibidache was, like Furtwangler, a fundamentally subjective artist. In these early performances, the personal seems less significant than the social as the orchestra rejoices in the new liberal era. The Rhapsody in Blue is performed in the best sleazy-jazz Berlin manner reminiscent of Klemperer’s Three-penny Opera suite of an earlier day. By contrast the Hindemith seems mere cacophony as the spirit of the composer proves more elusive. The Tiessen works are middle-brow Teutonism that leaves one wondering what he could have done to run afoul of the Nazis. Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling’s piece is a pleasing homage to Bach; the Busoni concerto can be heard to much better advantage elsewhere. Harald Genzmer’s Flute Concerto is a neoclassical gem of the first water: I would very much like to hear more from this composer. The outstanding performance is Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Here one relishes the meditative qualities that made Celibidache a cult figure and an elfin grace and lightness that quite lift the spirit out of the body. Presumably this has more to do with the conductor’s relish for Buddhism than any feeling for Americana, but whatever the source, his gift for simplicity proves abundant. Anyone with a serious interest in Celibidache should seek this out. Audite’s production is first-rate, a far cry from the dismal pirated LPs where we first encountered Celibidache in the West. The orchestra is splendid. The conductor, the repertoire, and the epoch make this a historical reissue worthy of particular notice.

Does there still need to be special pleading for Grieg’s orchestral music? He has a clutch of ardent champions on record and, if anyone is still unconverted to the depth and worth of this music, Eivind Aadland and his Cologne forces are set to change their minds. This is a hugely enjoyable first volume in what promises to be an excellent survey.

Fine performances of familiar and less-familiar music are the hallmarks of these...

[...] After the Second World War, initially while Furtwängler was being de-Nazified, a brilliant young Romanian by the name of Sergiu Celibidache was a popular principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. Audite’s collection of his Berlin broadcasts (1948–1957), which are shared between the Berlin Philharmonic and Berlin RIAS orchestras, includes one or two surprises. What isn’t surprising is the distant drone of Berlin Airlift Dakotas that registers during the first CD (1948–49), which includes striking performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (broadly paced and grandly played by Gerhard Puchelt), Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole (full of dramatic contrasts in tone and tempo), Busoni’s Violin Concerto (with BPO concertmaster Siegfried Borries, a very earnest reading) and a fiery, Furtwänglerian account of Cherubini’s Anacréon Overture. Puchelt returns in the second disc for a superb reading of Hindemith’s often delicate Piano Concerto and Gustav Scheck is the accomplished soloist in Harald Genzmer’s wartime Flute Concerto, which echoes Hindemith’s distinctive style. Celi and the BPO offer a sensitive and surprisingly idiomatic account of Copland’s Appalachian Spring suite (you could easily be listening to, say, Mitropoulos and the New York Phil) and the last CD is mostly given over to music by Celibidache’s composition teacher Heinz Tiessen. His Second Symphony includes much that is both dramatic and musically memorable, especially the second movement, one of the set’s interpretative highlights. Tiessen’s Hamlet-Suite (with a “Totenmarsch” that seems to anticipate Kurt Weill) and Salambo-Suite are also included, as is the world premiere of Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling’s rigorous Introduction and Fugue for string orchestra. The sound is good and well-refurbished throughout (mastertapes were available). Audite has provided us with valuable insights into both the youthful art of a rostrum giant and the byways of German music in the early to mid-20th century.

Born in Vienna in 1904, Erica Morini started her career as a spectacular child violin prodigy. At the age of eight, she became the Vienna Music Academy’s youngest and first female student. Her 1916 Vienna debut in the Paganini Concerto was a sensation; her first American tour in 1920 included an appearance with the New York Philharmonic. Yet, though regarded as one of the finest violinists of her day, she became famous less as an artist than as the first woman violinist with a successful international career, an injustice she deplored and resented. She died in New York in 1995.

As her playing on this live 1952 recording shows, Morini's tone was singularly beautiful: pure and silken, with a focused vibrato, variable in color and intensity, and unfailingly expressive. Her technique was effortless and brilliant, her intonation impeccable—she never let her facility run away with her. An eloquent musician and distinctive personality, she combined a fiery temperament with sophistication, earthy robustness with tenderness and delicacy. The Tchaikovsky is lush, with many juicy slides, and very free: big tempo changes underline shifts of mood and character. Here, the orchestral sound is raucous and loud, and even Morini’s own is scratchy sometimes. Stylistically a child of her time, she makes the Baroque works equally romantic, but gives the virtuoso pieces irresistible charm.

Unfortunately, she made few records, which may explain why she is not as well known as she deserves. But these recordings showcase her many gifts.

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Ferenc Fricsay (1914–63) was a master of many musical styles but brought...

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