Scherchen: Previously Unissued

Hermann Scherchen

Rondo en la majeur pour violon et orchestre D 438 (Schubert) / Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Ravel) / Petit Poucet (Ravel) / Laideronnette, impératrice des Pagodes (Ravel) / Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête (Ravel) / Le jardin féerique (Ravel) / Un survivant de Varsovie op. 46 (Schoenberg) / Water Music (concerto en fa majeur, n° 25) (Haendel) / Der glorreiche Augenblick , Op. 136 (Beethoven) / Don Giovanni (« Sagt, wo versteckt sich dieser Verbrecher ») (Mozart) / Jeux, ballet en un acte (Debussy) / Symphonie n° 2 en ut mineur, scherzo (avec coupures dans la partition) (Bruckner)

This year celebrates Hermann Scherchen's 120th anniversary, and for that occasion we are releasing this album that includes only previously unissued recordings (1945 to 1965). Scherchen (1891-1966) is an atypical case and certainly a unique case in the history of conducting because of his diversified and varied activities: in the first place, he was a conductor, of course, but also a composer, a pedagogue, a writer (he wrote three books the first of which, Das Lehrbuch des Dirigierens was published in 1929 and is still a handbook of conducting used today), an editor (Ars Viva), a philosopher, a consultant in acoustics, and a pioneer of the radio. He travelled all over the world following his leitmotiv: "alles richtig machen, alles hörbar machen" (do everything right, make everything audible). This set will try to highlight the importance of this man whom Xenakis defined "an active visionary... a star of first-class dimension" in the twentieth century.

Price: $29.98