Otto Gerdes - Brahms: Symphony No.4; Wagner: Prelude to Act 1 of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, A Faust Overture, Rienzi Overture - Japan CD Limited Edition

Credits:

Otto Gerdes

Description:

Rare recordings by Otto Gerdes, the distinguished producer behind Karajan's golden years, conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker, in a new remastering. Outstanding sound quality, with two Wagner works included. Newly transferred from the original analogue master tapes held in the country of origin. Otto Gerdes, DG's celebrated producer and Karajan's right-hand man, made his first recording for the label as a conductor in 1961: Brahms's Symphony No. 4. This release brings together that recording, the Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger recorded with the same orchestra in 1963, and his final DG recording, two Wagner works with the Bamberg Symphony from 1971 - four works in all. The two Berlin Philharmonic items previously appeared on CD only as a bonus disc in the Korean "Karajan 60s" box released in 2011, making this a valuable first Japanese CD release. The Faust Overture has been issued on CD in Japan before, but the Rienzi Overture appears here for the first time on CD anywhere in the world. These rare recordings, scarcely ever reissued during the CD era, are presented in a new remastering to mark the centenary of Gerdes's birth and the thirtieth anniversary of his death. Gerdes originally trained as a conductor with Hermann Abendroth at the Cologne Conservatory and continued to conduct after joining DG. Recordings survive of him with the Czech Philharmonic for Supraphon and with the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. For DG he made a considerable number of recordings, including excerpts from Eugene Onegin and Otello sung in German, Dvorak's New World Symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wolf with the Vienna Symphony, a complete Tannhauser with Birgit Nilsson and Wolfgang Windgassen, and accompaniments for Pierre Thibaud. In November 1973 he visited Japan at the invitation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducting an all-Brahms programme that included the Fourth Symphony. It is a curious circumstance that he should have recorded Brahms with the Berliner Philharmoniker on his own account just two years after Karajan began recording for DG. The Berlin orchestra of that era still possessed a weighty, thoroughly German tone, and one hears the robust, powerful sonority so characteristic of DG's recordings. The Wagner with the Bamberg Symphony is equally spirited, confirming that Gerdes possessed no ordinary gift for conducting. For this reissue a new high-bit, high-sampling transfer (192kHz/24bit) was made from the original analogue master tapes held in the country of origin. A new introductory essay by Ryosuke Masuda is included, and the original sleeve designs are reproduced. Vintage+plus Vol. 29 comprises seven titles in all.