This new title from Medici Arts features legendary conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, filmed during the summers of 1977 and 1978. Featured works include Rimksy-Korsakov’s Sheherazade; Georg Frederic Handel’s Concerto in D Major; Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite; and Wolf-Ferrari’s Overture to Il segreto di Susanna.

Ormandy, who shared the podium with Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia for two years before he took over as its sole music director in 1938, built on Stokowki’s accomplishments and brought the orchestra to an even greater level of polish. Ormandy remained with the orchestra as music director until 1980, after which he continued as conductor-laureate. He died in 1985. It has been said that Ormandy felt more at home with Romantic and post-Romantic repertoire; the “Philadelphia sound” that he created-which is well-represented on this DVD- beautifully serves the lush, sophisticated orchestrations of composers like Glinka, Strauss, and Rimsky-Korsakov.
 

Herbert VON KARAJAN
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 “Choral”
Anna Tomowa-Sintow • Agnes Baltsa • René Kollo • José Van Dam •
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Berliner Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan, conductor
Recorded live at the Philharmonie, Berlin, 31 December 1977
EuroArts 2072408
UPC: 880242724083

In 2008 the musical world observes the 100th birthday of one of the most widely respected performers of the past century.
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