Charles Mackerras - Shostakovich, Scriabin, Dvorák (1962) [2016]

Mackerras and the Polish Radio SO at Edinburgh 1962: Music from beyond the Iron Curtain

Superb live stereo recordings, previously unissued

Although this stereo concert recording, complete with full announcements, was made by the BBC at the Edinburgh Festival of 1962, it was never broadcast in the United Kingdom. Instead it would appear that it was one of a handful of recordings which were instead pressed onto vinyl and sent to radio station(s) in United States for broadcast there. It is not clear how many copies of each disc were made, nor to where they were sent - or indeed how they were financed. What we do know is that the three discs which made up this broadcast were clearly marked "expires 3.9.66" and probably should have been destroyed after use. Happily they fell instead into the hands of a collector who was able to preserve them for posterity and, finally now, release.


The recordings were of course very well made, and have been very well preserved, and my interventions as a result have been unusually minimal. This brings Charles Mackerras to Pristine for the first time, captured at a point in his stellar career when the BBC's accompanying notes could still describe him as "the brilliant young conductor".

Andrew Rose


Tracks:

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9
SCRIABIN Piano Concerto
DVORÁK Symphonic Variations

Personnel:

Paul Badura-Skoda, piano
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Charles Mackerras, conductor