Recordings of such important music entities as the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan are always going to be of importance, and this set is no exception. It highlights a conductor in the twilight of his career with repertoire he was acutely familiar with, and had recorded many, many times. Japanese Esoteric label have produced to be the definitive issue of such recordings.

Hélène Grimaud, who has lived with the early D minor Concerto for decades, has called Brahms’s Op 15 ‘a piece I need to survive’. Indeed, she recorded it with that kind of urgency for Erato back in 1997 with Kurt Sanderling and the Staatskapelle Berlin, her passion making up for the lack in sheer power you’d find in accounts by the likes of Brendel or Pollini.

Pianist Martha Argerich and cellist Mischa Maisky perform compositional works by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann on this audiophile release. The reissue of classical music masterpieces by ESOTERIC has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound to improve sound quality. This series marks the first hybrid SACD release of historical recording selections that have been mainstays of the catalog since their initial release.