Few singers have fused words and music as eloquently as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and few sopranos have proved more radiant in Strauss. All this makes her the ideal protagonist in the composer’s final opera, his ingenious and engaging ‘conversation piece’ on artistic themes. Schwarzkopf is joined by a cast of superlative stature and style and by a conductor intimately identified with the works of Strauss, Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

It is perhaps the songs of Hugo Wolf that most closely define Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s subtle art as a recitalist. At the Salzburg Festival in 1953 she marked the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in a memorable collaboration with Wilhelm Furtwängler, who – having conducted her frequently in opera and oratorio – here became her accompanist. As the producer Walter Legge wrote: “We must be grateful that this extraordinary occasion was recorded not only for us but also for posterity.”

Jerome Hines, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Franco Corelli star in this recording from La Scala of Handel’s “Eracle” (Hercules) recorded live on the 29th December 1958.

In its scale and gravitas, Otto Klemperer’s interpretation of the St Matthew Passion draws on the Bach performance style that developed in the 19th century; but its clarity, its underlying energy, and its superb array of soloists – singers with impeccable operatic credentials – also ensure that full justice is done to the drama of Bach’s sublime retelling of the Gospel story.

The sublime and moving culmination of Richard Strauss's love affair with the soprano voice, the Vier letzte Lieder are interpreted by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf with insight, wisdom and gentle radiance. In the early years of his career George Szell was mentored by Richard Strauss himself, and he provides Schwarzkopf with an exquisitely sensitive orchestral context for all sixteen songs in this classic anthology.

The most comprehensive edition devoted to Gioachino Rossini marking his 150th anniversary.
Born in 1792, Rossini was the most popular opera composer of his time. Although he retired from the Opera scene in 1829, he continued to compose in other genres, including sacred music, piano and chamber works. He did gather his late works under the ironic title Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), which veils a true collection of masterworks.

Beethoven thought the libretto immoral, Wagner thought it trivial. It was Herbert von Karajan’s mentor and inspiration, the composer and conductor Richard Strauss, who brought Mozart’s Così fan tutte back centre stage in the early years of the 20th century, since when this exquisite, witty and subtly disturbing exploration of sexual politics has become one of Mozart’s best-loved works. The present set preserves one of its most admired recordings, originally released in the autumn of 1955 on the eve of the bicentenary of Mozart’s birth. Gramophone described it as a ‘superlative issue’, perfectly staged for the microphone with an ideal cast and conducting and playing of the finest quality. ‘Listening with friends in my music room’, wrote the critic Alec Robertson, ‘gave the impression that by some miracle the opera was being performed there to a scale proportionate to its size, enabling us to savour the exquisite music, without any of the usual distractions.’