Ida Haendel (1928-2020) was one of the violin legends of the 20th century, a true individual whose seven-decade performing career reached back to the golden age of violin playing. This collection brings together concertos by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, Khachaturian and Bartók, all of which Haendel played during the years leading up to 1967 under the baton of Hans Müller-Kray and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart. These recordings are among the most valuable treasures in today’s SWR archive.

Sir Roger Norrington was chief conductor of the former Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (today the SWR Symphonieorchester) for thirteen years. During that time he caused an international stir with what came to be known as ‘The Stuttgart Sound’, a synthesis of historically-informed performance practice with the technical capabilities of a modern orchestra. Whether in Mozart, Haydn, Bruckner or Brahms, Norrington sought to capture the performance experience of the time, adjusting the orchestra’s size and seating plan to create an authentic sound without vibrato. In these reissued recordings of Bruckner symphonies, Norrington and the SWR present the human face of a composer whose image in the public mind has sometimes been reduced to that of someone in a quasi-religious retreat. Bruckner’s symphonies, however, were distinctly secular works written with the Musikverein Vienna in mind. They describe journeys, nature and birdsong; there is dance music, humour, unexpected drama and pauses. In his entirely individual style, albeit with subtle influences of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Wagner, Bruckner conjures memories of his youth, from playing violin at village weddings to the sounds of the St Florian organ loft.

Gulda, a brilliant master of rhythm, uncompromising Bach interpreter and jazz musician, is in the best keeping with Chopin. Works by Chopin appear in Gulda’s concert programmes from quite early on. His secret in playing Chopin with so much vitality? It is the inimitable mix of rhythmic strictness, most cantabile tenderness and controlled outbursts of emotion. Although he would become one of 20th-century music’s most capricious rebels - as in love with the free spirits of jazz as with the living monuments of classical - pianist Friedrich Gulda (1930–2000) was born and bred in that most traditional of musical cities, Vienna. He studied theory with the late-Romanticist Joseph Marx at the Vienna Academy of Music, and he won the Geneva International Pianists' Competition at age sixteen, eventually earning a reputation for the rare blend of cogency and freedom within his interpretations of music from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Ravel and Debussy. His most notable recordings included both books of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and the complete sonatas and concertos of Beethoven (in 1954 and 1966).

While composers like Schumann and Brahms held fast to the classical concept of the symphony, it was composers of the New German School, such as Wagner and Liszt, who preferred the tone poem as a modern means of expression for orchestral music. It tries to convey non-musical topics, like legends, tales, myths, and sometimes novels, in musical terms: programme music in its best sense. Strauss’ boisterous self-confidence allowed him the conviction that a different ‘formula’ would enable him to roll out his musical imagination with inimitable style. His success in doing so has ensured the popularity of these works to the present day.

The music journalist Peter Cossé said about 14-year-old shooting star Robert Neumann: “His interpretations prove without a doubt that he is an exceptional talent, and more than that: a precociously gifted musician in the best sense.”
As winner and award-winner of numerous national and international competitions Robert Neumann (born in 2001) was awarded the International Classical Music Discovery Award 2017. In 2018 the jury of the editorial department music of the broadcasting corporation Südwestrundfunk chose him to be the “SWR2 New Talent”. For three years he is being promoted by the SWR – with concerts, studio productions and a strong media presence that intends to show his versatility: as a pianist, composer and passionate improviser.