Pristine Classical

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Pristine's Winter Downloads Sale Starts Today - Save Up To 25% This week's Pristine Classical newsletter SEASON'S GREETINGS! THE PRISTINE WINTER 2023-24 DOWNLOAD SALE STARTS TODAY! Save 10% on download orders over €30 Save 15% on download orders over €100 Save 20

A little earlier than usual - this is now live on Pristine Classical. You wait 75 years, then three turn up at once, as they used to say about London buses...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOL2_ug5ouI

BOULT: MAHLER Symphony No. 5 (1947) - Pristine PASC709 MAHLER Symphony No. 5 5th Mvt. – Rondo – Finale. Allegro Sir Adrian Boult ∙ BBC Symphony Orchestra Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Tho...

This week we complete Carl Schuricht' Parisian Beethoven Symphony Cycle with perhaps the jewel in the crown - his 1958 stereo recording of the 'Choral' 9th Symphony, with a superb cast of soloists and an excellent choir joining the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra for the grand finale.

We also celebrate Sibelius's 158th birthday - today - with a special discount all week on each of 38 albums of his music at Pristine.

All this and more in this week's Pristine newsletter:

Pristine This Week: Schuricht's fabulous Beethoven Choral Symphony + we celebrate Sibelius This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Schuricht's Stereo Beethoven 9th Completing our Parisian Beethoven series with this 1958 gem! "Good to have this. I had the

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical we complete Schuricht's Parisian Beethoven Symphony cycle with this - probably the jewel in the crown:

SCHURICHT Beethoven Symphony No. 9 'Choral' (Paris, 1958) - Pristine PASC708 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, 'Choral'4th mvt. - Presto - Allegro Recorded 27-29 & 31 May, 1958Wilma Lipp, sopranoMarga Höffgen, contraltoMu...

It's her 100th birthday tomorrow - and we have this today!

MARIA CALLAS Lucia di Lammermoor (1959, stereo) - Pristine PACO207 "Il dolce mi colpi di sua voce!"DONIZETTI Lucia di Lammermoor - Act 3, Scene 1Maria Callas as Lucia, Philharmonia Orchestra/SerafinRecorded Kingsway Hall, Lo...

This week we bring you a double-CD of music by Max Reger, recorded in Holland by conductor Willem van Otterloo in Amsterdam and The Hague.

There are also five bonus tracks, the earliest of which was made a year before the composer's death, a 1915 solo violin recording by Efrem Zimbalist!

We also have a special set of Black Friday automatic discounts in force all week - find out more in this week's Pristine Classical newsletter:

At Pristine This Week: Otterloo conducts Reger - plus our Black Friday Special Offers! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Otterloo conducts Reger Plus our Black Friday Week sale begins! This week we return to the music of Max Reger, at one time

BLACK FRIDAY AT Pristine Classical has begun:

10% off CDs - 20% off downloads - 30% off Digital Music collections

Offer starts today, runs for one week - ends 1 December!

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Tomorrow at Pristine Classical we bring you a double-CD of Reger as conducted by Willem van Otterloo, with the Violin Concerto played by Georg Kulenkampff, together with the Mozart Variations and Romantic Suite - as well as five rare violin-related bonus tracks dating back as far as 1915!

REGER Violin Concerto - Kulenkampff (Otterloo, Amsterdam, 1944) - Pristine PASC707 REGER Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 1012nd mvt. - Largo con gran espressioneGeorg Kulenkampff, violinConcertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam conducted by Wi...

Perhaps best remembered for his operatic recordings, this week we present Erich Leinsdorf in two rare symphony recordings with what was *almost* the Philadelphia Orchestra, recorded in 1952 and remastered here for Pristine by Mark Obert-Thorn.

We have Brahms's Symphony No. 1 and the Franck Symphony in D minor, and both are well worth your curiosity!

We're also celebrating Benjamin Britten's 110th birthday on Wednesday 22 November with a special promotional discount on all our recordings of his music. All this and more in this week's Pristine Newsletter:

This Week: Leinsdorf's Philadelphia Symphonies - plus we celebrate Britten's 110th birthday This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Leinsdorf in Philadelphia Brahms and Franck Symphonies in this rare Philly outing! This week's release offers a rare chance

"With Karajan I always have to overcome some initial prejudice—I don’t mean prejudice before the music has begun, but after the first few phrases. I tend to feel that he is playing everything for effect, that he is making things larger than life, and so on. In the end I nearly always capitulate and humbly admit that I was wrong from the start, that he is a great conductor—of Richard Strauss, of Beethoven, of Debussy, Ravel, whatever it may be. I need hardly say, since he is conducting the Philharmonia, that the orchestral playing is superb. So is the recording." - The Gramophone, 1954

This week brings together two sets of Karajan's recordings of French music, from sessions with the Philharmonic Orchestra held in 1953 and 1958, in which superb playing, exemplary conducting and sumptuous recordings come together - fabulously remastered and sounding stupendously good - to make a superb release, just in time for the coming festive season.

We also celebrate Borodin's 190th birthday with a 20% discount on all our recordings of his music. All this, and more, in this week's Pristine newsletter:

This Week: Karajan excels in French music - and we celebrate Borodin's 190th birthday This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Karajan conducts French music Classic Bizet, Ravel and Chabrier recordings transformed! This week's release, featuring Herb

Tomorrow's irresistible release from Pristine Classical:

KARAJAN Bizet: Carmen Suite (1958) - Pristine PASC705 BIZET Carmen, Suite No. 16. Les toréadorsPhilharmonia Orchestraconducted by Herbert von KarajanRecorded January, 1958XR Remastered by Andrew RoseAvailable fr...

This week sees the penultimate volume in our series of Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Carl Schuricht in Paris in the late fifties, adding the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies to the first six already published.

But there's a surprise extra track here - a mono take of the opening movement of the Ninth Symphony that's more than three-quarters of a minute swifter than the published stereo version (to follow in Volume Five). Evidence of record company confusion or incompetence? Who knows!

We also celebrate the 130th anniversary of the death of Tchaikovsky with a special discount all week on some 90 albums of his music at Pristine. All this and more in this week's Pristine newsletter:

This Week: A surprise in Schuricht's Beethoven series - and we mark Tchaikovsky's 130th anniversary This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Schuricht's Beethoven Symphonies 7 & 8 Plus an unusual bonus track! This week's release - the fourth in our series of five

"Only a great character could hate and murder on this scale. And so in Medea’s superb arias (in which the orchestral parts are of great originality), in her recitatives, in her duet with Jason (in which the ’cellos play so remarkable a part in creating a sinister atmosphere), at all points, Callas gives the finest performance I have ever heard from her. At one or two moments, as in the first act aria “Dei tuoi figli la madre” (You see the mother of your children), she cannot make us forget the cruelly trying nature of the vocal part, but her voice is in splendid order, her attack magnificent: and she gives us some spine-chilling moments when she glories in the horrible death, by poison which burns the flesh off the body, that she has brought to Glauce and Creon, or when she cries to the Black Furies to come to her aid as she determines to kill her children." - The Gramophone

One of Maria Callas's signature roles, the titular Medea of Cherubini's opera, was one of her first stereo productions, and if Mercury's recording team weren't at their best in La Scala in 1957, this Pristine XR remaster strives to bring out the very best in this remarkable recording.

We also celebrate the 222nd birthday of Italian opera composer Bellini, with 22% off all our recordings of his music - all of which feature a certain Maria Callas!

All this and more in this week's Pristine Classical newsletter

This Week: Callas excels as Medea - and we celebrate Bellini's 222nd birthday This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Maria Callas in Cherubini's Medea One of her greatest roles - brand new XR remaster! Last week I dedicated much of this edi

Tomorrow, we have Maria Callas in one of her greatest roles...

MARIA CALLAS Cherubini: Medea (1957) - Pristine PACO206 ACT THREE: E che? Io son Medea!Medea - Maria CallasGlauce - Renata ScottoNeris - Miriam PirazziniGiasone - Mirto PicchiOrchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Mila...

Four short years after defecting from newly-communist Czechoslovakia, Rafael Kubelík would record this fabulous orchestral tribute to his home country - Smetana's "Má vlast" - with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

One of the earliest Mercury Living Presence recordings, it's been showing its age for quite a long time - but this fabulous Pristine Ambient Stereo XR remaster offers an opportunity to return to reassess this heartfelt performance from 1952.

We also commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of legendary cellist Pau Casals in 1973 with a special discount on all our Casals recordings. All this and more in this week's Pristine newsletter:

This Week: Kubelík conducts Smetana - and we celebrate Casals' 50th anniverary This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Kubelík conducts Smetana Landmark 1952 Chicago Má vlast recording revived! “The Mercury team, and the recording truck, made

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical some classic Kubelík...

KUBELÍK Smetana: Má vlast (Chicago SO, 1952) - Pristine PASC703 2. Vltava (Die Moldau)Recorded 4-6 December, 1952, Orchestra Hall, ChicagoChicago Symphony Orchestraconducted by Rafael KubelíkXR Remastered by Andrew RoseAv...

Last week it was Toscanini - so who better to follow that with tomorrow than...

FURTWÄNGLER Franck: Symphony in D minor (Vienna, 1945) - Pristine PASC702 3rd mvt. - Allegro non troppoVienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Wilhelm FurtwänglerRecorded Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, 28-29 January 1945XR remastered i...

"The electrical charge that both men put into the music is palpable; one can easily envision the NBC audience sitting on the edge of their seats. At the end of the movement, though directed not to applaud in the printed program, the audience breaks into a convulsive frenzy …" - Fanfare magazine

This 75th anniversary edition of Toscanini's 1948 NBC Symphony Brahms cycle begins with one of his greatest live recordings - the 1948 Piano Concerto No. 2 with Horowitz - as well as a stunning performance of the First Symphony and a marvellous Tragic Overture. The sound quality achieved here is nothing short of miraculous - it has to be heard to be believed!

We are also celebrating Verdi's 210th birthday this week with a full 20% off all our Verdi recordings. Find out all about this and more in this week's Pristine Classical newsletter:

This Week: Toscanini's 1948 Brahms Cycle - and we celebrate Verdi's 210th birthday This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Toscanini's 1948 Brahms Cycle - Volume 1 Complete 6-broadcast cycle in unprecedented sound quality starts here "In retrospe

"The electrical charge that both men put into the music is palpable; one can easily envision the NBC audience sitting on the edge of their seats. At the end of the movement, though directed not to applaud in the printed program, the audience breaks into a convulsive frenzy …" - Fanfare magazine

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical we begin an incredible-sounding 75th anniversary edition of Toscanini's 1948 Brahms cycle with this:

HOROWITZ/TOSCANINI Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 (1948) - Pristine PASC701 BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 832nd mvt. - Allegro appassionatoVladimir Horowitz, pianoNBC Symphony Orchestra - Arturo Toscaninilive broad...

"A really first-class performance of the Fifth" said The Gramophone magazine in 1959 of Carl Schuricht's Paris Conservatoire Orchestra recording, made by EMI in 1957.

This week we reach the mid-point of Schuricht's complete Beethoven symphony cycle and celebrate our 700th orchestral release with that Fifth, one of the highlights of the Classical music canon and of this recorded cycle - don't miss it!

We also celebrate Vladimir Horowitz's 120th birthday on Sunday 1 October with a special discount of all our Horowitz recordings all week.

All this and more in this week's Pristine Classical newsletter:

Schuricht's Beethoven 4 & 5 - Pristine's 700th Orchestral Release! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Schuricht's Beethoven 4 & 5 Pristine's 700th Orchestral Release! "What is perhaps most remarkable is how much Schuricht ant

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical, our 700th orchestral release features a "really first class performance" (Gramophone, 1959) of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, coupled with this:

SCHURICHT Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 (1958) - Pristine PASC700 4th mvt. - Allegro ma non troppoOrchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoireconducted by Carl SchurichtRecorded at Salle Wagram, Paris, September 19...

"Frederick Stock’s 37-year tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, from 1905 to 1942, is one of the longest in the history of American orchestras, yet he remains one of the least well known of the major conductors of his era. This may be partly due to his own lack of interest in PR, partly to Stock’s straightforward style of conducting. His recordings, however, demonstrate that while he may have lacked interpretive eccentricities or Stokowskian flamboyance, Stock’s performances are anything but dull. His role in building one of America’s finest orchestras deserves recognition, and Pristine’s projected series of all of his symphonic recordings (omitting the often-reissued concerto discs) will help to revive Stock’s reputation and bring the recognition he deserves." - Fanfare magazine

This week we bring you Volume 3 of our series of Stock conducting the Chicago Symphony, a release which neatly rounds up his pre-Great Depression recordings (recordings would not resume for a full nine years!), featuring a superb Mozart 40th as well as works by Glazunov, Goldmark, Strauss, Wagner, and a unique recording of Stock conducting Stock.

We also celebrate the 117th birthday of Shostakovich this week with a special discount on all our recordings of his music. All this and more in this week's Pristine Newsletter - click below to read it now!

Frederick Stock in Chicago: A Superb Mozart 40th and Much More! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony A superb Mozart Symphony No. 40 and much more! "Frederick Stock’s 37-year tenure a

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical we return to the Chicago Symphony and its longest-serving conductor, Frederick Stock, with a third volume in this best-selling series:

GLAZUNOV Les ruses d’amour - Stock/CSO (1929) - Pristine PASC699 GLAZUNOV Les ruses d’amour, Op. 61Ballabile des paysans et des paysannes Frederick Stock ∙ Chicago Symphony OrchestraRecorded 18 December 1929First issued on...

In 1932, Siegmund von Hausegger conducted two versions of Bruckner's 9th Symphony back-to-back with the Munich Philharmonic - the 1903 Löwe edition versus, for the first time, Bruckner's original (as prepared by Oder) - to gauge a particularly eminent audience's response. The clear winner was Bruckner's original score, and it quickly became the standard version for performances from then on.

Six years later Hausegger and his Munich orchestra recorded what for many remains a definitive interpretation of the composer's final symphony, and today we reissue this truly historic recording in a fabulously restored, Ambient Stereo XR remastering. It really does sound wonderful!

We also celebrate the birthday today of conductor Bruno Walter with a special discount on all 35 of our Walter albums. Found out more in this week's Pristine newsletter:

PRISTINE NEWS Hausegger's Truly Historic 1938 Bruckner 9 - plus we celebrate Bruno Walter's birthday! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Hausegger's Truly Historic 1938 Bruckner 9 Still one of the greatest interpretations in recorded sound The story behind thi

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical - a definitive Bruckner 9 from 1938 sounding amazing!

HAUSEGGER Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (1938) - Pristine PASC698 BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 in D minor2nd mvt. - Scherzo. Bewegt, lebhaft; Trio. SchnellMunich Philharmonic Orchestraconducted by Siegmund von HauseggerXR Remast...

"Five stars: A superior reissue of a first-rate but unjustly neglected Beethoven symphony cycle" - that'll be the headline in Fanfare Magazine when they publish a forthcoming review of the first two volumes of Beethoven Symphonies conducted in Paris by Carl Schuricht in the late 1950s.

This week we release the second of those two volumes - Symphonies 2 & 3 - in beautifully restored Ambient Stereo XR remasters. We also mark the birthday today of Antonín Dvořák, with a special automatic discount on all our recordings of his music, which appears on no less than 45 Pristine releases.

All this and more in this week's Pristine newsletter!

PRISTINE NEWS: Schuricht's Beethoven Symphonies 2 & 3 - plus we celebrate Dvořák! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Schuricht: Beethoven Symphonies 2 & 3 "perhaps the most delightful reading of that movement I’ve ever heard" Carl Schuricht

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical - Schuricht's brilliant Beethoven!

SCHURICHT/Paris Orch: BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 'Eroica' (1957) - Pristine PASC697 BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55, 'Eroica'2nd mvt. - Marcia funebre. Adagio assaiOrchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoireconduc...

This week we celebrate the 130th birthday of conductor and composer Anthony Collins with the release of a fabulous collection of music by Sibelius, recorded by Collins with the London Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras in the 1950s, and brilliant XR remastered in Ambient Stereo for this new issue.

There's also a 20% automatic reduction on all our Collins recordings for the week ahead. Have a read of this week's Pristine newsletter and discover why this is such an unmissable release!

This Week: Collins Conducts Sibelius' Orchestral Works, & We Celebrate Collins' 130th Birthday This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Collins conducts Sibelius' Orchestral Works Marking Collins' 130th birthday with a smorgasbord of Sibelius Last year we rel

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical we celebrate the 130th birthday of conductor/composer Anthony Collins with this new release!

COLLINS/LSO - SIBELIUS Night Ride and Sunrise (1955) - Pristine PASC696 SIBELIUS Night Ride and Sunrise, Op.55 A Decca recording, 2-3 June, 1955London Symphony Orchestraconducted by Anthony CollinsXR Remastered by Andrew RoseAva...

"Another fine recording of the [Brahms] Piano Quintet is that by Columbia of the Léner Quartet with Mme Loeser-Lebert as pianist ... The viola has recorded very finely in the second movement - the tone is magnificent. The invigorating Scherzo is played with plenty of verve, and is in fact the best of the movements in this performance." - The Gramophone, 1929

This week's release from Pristine is a double-CD set of recordings by the Léner Quartet playing string quartets by Dvořák and Smetana on the first disc before being joined by pianist Olga Loeser-Lebert for piano quintets by Dvorák & Brahms in a series of recordings made between 1926 and 1938.

Once again Mark Obert-Thorn brings his decades of experience and mastery of his transfer skills to produce a release of the finest possible sound quality for recordings some of which are beginning to approach their centenary - another remarkable achievement.

Don't forget there's less than 9 hours left of our super summer sale - all offers close at midnight tonight, Paris time!

This Week at Pristine: The Léner Quartet's String Quartets and Piano Quintets This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: The Léner Quartet's Brahms, Dvořák & Smetana String Quartets and Piano Quintets in superb new transfers Welcome back to Pri

A week later than planned, we're back tomorrow with a new release - and it's very, very good!

LÉNER QUARTET - DVOŘÁK Piano Quintet No. 2 (rec. 1930) - Pristine PACM122 DVOŘÁK Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 813rd Mvt. – Scherzo (Furiant): Molto vivaceOlga Loeser-Lebert (piano)Recorded 1-2 October 1930Léner String Quarte...

SUMMER CD SALE STARTS TODAY - ONE WEEK ONLY!

Discounts are automatic, and the more you spend, the more you save. You'll see the discount when you reach the checkout:

When you spend €30 or more - save 10%
When you spend €75 or more - save 15%
When you spend €200 or more - save 20%

(Discounts don't include shipping charges)

Offer runs until midnight (Paris time) Friday 18 August

There's a little over 36 hours left in this summer's Pristine Classical download sale!

As previously the discounts are automatic, and the more you spend, the more you save. You'll see the discount when you checkout.

When you spend €5 or more - save 5%
When you spend €30 or more - save 10%
When you spend €75 or more - save 15%
When you spend €200 or more - save 20%

Offer runs until midnight (Paris time) Friday 11 August

Meanwhile, "bathed in the sepia gloom of a Gothic churchyard although the score soon finds its way to other fields of conflict. Gathering and then boiling speed propels it as if a thing in flight, in fear and in torment. The Devil take the hindmost in a Lisztian pyroclastic flow"

Fritz Busch (conductor) In Stockholm (Pristine Audio) - MusicWeb International Fritz Busch conducting in Stockholm on Pristine Audio

"Callas displays herself at every moment of this opera a great artist of the gramophone, an interpreter who removes veils from our eyes, and a singing actress who, like all great singers of this century, transforms a gramophone from a wooden box into an experience" - The Gramophone, 1959

This week's release is Puccini's early success, "Manon Lescaut", with Maria Callas outdoing herself in the title role in a superb production conducted masterfully by Tullio Serafin. At the tail-end of the mono era, you can now enjoy this fabulous recording in Pristine's acclaimed Ambient Stereo XR sound for the very first time!

We also launch our Summer Downloads Sale - save up to 20% on all our downloads. Click below to see this newsletter for more on our sale - and so much more!

Maria Callas' Manon Lescaut: Classic 1957 Recording XR Remastered in Ambient Stereo - plus our Summer Download Sale begins! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Maria Callas's sublime Manon Lescaut Classic 1957 recording XR remastered in Ambient Stereo It seems this year has seen the

Tomorrow at Pristine Classical - Maria Callas excels!

CALLAS Puccini: Manon Lescaut (1957) - Pristine PACO205 Act 2: In quelle trine morbidePUCCINI Manon LescautStudio recording, 1957Manon Lescaut - Maria CallasChevalier des Grieux - Giuseppe di StefanoLescaut - Giul...

FLASH SALE - this week only:

Save €400 on our Digital Music Collection: was €1200, now €800!!

ALL 1145 Pristine albums in CD quality or higher on a pocket-sized drive - plus hundreds of extras! But be quick - sale ends midnight Paris time on Friday.

FLASH SALE - SAVE 33⅓!!! A full €400 OFF the PRISTINE Digital Music Collection!!! This week's Pristine Classical newsletter FLASH SALE RUNS UNTIL FRIDAY 33⅓ OFF!!! SAVE €400 on a Pristine Audio Digital Music Collection! The Pristine Audio Digital Music Collection (PADMC) is a 2GB

Joseph Szigeti - one of the finest violinists of the first half of last century - recorded extensively for Columbia in Europe. This fourth volume, concentrating on 20th century composers, concludes our 7-CD chronological series of these essential recordings - a real treat for violin lovers.

Keeping to the theme, we also celebrate the 103rd birthday of violinist Isaac Stern, with a special discount on all our recordings of his playing.

All that and more in this week's newsletter:

Violin special: Szigeti's Complete European Columbia Recordings - plus we celebrate Isaac Stern This week's Pristine Classical newsletter THE PRISTINE NEWSLETTER This week: Szigeti's European Columbia Recordings Brilliant violin recordings unveiled as we complete this 4-part series What a series