Karl Böhm - The Unreleased Berlin Recordings 1962 / 2LP The Lost Recordings

On 29 October 1962, Karl Böhm and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra gathered in the legendary Hall 1 of the radio station on Kaiserdammstrasse to give a masterly

performance of Brahms's Symphony No. 4 and Strauss's "Death and Transfiguration".

Brahms' Symphony No. 4 is one of the German composer's most colourful works and can be regarded as the final symbol of the Romantic symphony, in which he gives an

important role to the woodwinds and horns, especially in the second movement. In order to recreate as faithfully as possible the warmth of this outstanding performance, which

has been rediscovered after more than sixty years, The Lost Recordings team drew on the talents of the original Berlin recording engineers and several weeks of restoration work

by their own teams. The first and second movements were deliberately cut on two different sides to optimise the sound reproduction.

"Death and Transfiguration is one of the first tone poems by Richard Strauss to be included in this publication, a genre created by Liszt a few years earlier to give an orchestral work

historical or ideological significance. His real aim was to free himself from the formal constraints of the symphony by taking his inspiration from a non-musical theme. In this case, it is the

last hours of a dying artist, whose thoughts move between memories, suffering, joy and hope.

The stereo recording was made between 29 September and 1 October 1962 in Hall 1 of the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.

Title

LP 1

1. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

I. Allegro non troppo

II. Andante moderato

LP 2

2. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

III. Allegro giocoso

IV. Allegro energico et passionato

3. Richard Strauss

Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24