Hans Rosbaud - The Complete recordings on DG
From a great conductor, performances that count among the best available
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Jean Sibelius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, Alban Berg, Sergey Rachmaninov, Anton Webern, Boris Blacher
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Original Masters
Magazine Review Date: 11/2004
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 320
Mastering:
Stereo
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 477 089-2GOM5

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Violin |
Symphony No. 92, 'Oxford' |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Joseph Haydn, Composer |
Symphony No. 104, 'London' |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Joseph Haydn, Composer |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5, 'Emperor' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Robert Casadesus, Piano |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 |
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Julian von Károlyi, Piano Munich Philharmonic Orchestra Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer |
Finlandia |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Jean Sibelius, Composer |
Valse triste |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Jean Sibelius, Composer |
Legends, 'Lemminkäinen Suite', Movement: No. 2, The Swan of Tuonela (1893, rev 1897 & 1900) |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Jean Sibelius, Composer |
Scènes historiques I, Movement: No. 3, Festivo |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Jean Sibelius, Composer |
Karelia Suite |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Jean Sibelius, Composer |
Tapiola |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Jean Sibelius, Composer |
Concertante Musik |
Boris Blacher, Composer
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Boris Blacher, Composer Gerty Herzog, Piano Hans Rosbaud, Conductor |
Petrushka |
Igor Stravinsky, Composer
(Royal) Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Igor Stravinsky, Composer Luctor Ponse, Piano |
(3) Orchestral Pieces |
Alban Berg, Composer
Alban Berg, Composer Hans Rosbaud, Conductor South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg |
(6) Pieces |
Anton Webern, Composer
Anton Webern, Composer Hans Rosbaud, Conductor South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg |
Agon |
Igor Stravinsky, Composer
Hans Rosbaud, Conductor Igor Stravinsky, Composer South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden and Freiburg |
Author: Arnold Whittall
The undoubted star turn here is the Concertgebouw Petrushka, recorded in 1962, the last year of Rosbaud’s life. At the right volume level (a bit higher than for most of the other works in the set) this offers as much colourful detail as the best recent versions, allied to a stunningly immediate feeling for the (melo)drama. It’s also superbly played. In comparison, the Baden-Baden recording of Agon, made in 1957 when the work was fairly new, is a bit more effortful, but still marvellously responsive to the score’s sheer strangeness of texture and form, as Stravinsky reinvented himself for the ‘post-tonal’ age.
Rosbaud was in his element with the strongly contrasted responses to Mahler found in the two Op 6 sets of orchestral pieces by Berg and Webern. The Webern is particularly fine, its predominantly delicate scoring offering less of a challenge to recording techniques in 1957. In Berg’s Op 6 there’s a certain artificiality in the way that soft instruments – the celesta, for example – achieve such remarkable prominence within the often turbulent, heavily orchestrated textures. Rather better in purely technical terms are the Sibelius recordings from the same year, made in Berlin. Not only do these manage the miracle of making one listen to Finlandia and the Karelia Suite as if for the first time – the Berlin brass in those days was world-beating – but there’s a rapt, absorbing account of Tapiola which must surely rank with the very best. Indeed, if the recording itself had a wider dynamic range it would be hard to argue that there was anything better.
Finally, DG puts us in its debt by reissuing for the first time since LP days two works by the now largely forgotten Boris Blacher. Both sparkle delightfully: Concertante Musik is a bit like German Milhaud, while the Second Piano Concerto sounds surprisingly similar to recent Ligeti in its witty play with scale patterns and shifting metres. As with most of these recordings the sound quality is excellent, natural and well-balanced – something one can’t always say about the newest releases.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.

Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.