Joseph Keilberth Keilberth: The Telefunken Recordings, 1953-1963 (22-CD)

20th July 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the German conductor Joseph Keilberth. His name is perhaps not so widely remembered as some of his contemporaries, but he was an important figure in the musical life of Germany in the mid-20th century and has sometimes been described as the true successor to Wilhelm Furtwängler. The artist - The distinguished German conductor Joseph Keilberth (1908-1968) was a close contemporary of such figures as Herbert von Karajan and Rudolf Kempe. - His career focused largely on close and durable relationships with specific German musical institutions, not least the Berliner Philharmoniker. This is reflected in this 22-CD collection. - Keilberth was born in Karlsruhe in 1908, where his father was an orchestral cellist. He also became a cellist. - In 1925 he joined the Badisches Staatstheater as a repetiteur, becoming the opera company's music director 10 years later. In 1940, at Willhem Furtwängler's recommendation, he went to Prague (under German occupation since Spring 1939) to become music director of the Deutsches Philharmonisches Orchester. - In 1945 he returned to Germany and the shattered city of Dresden, where as music director of the Sächsische Staatskapelle he played a significant role in rebuilding post-war cultural life. - 1946 marked the start of Keilberth's long relationship with the Bamberger Symphoniker; many of its members were German musicians who had returned from Prague. - He also became music director of theStaatskapelle Berlin(1948-1951) andPhilharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg(1950-1959). As a guest conductor he appeared 120 times with the Berliner Philharmoniker. - In opera he was especially admired in Wagner, most notably at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1959 he became Bavaria's General Music Director, a role centred on the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. - From the 1940s to the 1960s he was contracted to the German label Telefunken. The items in this collection were recorded between 1953 and 1963. In the studio he liked to take the longer view – for instance re-recording an entire movement rather than simply ‘patching'. - Keilberth died aged just 60, having suffered a heart attack while conducting a performance of Tristan und Isolde in Munich (20th July 1968). Repertoire - This collection of orchestral music reflects Keilberth's authority in Austro-German/Central European music. It ranges from Mozart and Haydn to Strauss and Reger (including his Ballet Suite, the work in this box with the most ‘rarity value') by way of Beethoven, Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Bruckner, Smetana, Dvorák, Grieg and Johann Strauss II. Performers - The orchestras that feature in the box were all closely associated with Keilberth: o Bamberger Symphoniker o Berliner Philharmoniker o Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg o Bayerisches Staatsorchester Remastering - Items not previously released on CD marked with * in track list below have been specially digitally remastered for this ICON set.