These recordings were all made in the mid-1950s in Cologne, where the great German conductor Otto Klemperer’s work for the local radio station was a key element in his career. His work with the orchestras of the Cologne radio station produced benchmark performances of Classical and Romantic works, some of which are featured here on recordings of public concerts.

Here is Klemperer in his element, for as he said himself, he needed the concert atmosphere “to be in top form”. This 4-CD set includes outstanding recordings of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Kindertotenlieder, Brahms’ Requiem, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony.

Contents:
CD 1:
BRAHMS - A GERMAN REQUIEM
Elisabeth Grümmer, Hermann Prey, Cologne Radio Choir, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
(20.02.1956)

CD 2:
MAHLER - SYMPHONY NO.4
Elfride Trötschel, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
(11.02.1954)
MAHLER - KINDERTOTENLIEDER
George London, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
(17.10.1955)

CD 3:
BEETHOVEN - MISSA SOLEMNIS
Annelies Kupper, Sieglinde Wagner, Rudolf Schock, Josef Greindl, North West German Radio Chorus, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra
(06.06.1955)

CD 4:
BEETHOVEN - SYMPHONY NO.9
Wilma Lipp, Ursula Boese, Fritz Wunderlich, Franz Crass, Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Wien, Philharmonia Orchestra
(07.06.1960)