Karl Bohm recorded this work twice for Deutsche Grammophon – a 'live' recording in 1954, and this much rarer and much sought-after studio recording made in 1969 with a superb cast that included Hildegard Hillebrecht, Reri Grist, Jess Thomas, Tatiana Troyanos and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, which now receives its first international release on CD.

On 11 June 1944 Karl Böhm conducted Ariadne auf Naxos at the Vienna State Opera. It was, in his own words, 'despite the dark shadows cast by the war which was already long since lost, a feast for musical Vienna'. The occasion was the 80th birthday of Richard Strauss - which would have undoubtedly been celebrated throughout the whole world of music had it not fallen at that sombre time. For Strauss, however, the celebration performance in Vienna signified one of the triumphal high spots of a lifetime rich in successes and fame.

Collectors will be interested to learn that the set includes the notes that accompanied the original LP release, a synopsis and details of all the musicians who participated in the recording (including three members of the Koeckert Quartet).

"The DGG sound is as clear as crystal […] Hildegard Hillebrecht … pours forth powerful, heroic tone […] Jess Thomas is a robust Bacchus […] Reri Grist … is my ideal Zerbinetta, precise of rhythm and intonation, witty in phrasing and verbal inflexion, tough in attack yet delectably sensual in vocal quality, the whore of one's dreams, sweet and permissive and utterly natural, never calculating" - Gramophone, April 1971