The complete Westminster recordings by Artur Rodziński were made in London and Vienna from 1954 to 1958. While they represent a true autocrat of the podium, Rodziński drew from orchestras every last ounce of energy as well as cultivating their virtuoso talents. Most recordings in this set appear internationally for the first time, together with some (previously unpublished) rehearsal extracts.

Like his colleagues and fellow emigrés Fritz Reiner, George Szell and Arturo Toscanini, Artur Rodziński did not seek to make friends in the process of making music. His rehearsal methods were as ruthless as his conducting style was fiercely driven. His caustic manner extended to fellow professionals in the business such as soloists and agents, and the new essay by James H. North for this Eloquence collection includes stories of his dictatorial behaviour. But then Rodziński’s musical values also represent another era, and he drew from orchestras every last ounce of energy as well as cultivating their virtuoso talents.

Once he had emigrated to the US, Rodziński played an instrumental role in making the Cleveland and Chicago Symphony orchestras into the superbly responsive ensembles for which they are world-renowned today. Having retired from the stress of directorships, in the mid-1950s and in variable health, he produced a remarkable Indian summer of recordings for the Westminster label.

Made mostly in London between 1954 and his death in November 1958, these Westminster albums centred on the late-Romantic and early-20th-century repertoire which responds to a virtuoso conductor’s concern for subtle orchestral colours and extremes of speed and dynamic: Mussorgsky Pictures, Kodály Dances and Richard Strauss’s tone-poems. Rodziński plays insightful accompanist to piano concertos with Paul Badura-Skoda, Youri Boukoff and Jörg Demus, but he achieved a special affinity with Erica Morini in the violin concertos of Brahms and Tchaikovsky.

Rodziński’s decades of experience in the theatre bring sweeping authority to ‘bleeding chunks’ of Wagner, suites of Bizet and Tchaikovsky ballets. Further highlights in this set of newly-remastered mono and stereo albums include a Shostakovich Fifth which testifies to Rodziński’s early commitment to the composer in the West. Other, enduringly robust interpretations of canon symphonies include Dvořák’s Ninth, Prokofiev’s First, Tchaikovsky nos. 4-6, and his very last Westminster album, of Beethoven and Schubert. At the end of the sessions, Rodziński thanked the orchestra in a speech which was captured for posterity and reissued here. More rarities unearthed especially for this set include several rehearsal sequences, capturing Rodziński’s inimitable manner and dedication to his craft.

‘It is good to have Artur Rodziński back with his clean, sensible, often vibrant readings … Rodzinski has managed to draw the most cohesive and refined playing out of the over-worked Vienna State Opera Orchestra that it has been my pleasure to hear.’ – High Fidelity, January 1955 (Franck - Symphony)

‘This recording is one of the subtlest, particularly from the dynamic point of view, that I have ever heard … produces almost a stereophonic effect. The Suite from “The Love for Three Oranges” is magnificent.’ – High Fidelity, April 1955 (Kodály/Prokofiev)

‘Very vigorous, lively, and exhilarating, and has been superbly caught.’ – High Fidelity, December 1955 (Shostakovich - Symphony no.5)

‘Very hi-fi sound here … Rodziński has everything under control and presents a fine performance.’ – High Fidelity, December 1955 (Dvořák - Symphony no.9)

‘Rodziński does an exceptionally refined job with these two overworked suites, injecting new freshness and meaning into them.’ – High Fidelity, March 1956 (Grieg - Peer Gynt Suites)

‘Rodziński shows a scrupulous regard for tone, balance, and, above all, rhythmic precision … The orchestra enters into the Viennese spirit with a wonderfully crisp style, and the sound is fabulous in its range and clarity.’ – High Fidelity, May 1956 (Johann Strauss - Waltzes)

‘The quasi-oriental musical pageantry of the Ippolitov-Ivanov work offers unlimited opportunity for rich orchestral coloration, and the conductor certainly takes advantage of it in a brilliant and luxurious-sounding performance.’ – High Fidelity, June 1956 (Ippolitov-Ivanov - Caucasian Sketches)

‘The superlative quality of Westminster’s sound is such that after the gigantic opening orchestral sneeze in “Háry János” I was almost tempted to say “Gesundheit!” It is that realistic, and remains so throughout’ – High Fidelity, July 1956 (Kodály - Hary János Suite)

‘Rodziński is, as he has demonstrated time and again, a notably fine orchestral technician, and the performances he obtains from the British players in his charge are extraordinarily crisp and clean in detail … something of a tour de force.’ – High Fidelity, July 1956 (Wagner - orchestral excerpts)

‘Rodziński … not only uses a large (and very polished) orchestra and complete scores, but gives the music full symphonic treatment – yet, unlike so many non-Austrian conductors, without any loss of traditional Viennese lilt and warmth.’ – High Fidelity, August 1956 (Johann Strauss - Waltzes)

‘Rodziński makes better use of the seemingly limitless technical resources to breathe new life and conviction into what I had previously considered to be a rather old-fashioned and uninteresting tone poem. It is anything but that in this version.’ – High Fidelity, November 1956 (Franck - Le Chasseur maudit)

‘The recording will serve orchestration and piano students as a superbly lucid textbook analysis of the score.’ – High Fidelity, December 1956 (Franck - Variations symphoniques)

‘In many ways this is the finest available edition of the symphony … At the time Rodziński was in very poor health and had a nurse attending him at the recording sessions, a state of affairs one would never suspect from the brilliance and vitality of the performance.’ – High Fidelity, June 1957 (Tchaikovsky - Symphony no.5)

‘Reveals Rodziński as a dance-music conductor, exhibiting a new gracefulness … revealing attractions which few listeners can ever have realized existed in this score.’ – High Fidelity, December 1957 (Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker)

‘The sincerity and beauty with which [Morini] presents her view of the music make it quite convincing. The late Artur Rodziński’s handling of the orchestral accompaniment is firm and sensible, and sets off the solo well.’ – High Fidelity, February 1959 (Brahms - Violin Concerto)

‘Both Rodziński’s rousing vigour in the Beethoven and the poignant lyricism of his heartbreakingly lovely Schubert impress me anew … a deeply moving elegy for the late conductor himself.’ – High Fidelity, October 1960 (Beethoven & Schubert - Symphonies)

‘I cannot recommend [Morini and Rodziński] too highly to others who may share my own pleasure in their almost chamber-like approach … sheer poetry.’ – High Fidelity, December 1960 (Brahms/Tchaikovsky - Violin Concertos)

‘Rodziński’s version … remains the most tenderly poetic … still demonstrating a quite incomparable sonic, as well as interpretative, luminosity.’ – High Fidelity, February 1961 (Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker)

‘Rodziński was one of Shostakovich’s earliest champions … by far the fastest scherzo on record … his vision is certainly one that must be taken into account.’ – Fanfare, November 1989 (Shostakovich - Symphony no.5)

‘Even measured by Rodziński’s own high standards, these muscular and tough-minded interpretations, delivered without a shred of vulgarity, are exceptional.’ – Fanfare, November 2002 (Tchaikovsky - Symphonies nos. 5 & 6)

‘I’ve never heard them done any better; they have just enough sentiment to make them charming.’ – Fanfare, March 2018 (Grieg - Peer Gynt Suites)

‘These performances are absolute gems.’ – Fanfare, May 2018 (Chopin - Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2)