A concert by Martha Argerich is always sensational, sometimes grandiose, and occasionally the audience experiences a truly stellar event. Going through the archives of Bavarian Broadcasting, the feeling was unanimous, and many “ear witnesses” themselves remembered the concerts: on these evenings Argerich was in top form, collaborated with two congenial conductors, inspired the orchestra and drew inspiration from it. In short: these live recordings should, indeed must be heard! Especially with this artist, the medium of live recording is especially valuable. Before an audience in the sold-out hall, there developed a knack for communication and spontaneous music-making with a downright personal appeal to the listener.

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28, is a tone poem written in 1894–95 by Richard Strauss. It chronicles the misadventures and pranks of the German peasant folk hero Till Eulenspiegel, who is represented by two themes. The first, played by the horn, is a lilting melody that reaches a peak, falls downward, and ends in three long, loud notes, each progressively lower. The second, for D clarinet, is crafty and wheedling, suggesting a trickster doing what he does best. (Till Eulenspiegel is a well-known Schnickelfritz.)

SOMM Recordings announces Bruckner from the Archives, a major new, six-double-CD-volume series celebrating the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner’s birth in 1824.

Since its original release, Jochum's performance has consistently been a prime recommendation for this much-recorded piece, listening to it again in the superbly remastered sound, one can easily hear why. He pays great attention to detail - particularly with regard to tempo and articulation - yet the performance as a whole has a tremendous cogent sweep and the choruses have terrifiс power. The more reflective sections are not neglected, however, and movements such as "Stetit Puella", with Janowitz sounding alluring and fey, have surely never been more sensitively handled. Stolze is ideal as the roasted swan and Fischer-Dieskau encompasses the very varied requirements of the baritone's music with ease. In spite of the presence of more than 30 rivals in the catalogue, this distinguished performance, authorized by the composer and now sounding better than ever, easily retains its place at the head of the queue.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, is a piano concerto written by Frédéric Chopin in 1830, when he was twenty years old. It was first performed on 12 October of that year, at the Teatr Narodowy (the National Theatre) in Warsaw, Poland, with the composer as soloist, during one of his "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland. It was the first of Chopin's two piano concertos to be published, and was therefore given the designation of Piano Concerto "No. 1" at the time of publication, even though it was actually written immediately after the premiere of what was later published as Piano Concerto No. 2.

Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten (Dissipate, you troublesome shadows), BWV 202, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was likely composed for a wedding, but scholars disagree on the dating which could be as early as Bach's tenure in Weimar, around 1714, while it has traditionally been connected to his wedding to Anna Magdalena on 3 December 1721 in Köthen. It is one of Bach's frequently recorded cantatas. The aria "Sich üben im Lieben" ("To practice sweet courtship, to joyously cuddle" or "To cultivate love") is often performed as a concert piece.

Eugen Jochum made two complete recordings of the symphonies of Johannes Brahms, one with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the mid-1950s, the other with the London Philharmonic in 1976. On the strengths of these sets, the conductor Kenneth Woods called him "the greatest Brahms conductor who ever lived". These Jochum performances of Brahms' 4 symphonies, together with the Academic Festival & Tragic overtures, are vintage 1970s Kingsway Hall recordings. Eugen Jochum, steeped in the Germanic tradition, knows exactly how he wants these symphonies to sound & the London Philharmonic Orchestra rise to the occasion with playing they have probably never bettered, with producer Christopher Bishop giving them a sound to match.

Eugen Jochum conducts the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in Bruckner's Symphony No.5, a gigantic musical cathedral and a masterpiece of counterpoint. Everything is prayer, everything is contemplation, everything is a state of grace. With this concert performance on May 30, 1964, Jochum set the bar for this ''Katholische Sinfonie." The recoding also includes his reading of the composer's Te Deum, leading the Berlin Philharmonic.