Concertos (Enregistrements Live)

Description

The great success of the 15-CD box set Ancerl Live Recordings (2022 – Choc de Classica, Diapason d'Or, etc.) and of the Ancerl Gold Edition series (2002-2008) is revealing of Karel Ancerl’s solid position among the most important conductors in the postwar world. The present album is linked to the box set mentioned above; this time, our selection from the Czech Radio archives contains live recordings with conductor Ancerl in the role of accompanist. The list of soloists he invited to collaborate is impressive. Among these names, one finds mainly world-renowned artists from the Soviet Union, to which Czechoslovakia was allied at the time, Prague serving as the gateway from the Eastern bloc to the West. The greatest treasures are the two oldest recordings: a unique document of Dvorák’s Violin Concerto with David Oistrakh (1950), which played a major role in Ancerl’s choice as chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic after Kubelík’s emigration, and the oldest recording of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto with Rostropovitch, released here for the first time, made two weeks before Rostropovitch’s legendary studio recording with Václav Talich. Often, however, the artists who stood to Ancerl’s left were stars coming to Prague from the West as well as great Czech artists. The album authentically captures the irreplaceable performances of the soloists and the orchestra. All these recordings have been carefully remastered from the original analog tapes. Lovers of historical recordings will not hesitate.