"This writer fails to recall an occasion when they sang the final duet of the opera in such fashion, with such wealth of tone and heroic passion ... It was the lyrical flight of eagles" - New York Times, 1937

We are very fortunate that this broadcast of Siegfried survives as it preserves a golden age of Wagnerian singing at New York in the 1930s.Melchior had learned the role under the composer’s son, Siegfried, and widow, Cosima, at Bayreuth in the 1920s. Quite simply, no other tenor has been able to sing Siegfried like this - how the role was meant to be sung.

Two other cast members stand out. Friedrich Schorr was the leading interpreter of Wotan / Wanderer in the inter-war years. Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad as Brunnhilde was the dominant Wagnerian soprano at the Met between 1935 and 1941 and Melchior and Flagstad together were the hottest opera ticket in New York. Her voice is beautifully controlled, delivering golden tone with ease.

This is the only complete recording of Melchior in Siegfried, and it is the only recording of Melchior and Flagstad together in the opera. It has been painstakingly restored and remastered over the past 16 months by Andrew Rose for this new Pristine release.

Nathan Milstein (1904 –1992) was a Ukranian-born American virtuoso violinist. Widely considered one of the finest violinists of the 20th century, Milstein was known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works and for works from the Romantic period.

This collection brings together three rarities in the Milstein discography. The Lalo with Ormandy has remained unreissued (at least officially) since the 78 rpm era. The Mendelssohn fragments document the only recorded collaboration between Milstein and Toscanini. It was performed during one of the Maestro’s last concerts as music director of the New York Philharmonic. 

The Dvořák is a double rarity in that it is not only the sole recording of a Milstein performance with Stokowski, but it is also previously unissued. Additionally, it expands Stokowski’s slim discography of that composer’s works.

• LALO Symphonie espagnole
  
• MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
  
• DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto

'SIR THOMAS BEECHAM returned to London’s routine concert scene on Sunday night, and the crowded audience in the Festival Hall, falling at once under the old spell, was rejuvenated into a fresh awareness of unburdened musical delight. At the end of the programme, hardly anybody in the audience got up from his or her seat or showed the slightest intention of going home. Even the critics stayed on—and no conductor, no musician, alive or dead, has received a rarer tribute than that.

Sir Thomas spoke to us, saying, “I suppose you are all waiting for an encore?” In a single voice the packed multitude roared “Yes!” and then Sir Thomas said. “This is a matter requiring some thought. I know only a few pieces."' - The Guardian, 1959

This is the first of three volumes dedicated to two splendid concerts given in 1959, recorded by the BBC and XR-remastered for Pristine by Andrew Rose in excellent Ambient Stereo sound.

• HAYDN Symphony No. 101, "Clock"
• LALO Symphony in G minor
• DEBUSSY Cortège & Air de Dance from L'enfant prodigue