It's regarded as one of the greatest recordings ever of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier: the 1956 EMI classic with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Herbert von Karajan has remained in the catalogue ever since.
However, it was originally recorded in two versions. What you might call the "official" mono version, and a stereo "alternative" version. Yet it's the latter which has been most widely available over more recent decades.
In the mid-nineties Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was enlisted as “re-engineering producer” for a CD reissue, now long out of print, of Der Rosenkavalier. She chose to work with the mono release. For her, and others, this was how it should sound. It's that carefully-crafted mono recording we’ve chosen to work with for Pristine. XR remastering has worked wonders to open out the sound – without changing the fundamental character of the recording, it makes the original sound somewhat boxy and antique by comparison and gives it a whole fresh new complexion. We like to think Dame Elisabeth would have approved!