Arthur Nikisch (1855-1922) was a Hungarian-born conductor, one of the founding legends of modern conducting. He led major orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

His 1913 recording of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic is one of the landmark documents of early orchestral recording. In the Pristine catalogue it appears alongside other pioneering Beethoven performances.

Nikisch’s conducting was famed for magnetism, flexibility and expressive authority. His influence on later conductors was immense, even though the surviving recorded evidence is tiny.

He stands near the beginning of the recorded orchestral tradition like a figure seen through early photographic grain. The image is incomplete, but the outline is enormous.