Artist: 
John Culshaw

The Art of the Producer: 12CD Boxset

$86.99

Release date: 31 May, 2024

Decca’s John Culshaw was the most influential recording producer of the 20th century, and even predicted music streaming decades before the launch of iTunes and Spotify.  This new 12-CD set marks the centenary of his birth in May and is a unique proposition celebrating the Producer as the Artist.  This collector’s trove of gems includes: Copland playing Copland; the first-ever studio recording of Barber's Adagio for Strings; the 1951 & 1953 Bayreuth recordings; a lost tape of Clifford Curzon; and the first international release of Georg Solti’s 1954 Brahms German Requiem, recorded by Culshaw for Capitol Records.  The accompanying booklet includes a 6,500-word essay by Dominic Fyfe and many previously unseen photographs.

Tracklist:
CD 1 - The First Year, 1948/9. Recordings by Mansel Thomas*/Kathleen Ferrier/Aaron Copland*/Erna Sack*/Clifford Curzon*/Georg Solti/Ernest Bloch & Zara Nelsova/Boyd Neel*
CD 2- Birth of the LP, 1950. Recordings by Royalton Kisch*/Don Gillis*/Ellabelle Davis*/Jacqueline Blancard*
CD 3 - Barber conducts Barber, 1950. Cello Concerto (Zara Nelsova)/Medea Suite*/Symphony No.2*
CD 4 - Bayreuth, 1951 & 1953. Highlights from Parsifal/Knappertsbusch (1951) and Lohengrin/Keilberth* (1953)
CD 5 - Concertgebouw, 1951 & Hamburg, 1953. Brahms 3/Szell (Concertgebouworkest, 1951) & Dvorak 7/Schmidt-Isserstedt*(Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1953)
CD 6 - Copenhagen, 1952/3. Haydn Symphonies 48* & 44*/Wöldike and Nielsen 1*/Jensen. Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
CD 7 - Paris, 1952/3. Recordings of Gerad Souzay*/Mado Robin*/Libero de Luca/Jean Borthayre/Janine Michaeau/Raffaele Arié with Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
CD 8 - Coronation, 1953. Recordings by Malcolm Sargent/Jennifer Vyvyan*/Boyd Neel*
CD 9  - Britten & Aldeburgh, 1953. Aldeburgh Festival opening concert*/Britten. Simple Symphony*/Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings* (Peter Pears/Dennis Brain)/Eugene Goossens
CD 10 - Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Frankfurt, 1954. Georg Solti (recorded for Capitol Records) *
CD 11 - Return to Decca, 1955. Mozart Piano Concertos 13 & 20. Katchen/Maag, 1955; Bach Partita No 3. Emil Telmányi, 1953*
CD 12 - Culshaw in his own words 1960 & 1980. 
The Birth of an Opera narrated by Culshaw (Solti Tristan, 1960)
Götterdämmerung: a BBC Radio 3 talk, 1980.*

Formats: 
CD Album