The apotheosis of Viennese style: Mozart, Strauss and more under the baton of JOSEF KRIPS. An Original Covers collection of classic Decca albums recorded between 1947 and 1955, including several recordings new to CD in this new LIMITED EDITION 22CD box set.

Born and raised in Vienna, Josef Krips trained as a choirboy and studied with Felix Weingartner, who then hired him as a repetiteur at the Volksoper. He made his debut there in 1921, before graduating to the Vienna State Opera in 1933. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it was Krips above all who reformed and re-trained the State Opera as a world-class ensemble, and in the most difficult conditions. His pragmatism and understated authority made him a model recording conductor, and Decca hired him to work with orchestras in several of their centres of activity.

Compiled here for the first time, as one of a two-volume Krips edition, are the conductor's complete mono recordings for Decca beginning with Kingsway Hall sessions in October 1947. Mozart symphonies, concertos, overtures and arias appeared on 78s - newly transferred for this set by Andrew Hallifax.

Combined with Decca's famous 'ffrr' sound, these Mozartian qualities also illuminate Krips's mono recordings of symphonies by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, concertos by Schumann and Dvorak, Johann Strauss waltzes and a version of Mendelssohn's Elijah which combines the best of the British oratorio tradition with an operatic momentum and a gently glowing orchestral palette.

Distinguished soloists on these recordings include Clifford Curzon and Mischa Elman in Mozart; Zara Nelsova in Dvorak's Cello Concerto; and Hilde Gueden, Maria Reining, Anton Dermota and Richard Lewis singing opera arias (recorded on 78, several receiving their first CD transfer in this box). A companion volume from Eloquence is dedicated to Krips's Decca and Philips recordings from the stereo era (1955-72) and will be released next month. The booklet for each set contains session photos and an essay on Krips's life and legacy by Niek Nelissen.

*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA.

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