DVD0592. KURT SANDERLING Cond. BBC S.O.: Symphony #4 in d (Schumann); w.Carolyn Watkinson & John Mitchinson: Das Lied von der Erde (Mahler). (Germany) ICA ICAD 5042, Live Performance, 29 July, 1988, Royal Albert Hall, London. - 5060244550421

CRITIC REVIEWS:

“Kurt Sanderling, an often acclaimed German-born conductor who spent most of his career in the Communist world after finding refuge from the Nazis there during World War II, died [17 September] in Berlin. He was 98….Mr Sanderling’s budding career with the Berlin Staatsoper was cut short when the Nazis came to power and removed him from his post because he was Jewish. He fled to Moscow in 1935 and, after conducting the Moscow Radio Orchestra, joined Yevgeny Mravinsky as a director of the Leningrad Philharmonic, which eventually took its place among the world’s great ensembles….His interpretations of Brahms, Mahler and above all Shostakovich marked him as a conductor of rare clarity and sensitivity to nuance, understated almost to a fault.”

- William Grimes, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 20 Sept., 2011



“Some of the greatest conductors have worked with the BBC Philharmonic – Sanderling (b.1912), conducting here in 1987, knew the orchestra well having first conducted them some 13 years previously when they were known as the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. Sanderling has had an illustrious career with orchestras such as the Leningrad Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle and the Philharmonia, retiring only 9 years ago. The BBC Legends recording of his Mahler Ninth with the BBC Philharmonic from 1982 received excellent reviews. John Mitchinson, often chosen for the tenor rôle in DAS LIED VON DER ERDE, performed the work many times with the BBC Philharmonic to great acclaim, with two BBC Legends recordings featured in the Penguin Guide. Known for enjoying live performances and having an affinity for late Mahler, Sanderling’s reading of DAS LIED VON DER ERDE is inherently musical. This is the first DVD release of this material.”