To celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Staatskapelle Berlin, this 5 CD edition presents the orchestra’s most legendary recordings with conductors Otmar Suitner and Günther Herbig. These jewels from the large catalogue of the record label Eterna, recorded in the Christuskirche Berlin-Schöneweide, were specially remastered from the original tapes.
The 450-year history of the Staatskapelle Berlin is rich in brilliant, standard-setting episodes. So it may seem hyperbolical to describe Otmar Suitner’s term of office as an “era”. The truth is, however, that both in its length and for its quality, his period of 26 years at the theatre Unter den Linden (1964-90) bears comparison with the work of such illustrious predecessors as Gasparo Spontini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Felix von Weingartner or Richard Strauss and equally with his successor Daniel Barenboim. Suitner followed Franz Konwitschny, who was granted a mere seven years at the podium after the re-opening of the orchestra’s old home and died in July 1962. After a two-year interregnum, Otmar Suitner took up the vacant position as “principal and managing General Music Director”. One of his notable achievements is to have repositioned the orchestra on the market for gramophone records in the age of stereo. That and a multiplicity of tours – including six of Japan – earned it a large and growing audience all over the world. Some of the repertoire highlights of this exceptionally productive partnership between orchestra and (Principal) Conductor are assembled in this 5-CD set, unfolding the orchestra’s history over those formative years. In addition to the four CDs with recordings of Otmar Suitner, the CD box also includes a CD with recordings of the conductor Günther Herbig, who became one of the most important concert conductors of the house during the “Suitner era”. The somewhat younger Herbig mainly conducted the “normal” subscription concerts before he emigrated to the USA in 1984.
All in all, on the 5 CDs of the box you can experience works from Mozart to Mahler and even Dessau in the unique ETERNA sound and thus enjoy a very special best-of from the Staatskapelle Berlin. The included booklet also contains the most important information about the recordings and the “Suitner era”, which was probably the most formative period for the Staatskapelle at the time of the German Democratic Republic. A small but great excerpt from 450 years of orchestra history.
