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Symphony No 8 / Vier Letzte Lieder on CD

Istvan Kertesz's early death from a swimming accident in 1973 meant that he performed very little in Salzburg. In the previous decade he quickly established himself as a first-class conductor of the younger generation with a large repertoire ranging from the Viennese classics to the Modern. In Salzburg in 1962 he confirmed his reputation, conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a program that reached from Beethoven's 8th Symphony via Richard Strauss' Four last songs to Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, all of which made evident Kertesz's stylistic flexibility - everything was surging with energy and played with great lucidity. This concert (and thus the present recording of it) was further enriched by the presence of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - a Strauss interpreter without peer to the present day.