When William Steinberg was appointed music director of the Boston Symphony in 1969 as successor to Erich Leinsdorf, he attained the pinnacle of his career. No previous conductor had headed two top-ten US orchestras simultaneously. It was a condition of his Boston position that he could continue to work in Pittsburgh with the orchestra that he had headed since 1952. Born as Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne on 1 August 1899, he studied at the local conservatory with the conductor Hermann Abendroth and the pianist Lazzaro Uzielli, a Clara Schumann pupil. On graduating in 1920 he became Otto Klemperer’s assistant at the Cologne opera house.

Dating from the 1970s, Rafael Kubelik’s incisive and acclaimed reading of Beethoven’s second and fifth symphonies in the Remastered Classics series from Pentatone, performed with panache by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Kubelik conducted Bedřich Smetana's "Má vlast" in several countries after his departure from Czechoslovakia, and recorded it four times, with orchestras in Chicago, Vienna, Boston and Munich. This Boston performance that is the finest of the four this conductor has recorded, and surely the most inspiriting account of "Má vlast" on SACD.

The featured work on this album of compositions by Justin Dello Joio is the American composer's new piano concerto, "Oceans Apart", composed for keyboard titan, Garrick Ohlsson. Ohlsson is joined by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alan Gilbert, the artists who premiered the concerto in 2023. The program also includes chamber works performed by the New York Philharmonic's principal cellist, Carter Brey, with pianist Christopher O'Riley; and the American Brass Quintet, and organist Colin Fowler.

Charles Münch and his orchestra are utterly persuasive in their view of the work and thanks to HDTT, they are with us again in wonderful, near-analogue sound. Incidentally, this 1962 version is rarely seen on a reissue, the 1956 version is the one thats almost always used.

The first installment of a long-term collaboration with one of the most exciting young conductors of our time: Andris Nelsons the newly appointed Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Andris Nelsons - even though being only in his mid 30ies - has had a long journey with Shostakovich. He is one of the last conductors of his generation who still grew up in the Russian and, more especially, the Soviet musical tradition ever since he started his training as a conductor. He studied in St Petersburg with Alexander Titov and also with Mariss Jansons. His new orchestra has had a great tradition in performing many of Shostakovichs works in America for the first time. The theme of the first album with Shostakovichs 10th Symphony and Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth is a reflection on Shostakovich and Stalin. Lady Macbeth was the piece which brought criticism of his work and the radical change of style, whereas Symphony 10 is from the year Stalin died: the long arc of censorship of Shostakovich until Stalins death, and the composers response to this.

Charles Munch's isn't the most subtle Beethoven around, but it certainly is exciting, and that counts for a lot. In particular, this Ninth has what has to be one of the angriest, most fiery first movements ever recorded. It's worth hearing for that alone, but there are other attractions as well, including a perfectly paced Adagio, and a very well-sung finale with some stellar names among the soloists…