Carlo Maria Giulini
One of the 20th century's great conductors, Carlo Maria Giulini was known for his probing, self-effacing approach to orchestral and operatic scores. In addition to Italy, he was active for long periods of time in Britain and the U.S.
Giulini was born on May 9, 1914, in Barletta in southeastern Italy, but when he was small, the family moved to Bolzano. In the far north of what is now Italy, the city was part of the Austrian Empire at the time. It reverted to Italy at the end of World War I, but the area remained German-speaking for decades, and Giulini grew up hearing German and Austrian music. He began violin lessons at five, and at 16, he was admitted to the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome as a violist and conducting student. Giulini auditioned and won a place in the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, then known as the Orchestra dell'Augusteo. Two years later, he won a conducting competition, but all aspects of his musical career were temporarily sidelined when he was drafted into the Italian army. A pacifist and an opponent of Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, Giulini was sent to the front in Croatia but avoided firing his gun at enemy soldiers. Later in the war, he went into hiding in a tunnel under his wife's uncle's house; Rome was festooned with wanted posters showing his pictures. After nine months in the tunnel, he emerged after Allied troops liberated Rome in June of 1944. In short order, he conducted the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. Giulini conducted several orchestras, including the RAI Orchestra in Rome (the Italian Radio Orchestra) and the Milan Radio Orchestra, the latter from 1946 until 1954. He led several productions at an opera house in Bergamo, and there, he programmed not only Italian opera standards but works from the Baroque and Classical periods that, at the time, were little known. This caught the attention of famed conductor Arturo Toscanini, who recommended Giulini to the La Scala Opera House. Giulini became assistant conductor there in 1952 and ascended to principal conductor the following year. Over five years at La Scala, he introduced works like Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea to the tradition-bound La Scala stage, and he worked with innovative young stage directors Franco Zeffirelli and Luchino Visconti. Giulini departed La Scala in outrage when a crowd booed the controversial soprano Maria Callas, and in subsequent positions at English opera houses, he came into conflict with management, although his conducting of Visconti's production of Verdi's Don Carlos in 1955 earned acclaim. Over the 1950s and '60s, Giulini's operatic appearances became rarer. His recording debut came in 1959 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, leading a concert version of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
Fortunately, he had his growing career as an orchestra conductor to fall back on. In 1955, he made his U.S. debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and that turned out to be the beginning of a longstanding relationship. He became the orchestra's principal guest conductor in 1969, and beginning in the late '70s, he also recorded with the orchestra for the Deutsche Grammophon label. In 1978, he succeeded Zubin Mehta as director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he recorded often with that group as well. He stepped down from that post in 1984 but continued to work and record with that orchestra and many others as a guest. As an orchestral conductor, Giulini had a repertory that was narrow but deep; he added new works only after studying them intensively. He was a superb conductor of the German Romantics from Beethoven to Bruckner. Giulini was extremely prolific as a recording artist in his later years; in 2005, the year of his death, 15 recordings appeared under his name. Giulini died in Brescia, Italy, on June 14, 2005. Numerous reissues continued to appear after his death, and by the early 2020s, his recording catalog comprised well over 300 items.
© James Manheim /TiVo
-
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Wiener Symphoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jun 22, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Op. 61
Itzhak Perlman, Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré: Requiem / Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
Kathleen Battle, Andreas Schmidt, Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini, Philharmonia Chorus
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Giulini In Vienna
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 & 9 "From the New World" - Carnival Overture - Scherzo capriccioso
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini & Verdi: Overtures
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Feb 7, 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E Flat, Op. 55
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Mar 8, 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Giulini in America (Complete Los Angeles Philharmonic Recordings)
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Sep 13, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 6 "Pastoral", 8 & 9 "Choral"
Symphonic Music - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 In E Major (Live)
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Mass in E-Flat Major, D. 950
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Jan 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4, Tragic Overture & Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Symphony In D Minor; Psyché et Eros
Berliner Philharmoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: The 2 Piano Concertos by Claudio Arrau (2023 Remastered, London 1960 and 1962)
Claudio Arrau, Carlo Maria Giulini, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on Jun 17, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No.3; Haydn-Variations
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler : No.9 - Schubert: No.8 "Unfinished"
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2000
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carlo Maria Giulini Conducts Brahms
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Apr 23, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo