Jascha Horenstein
A champion of modern music and an intellectual and philosophical conductor of a sort not much encountered any more, Jascha Horenstein moved to Vienna with his family at age six. He went on to study violin with Adolf Busch, Indian philosophy at the University of Vienna, and music at the Vienna School of Music. By 20 he had already decided to become a conductor and left Vienna for study in Berlin, where he conducted the Schubert Choir and became an assistant to Furtwängler. In 1924, he made his debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducting Mahler's then-little-known First Symphony. From 1925 to 1928, he conducted the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and in 1929, as guest conductor, he led the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere of Alban Berg's Lyric Suite. As a young man he made the acquaintance of Schoenberg, Webern, Stravinsky, Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss, Busoni, and Janacek, and frequently programmed their music for the rest of his life.
On Furtwängler's recommendation, Horenstein was appointed director of the Düsseldorf Opera in 1929, and remained there until, as a Jew, he was forced to leave Nazi Germany. In the 1930s he lived in Paris and traveled extensively, conducting in Brussels, Vienna, and the USSR, visiting Scandinavia with the Ballets Russe, and touring Australia and New Zealand. He settled in the U.S. in 1942, became a U.S. citizen, conducted many of the leading orchestras of both North and South America and was one of four conductors, including Toscanini, to conduct the newly formed Palestine Symphony Orchestra. Though in great demand from the 1930s onwards, Horenstein did not actively seek a permanent conductorship; he appeared to prefer to work on his own terms.
After the Second World War, Horenstein returned to Europe and lived in Lausanne, Switzerland. Highlights of his renewed European career came in 1950, when he introduced Berg's opera Wozzeck in Paris, and in 1959, when his performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony for the BBC did much to stimulate a Mahler revival in Britain. After 1964, when he presented Busoni's Doktor Faust in New York, he gave many concerts in London with the London Symphony Orchestra and in Manchester with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. In his later years, he appeared frequently at London's Covent Garden.
From Furtwängler, Horenstein learned the importance in searching for the metaphysical rather than theoretical meaning of music, and that outlook coincided with his own interest in Eastern philosophy. As a conductor, Horenstein greatly admired Stokowski for his broad repertoire and the sense of occasion he brought to every performance. He was intolerant of routine performances, even from the greatest orchestras, and in rehearsal, he would run through large sections of a work to establish coherence and continuity before proceeding to finer details of interpretation. In the words of his assistant Lazar, "[t]he exceptional unity and cohesion that characterized his performances arose from the way he controlled rhythm, harmony, dynamics and tempo so that each individual moment might achieve the most vivid characterization, but the overall line and cumulative effect would not be lost."
In the early days of the LP record, Horenstein was widely known for his recordings of the Viennese masters, particularly Mahler and Bruckner, and derived inspiration from the interpretations of his idols, Nikisch, Walter, and Furtwängler. Before he was 30, he had recorded Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony. Shortly before his death, he said that "[o]ne of the greatest regrets in dying is that I shall never again be able to hear 'Das Lied von der Erde.'"
© TiVo
-
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Earl Wild, Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4 & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild
Classical - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring - Symphony of Psalms
Roger-Jean Boutry, Monique Mercier, Jascha Horenstein, Sinfonieorchester Des Südwestfunks, Baden Baden, Choeur et Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on Apr 21, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4 & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild
Concertos - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss : Mort et transfiguration - Hindemith : Mathis der Maler
London Symphony Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein
Symphonic Poems - Released by Chandos on Jun 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony, No. 7
Classical - Released by Nar Classical on Jul 10, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, Violin Concerto
Ivry Gitlis, Jascha Horenstein, Orchestre Radio National de France - Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on Nov 15, 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Scottish Fantasia; Hindemith: Violin Concerto
David Oïstrakh, London Symphony Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 7, 1962
24-Bit 176.4 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Piano Concertos & Solo Piano Works
Vlado Perlemuter, Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Vox Legends on Jan 1, 1992
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Jascha Horenstein, London Symphony Orchestra, Norma Procter, Ambrosian Singers, Wandsworth School Boys Choir
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Jun 17, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
L'Art de Ivry Gitlis : Concertos pour violon
Ivry Gitlis, Wiener Symphoniker, Heinrich Hollreiser, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Brilliant Classics on Jun 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (Remastered 2023) (Live)
Classical - Released by Archipel on Jan 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Historical Bruckner Vol. III
Jascha Horenstein, London Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Urania Records on May 31, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Portrait, Vol. 3: Jascha Horenstein (Remastered 2022)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Margaret Price, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Jun 17, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Ivry Gitlis
Ivry Gitlis, Wiener Symphoniker, Heinrich Hollreiser, Jascha Horenstein, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Vox Legends on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2
Ivry Gitlis, Jascha Horenstein, Wiener Symphoniker
Concertos - Released by Vox on May 5, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 – Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26
Ivry Gitlis, Pro Musica Symphony, Vienna, Hans Swarowsky, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Artemisia on Apr 16, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Historical Mahler, Vol. 5 (Remastered 2023) (Live)
Jascha Horenstein, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Jan 31, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Jascha Horenstein, Berliner Philharmoniker
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on Apr 16, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No.1 in D Major "Titan"
Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein
Symphonic Music - Released by HORTUS on Jan 1, 1990
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms & Bruch : Symphony No. 1- Scottish Fantasy
David Oïstrakh, Jascha Horenstein, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on May 27, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo