Edition Staatskapelle Dresden, Vol. 49 - Karl Böhm

Dresden, Semper Opera House in June 1937: the theater vacations are ideal for other activities for the orchestra and the chief conductor. For the second time, the large hall of the opera house is bustling with activity. Rows of chairs are covered with sound-absorbing fabric, chairs and music stands are moved onto the stage, technicians run back and forth between them to place microphones on stands and hanging from the ceiling, cables are laid, and all the technical equipment comes together in the proscenium box. A new recording session with the technicians from the Electrola record company in Berlin is about to begin - and once again, after tackling Bruckner's Fourth Symphony exactly one year earlier, two world premiere recordings are on the production schedule: Reger's Mozart Variations and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5. Recordings still present a particular challenge in those years. Unlike today, the cutting devices that engraved the audio signal from the stage into a wax disk did not allow for any musical errors. Between three and four minutes had to be played without any mistakes. That was the average recording time for one side of a record, which, unlike later magnetic tape and today's digital technology, did not allow for any subsequent corrections. One "slip-up" and it was back to square one! In order to be able to produce in this way, the sound engineer had portioned the score accordingly beforehand. Markings showed exactly which part was next in line.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) , Max Reger (1873-1916) , Franz Schubert (1797-1828) , Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

• Brahms: Symphonie Nr. 4 e-Moll op. 98 in E Minor, Op. 98
• Reger: Variationen und Fuge über ein Thema von Mozart op. 132, Op. 132
• Schubert: Symphonie Nr. 5 B-Dur D 485 in B Flat Major, D485
• Bizet: »Carmen«-Opernquerschnitt