Latest Release
- 29 MAR 2024
- 5 Songs
- Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38-41 · 2008
- Charles Mackerras conducts Schumann: Symphony No. 3 (Live) · 2024
- Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38-41 · 2008
- Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 38-41 · 2008
- Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 · 1996
- Dvorak: String Serenade & Wind Serenade · 1983
- Charles Mackerras conducts Schumann: Symphony No. 3 (Live) · 2024
- Renée Fleming: Mozart Arias · 1996
- Klassische Musik 50: Die Größten Werke der Klassischen Musik · 2012
- Tutto Mozart! (Bonus Version) · 2006
Essential Albums
- Among Charles Mackerras’ many specialties, Mozart occupied a unique place. The conductor’s long experience of the operas gave his performances of the symphonies a drama and theatricality that makes them so appealing. His blending of “period” manners with modern instruments (though with period brass) gives these four works a freshness and modernity of approach, while also looking back to a scale that the composer would surely have recognised and appreciated. Beautifully recorded, this a classy collection of Mozart’s greatest symphonies.
Live Albums
- 2014
- 2013
About Sir Charles Mackerras
Mackerras’ range of repertoire was astonishing, encompassing three centuries of music, and he left his mark on everything he touched. He was born to Australian parents in Schenectady, NY, in 1928; the family returned with him to Sydney two years later. After a spell as an orchestral oboist in Sydney, then at Sadler’s Wells (now English National Opera) in London, he won a scholarship to study conducting with the legendary Václav Talich in Prague, becoming fluent in Czech in the process. Returning to London, he became an energetic champion of historically informed performance long before it became fashionable. His groundbreaking recording of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749) restored the original wind-band scoring, and in 1965 he performed Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786) with vocal ornamentation, drawing praise from some and fury from others. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Mackerras did not disdain light classical music: His ballet Pineapple Poll (1951), based on music by Sullivan, was a huge success. Always meticulous in rehearsal, Mackerras brought a fresh approach to almost everything he touched. His greatest passion, however, was for the music of Janáček, whose operas he championed in the opera house and on record with a unique fusion of clarity and loving intensity. He died in London in 2010.
- HOMETOWN
- Schenectady, NY, United States
- BORN
- 17. November 1925
- GENRE
- Classical