Symphony No.5 in B flat major, Op.100 (with works by Rossini & Vivaldi) (Recorded 1955/57/74)

"Overall this is a fascinating memento of a talent cut short too soon. Impossible to say how Schippers' career would have developed, but there is sufficient evidence of real musicality and real individuality on this disc to make us regret what might have been."
(MusicWeb Oct 2007)

Thomas Schippers (1930-1977) was one of the most brilliant American conductors of the 20th Century but died when he was just consolidating his reputation and moving into his potentially most fruitful phase. He shone in the opera house but was also a superb exponent of orchestral repertoire. Schippers studied at the Julliard and then went to Yale to work with Hindemith. His breakthrough came when he conducted Menotti's The Consul in 1950 which ran for eight months on Broadway. He then conducted in 1951 the premiere of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors in the first opera commissioned by TV, a famous live NBC telecast. He made his La Scala Milan debut in 1955 and returned in 1961 to conduct Callas in Cherubini's Medea and then in Falla's Atlantida in 1962. In 1966 he inaugurated the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Centre with the world premiere of Barber's Anthony & Cleopatra. In 1959, He went to Moscow with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic and in 1963 conducted Die Meistersinger in Bayreuth. Schippers was especially known for his musical directorship of the Festival of Two Words created in 1958 and held annually at Spoleto, Italy. In 1970 he became Music Director of the Cincinatti Symphony but in 1977 Schippers succumbed to lung cancer, leaving 5 million dollars to the orchestra.

These exceptionally rare EMI recordings of Prokofiev's Symphony No.5 (from 1957 and recorded in excellent stereo by Walter Legge) and assorted Italian/Neopolitan works (from 1955) have never appeared before on CD.

This stereo performance of Rossini's Siege of Corinth Overture comes from his complete EMI recording of the opera in 1974 starring Beverly Sills, Justino Diaz and Marilyn Horne.

Schippers recorded very rarely for EMI (he was taken over by American Columbia/Sony) but he left behind critically acclaimed recordings of La Boheme and Il Trovatore and of course, Rossini's Siege of Corinth which remain firmly in the catalogue today.

These rare recordings of Thomas Schippers licensed from EMI have been issued on Medici Masters to provide some added interest to the serious collector. The recorded sound, remastered by Paul Baily, is superb.