April 1935. Dresden's vast Semper Opera, where several of Wagner's works were first performed, is now a hive of activity. Microphones are being put out, the seats covered up, sound screens are being erected, and metres of cables rolled out. While Nazism is rapidly establishing itself across the country, the preparations are being made for the recording of a light and popular classical music album, led by the young conductor Karl Böhm, who has succeeded Fritz Busch, who left Germany two years earlier in protest against the election of Hitler as Chancellor.
Though Karl Böhm never cheered on the arrival of this new Germany, he believed strongly in it, and accommodated to the regime during the war, which would inspire feelings of "remorse" when the hostilities were over.
This album was recorded in a single take: corrections and manipulation were not possible at a time when magnetic tapes didn't exist. The result was some very vivacious performances of famous "popular classics" such as Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss fils, and overtures by Mozart, Beethoven and Weber which in those days were on the programme of every symphony concert. The second part is lighter, with works like the overture from Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, symphonic extracts from verist Italian and that veritable masterpiece of composition and orchestration which is the overture from Donna Diana by Řezníček who was enjoying great popularity in all the Sunday matinée concerts of Europe. This joie de vivre would be done away with by the war which broke out one dark day in 1939. © François Hudry/Qobuz