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MOZART: The Marriage of Figaro Hans Hotter (Almaviva); Helena Braun (Countess); Erich Kunz (Figaro); Irma Beillce (Susanna); Gerda Somerschuh (Cherubino); Gustav Neidlinger (Bartolo); Res Fischer (Marcellina) Josef Witt (Basilio); Salzburg 1942/ Clemens Krauss-Preiser 90203 (Koch) [3CD] 161 minutes
Each of the three discs in this set bears the imprint (in English) "Historic Recording". Usually this phrase is a warning to the purchaser that the thing was taken down a good many years ago and won't sound as good as yesterday's DDD product. But in this instance it has more significance.
I recall that in my nonage I read a book--I think by David Ewen--on then-current conductors. The author first presented what he considered to be the great ones, such as Toscanini, Koussevitzky, and Stokowski. Then he dealt more sketchily with the also-rans, who included Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walte, and Clemens Krauss. The reputations of all three have risen sharply since then, and Krauss came to be admired particularly as a conductor of the operas of Richard Strauss, Wagner and Mozart. His interpretations of the first two are fairly...