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Leo Borchard (1899-1945) Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) The Nutcracker – Extracts (1892) Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture (1880) Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826) Oberon – Overture (1826) Alexander GLAZUNOV (1865-1936) Stenka Razin – Poème Op.13 (1886) Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Leo Borchard Recorded 1934-35 (Nutcracker – commercial Telefunken) and radio broadcasts (remainder) dating from 1945 TAHRA TAH520 [73.34]

AVAILABILITY www.tahra.com Tragedy stalks this disc. Leo Borchard was born of German parents in Moscow in 1899 and spent his early years there and in St Petersburg. In Germany he studied with Hermann Scherchen and Eduard Erdmann and became co-repetiteur for both Walter and Klemperer whilst earning the friendship of such as von Einem and Blacher. Moreover he was active in the resistance during the War, going under the code name Andrik Krassnow. He became part of the Kreisau circle and managed to pass information from Berlin to the Allies. His clandestine activities were clearly considerable, and such details as we possess – giving private conducting lessons to a Jewish student, meeting a Jewish document forger – demonstrate the kinds of (capital) risks he was running. After Berlin’s liberation he gave the first of twenty-two concerts he presented with the Berlin Philharmonic but on August 23rd 1945 he was shot dead by an American soldier as Borchard and his wife were being driven home after curfew. Borchard recorded very little and in discographic terms he is known, if at all, almost by default. The reason is, in a double irony, that for a number of years it was believed that this performance of Stenka Razin had been conducted by Furtwängler with the Vienna Philharmonic. There are certainly powerful reasons to think it may be so – the freedom and power, the flexibility and melodic elasticity, the sense of almost improvisatory drama is reminiscent of the older man – and commandingly so. But Furtwängler never conducted Stenka Razin (though he may well have conducted the Concerto) and this is all Borchard. His affinities if anything deepen still further with Romeo and Juliet which is notably sombre and not at all exuberant, rising to a peak of introspective perception and visceral drama. He had earlier shown promise in his Tchaikovsky with the only commercial recording in Tahra’s disc – selections from the Nutcracker, recorded for Telefunken in 1934 - complete with a dapper, deadpan wit, albeit some is rather slow. Collectors have looked forward to this release for some time and with some relish. The immediate post-war tapes have survived in good sound and the pre-war set was well recorded in the first place. I think we can reasonably say that, but for that cruel end, Borchard would have taken a prestigious place in the reclamation and regeneration of post-War Germany. Tahra show us what remains – and what we have lost. Jonathan Woolf Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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