Jascha Horenstein (1898-1973) was born in Kiev but studied in Vienna.

After a move to Berlin, he became Wilhelm Furtwängler’s assistant and during the 1920s he conducted both the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. At this time, he came into contact with Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Nielsen.

In 1929, Horenstein became the music director of the Dusseldorf Opera but, with the outset of war, he settled in the US. He conducted some of the major orchestras there but returned to Europe in 1947, where he was much in demand including a close association with the LSO.

He is best remembered for his outstanding Mahler and Bruckner performances but, being Russian, he conducted Shostakovich who he knew, and because of his early links with Nielsen, both composers were featured throughout his life.

- Idiomatic performance of Shostakovich’s First Symphony, which Horenstein never recorded commercially

- Nielsen, who Horenstein knew personally, was a composer he conducted frequently at the end of his career

- A new addition to the Horenstein discography, which has been neglected over recent years

- Live performances provide an added excitement and, in the case of the Nielsen, a greater atmosphere when compared to the studio version

- Superb remastering from Paul Baily

- The CD includes an interview with Horenstein and Deryck Cooke about the conductor’s friendship with Nielsen