night in London’s musical history that is still talked about two decades on. Jon Tolansky, co-founder of the Music Performance Research Centre (MPRC), the organisation responsible for hanging the microphones, explains below how it came to pass that the performance on 20 February 1989 was allowed to be taped and why, two decades on, the resulting recording has finally entered the public domain. As for Klaus Tennstedt, he remains a phenomenon even today, despite his death in 1998 after a long battle with cancer. For a while that battle joined him on the podium; it was partly this, particularly in respect to the performance of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony recorded here, that lent his concerts such intensity and atmosphere. At the time of this recording, Tennstedt’s illness had already forced him to stand down as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, which he did in 1987 after seven years with the ensemble, the first three as Principal Guest Conductor. Though he officially retired altogether from conducting in 1994, Tennstedt’s late career was always in the shadow of the great things he achieved with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. While he brought something sonically very special from the ensemble,
its players and audiences gave him a happiness and fulfilment he never experienced elsewhere. Precious few know the reasons for that, but the nearest we can get to experiencing the results of it today are captured with piercing strength on this release. Andrew Mellor (2009)