Giulini was a regular guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra for many years from 1955. Walter Legge, the orchestra’s founder, and Karajan, then its principal conductor, had heard him in Milan and engaged him to record Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Bizet’s Jeux d’Enfants. In 1959 Giulini recorded two Mozart operas, Figaro and Don Giovanni, with the orchestra, the former being preceded by more than 100 hours of rehearsal.
Carlo Maria Giulini’s Philharmonia recordings for EMI are legendary: as well as the Mozart operas, he recorded the Verdi Requiem and Four Sacred Pieces as well as orchestral recordings including Dvo?ák’s 9th Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Brahms’s 4th Symphony and, as presented here, the much admired 1962 Debussy’s La mer and Nocturnes, an album that has become highly collectable for its sensitive interpretation and atmospheric sound.

Recorded on 11-26 April 1962, Kingsway Hall, London, Producer: Walter Legge, Engineer: Douglas Larter

Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS82 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional ‘advance’ playback head, making the cut a totally analogue process.

Pressed on 180g vinyl to audiophile standards using the original EMI presses by The Vinyl Factory in Hayes, England.

Featuring the original album artwork.