The complete Decca recordings of German conductor Horst Stein cover an astonishingly wide range of repertoire, with Friedrich Gulda in the ‘very spontaneous, very lyrical Beethoven concerto cycle’ (Gramophone), through music by Cherubini and Weber, to critically‐acclaimed recordings of Bruckner, Wagner and Wolf. Included are four discs of his colourful Sibelius: ‘free‐wheeling readings of great thrust, drive and a big line … The sound is at once biting and smooth’ wrote High Fidelity.

The complete Decca recordings of Horst Stein, directed with the unfussy authority of his many appearances at Bayreuth and the Vienna State Opera. The recordings in this set, cover an astonishingly broad range of repertoire. Beethoven concertos (with Friedrich Gulda, once a staple of the Decca catalogue), Cherubini, Prokofiev, Bruckner, Sibelius: all writing in completely contrasting idioms, and yet all brought stylishly to life here under the baton of Horst Stein.

Stein learnt his craft as an opera conductor in postwar Bayreuth, where he served as an assistant to Karajan, Keilberth and Knappertsbusch in celebrated performances of the Ring and Parsifal. He later became known for the expert pacing and dramatic pulse of his own Wagner conducting, which is represented in this set by an album of orchestral highlights with the Vienna Philharmonic.