Hitler's record collection is melodious and puzzling [Steven Isserlis, Guardian Blog...

Clipping

It is an interesting list. Wagner is there, of course - but so are several Russian works (Hitler described Russians in general as "subhumans"), and recordings by Jewish artists such as the violinist Bronislaw Huberman and pianist Artur Schnabel. Strange - but perhaps not inexplicable. The Russian works so far listed are all the products of 19th-century Russian (rather than Soviet) composers, giants such as Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov. All the works listed are deeply melodious and emotionally accessible - creating a beautiful world in which Hitler could bury himself as his own life crumbled. The presence of Jewish artists in the collection is puzzling - but again perhaps not a complete mystery. For a start, if the works by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven recorded by Huberman and Schnabel were particular favourites of Hitler's, he may have been stuck with those (marvellous) performances; there was nothing like the choice we have today, when each famous masterpiece is available in at least 100 versions.