LG, I just this weekend received the DG box set of Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic playing the complete Beethoven symphonies, got it from a seller on EBay, for just £7.00!!...and it's blowing me away.
Do you have it?
It's the set Karajan recorded in 1961-1962. I know he recorded them several times, and I already have his set from 1977, but the sound and the playing on these discs is just out of this world, perfect dynamic balance, and these works never sounded more exciting, and fresh. For my money nobody played Beethoven (or Bruckner, Brahms, Mahler for that matter) with the same passion and electricity that the Berlin PO did with Karajan. I'm not especially a collector of multiple versions of anything classical, one great version for me is all I usually need, in fact I don't know how record companies and performers ever make much money these days from like the 127th recording in the catalogue of Beethoven's 5th, or Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' or whatever...well actually they don't, concert fees (which are on the increase due to a large increase in audiences) and TV/movie soundtrack recordings is really their main bread and butter income. Uniquely, classical music seems to just constantly regurgitate the same stuff endlessly, imagine if there were 100 rock bands out there who all over a period of time recorded almost identical versions of 'Dark Side of the Moon' or 'Abbey Road'...who would ever buy them?!!
Anyway, I'm going to spend much of today and tomorrow exploring this box set...I just played the famous C minor 5th, which I've heard probably 100's of times, but the energy and brilliance in this early 1960's BPO version is a real revelation.
I think he recorded them in the 50's??...if this is the one you mean, then I'd be curious to know more, though I have to tell you that I don't really do 'mono' even if digitally cleaned up!! Apart from my two Karajan sets I have two others, Kurt Masur/Leipzig and Mackerras/Liverpool Phil, as fine as they are both of which sound underwhelming and even lethargic when compared to this Berlin set I have just landed.
^^No the set you have picked up is one of the most renowned Beethoven cycles...I looked at Karajan's homepage this morning but it was way too detailed for me to wade through. Man he was one busy conductor.
^^No the set you have picked up is one of the most renowned Beethoven cycles...I looked at Karajan's homepage this morning but it was way too detailed for me to wade through. Man he was one busy conductor.
Yes, I assume he must hold some sort of record for the most recorded conductor in history, though I think Neeme Jarvi probably runs him close. Karajan was just electrifying, though a pompous ass who had DG by the throat financially due to his almost mythical status and reputation, so you ended up with his BPO LP's at that time with the record cover often reading...
True enough and he wasn't the only Tyrant at the podium, Fritz Reiner was legendary for instilling the fear of gawd into his Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well.
True enough and he wasn't the only Tyrant at the podium, Fritz Reiner was legendary for instilling the fear of gawd into his Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well.
Indeed LG, I think the tyrannical conductors are mostly in the past thankfully, I have heard old audio recordings that are now available of Toscanini which remind me of Joseph Goebbles addressing the party conference in Nuremberg! These days it's more of a collaborative effort, though Mrs TheSound has worked with several who have reduced players to tears, and one very well known American conductor, who shall remain nameless, stormed out of the rehearsal - and wouldn't come back - when the orchestra timpanist had a very heavy head-cold and couldn't stop sneezing!!
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