Christa Ludwig Christa Ludwig Vienna State Opera (2008)

Herbert von Karajan was the most renowned conductor to emerge from Europe in the post-World War II era – and through fortuitous timing throughout his career, and in spite of controversy that dogged his early years, he was the most recorded conductor of the 20th century, and is likely to remain one of the most visible (and biggest-selling) conductors well into the 21st century. Born in Salzburg and descended from a family of Greek origin with deep roots in Austria – including scholars and physicians in Vienna and Salzburg – he was a music prodigy, playing the piano at three and playing his first recital a year later.

The set marks 333 years since the birth of J.S. Bach. We can confidently say that certain numbers and numerical proportions had a special structural and sometimes religious significance for Bach. References to the number three reflect the important doctrine of God’s Tri-unity which lies at the core of Bach’s Lutheran faith. Nicholas Kenyon says: “333 is important, because one of the key Bach numbers is 3 representing the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The symbolism of three, and three times three, is everywhere in the collection of organ works Clavier-Übung III (1739). We often sense these underlying features in Bach’s work; while I don’t think he ever let them dominate his thinking, it was clearly a way in which he was expressing the harmony of the universe as he saw it.” The set is thus known as ‘Bach 333’.

Gundula Janowitz (soprano), Christa Ludwig (mezzo-soprano), Peter Schreier (tenor), Walter Berry (bass), Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Karl Böhm. Recorded in Dezember 1971 in the Piarist Church, Vienna. The Requiem is not only Mozart's last composition, but also the one most shrouded in mystery. The purportedly enigmatic patron who ordered the work and the fatal illness that befell Mozart while he was working on it long nurtured the macabre legend of Mozart composing his own Requiem mass commissioned by Death himself. The Requiem was completed by Mozart's friend and pupil Franz Saver Süssmayr on the basis of Mozart's sketches and instructions.