Karajan Mahler

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during World War II he conducted at the Berlin State Opera. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records.

The surprising thing about these three discs is that the performances get better the further we depart from the shores of Romanticism and tonality. Not what you'd expect from von K and the Berliners. Pelleas benefits from wonderfully lush orchestral playing from the Berlin Philharmonic, but it feels more like very colourful scene painting rather than real drama. To get to the Romantic heart of this piece, try Barbirolli: for its expressionist, forward looking (via Verklarte Nacht to Erwartung) side, go to Boulez.

The compact disc, as a sound carrier, was still on the horizon when Herbert von Karajan urged his record company to utilize the new digital technology in his recordings. Consequently Karajan's Magic Flute, recorded in 1980, became the first release of a Deutsche Grammophon digital production and was first released on LP. By the time the maestro died in 1989, the CD had finally replaced the LP as the primary sound carrier, yet he was realistic enough to know that the pioneering early stages of the digital era would be followed by further technical development. This is reflected in Karajan Gold.

The Grosses Festpielhaus in Salzburg has been the scene of countless memorable musical events - operas, concerts and recitals - for 50 years. Here is a unique chance to celebrate the glories of this distinguished era. In an exceptional collaboration with the Salzburg Festival, we have prepared a 25-CD box set - 5 complete operas, 10 concerts and 2 recitals - featuring many of the world's greatest artists, in recordings with classical status and others that are appearing on CD for the first time. Concerts (five out of ten are first-time releases): with Abbado, Bernstein, B hm, Boulez, Karajan, Levine, Mehta, Muti, Solti.

Die Jahreszeiten, or The Seasons, is not as well loved as Haydn's other late oratorio, The Creation; here Haydn tried to force pastoral imagery – by 1801 a set of ideas that had been musically rehashed for centuries – into his late and in many respects proto-Romantic musical language. He resented, he wrote to a correspondent, having to compose "French trash" at one point in the score that called for frog sounds, and the score contains a menagerie of other rustic creatures and sounds – shepherds, shepherdesses, horn calls, birds, trees, bees, herbs, fish, roosters, rifle shots, thunder and lighting, stags, sunrises, and sunsets, among others. Yet the work is a strange mixture of cute and exultant.

This is the first disc to be made in Budapest’s new National Concert Hall where the orchestra recently staged a Mahler festival in celebration of the composer’s local connections. Notwithstanding the change of venue and the extra forces deployed, it is very much a typical Budapest Festival production, lithe and alert, without necessarily sounding what older hands may think of as Mahlerian…

This is a taut, dense Mahler 6, missing all the angst that one finds in the recordings of Bernstein or Tennstedt. But this "tragic" symphony is much less frantic than his others, and Dohnanyi's interpretation, so similar to Szell's with the Cleveland Orchestra, is the way I feel the symphony ought to be played. This ranks in my top three or four Mahler 6, along with Abbado Berlin, Karajan, and Szell.

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 – Berliner Philharmoniker; Herbert von Karajan
Classical | 2 CD | EAC Rip | 403 MB, 3% recovery | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Complete scans
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon | Recorded: 1982 | Published: 1984

Rarely has this Symphony been shaped with such understanding and played with such selfless virtuosity as it was by Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in a legendary series of concerts in 1982. The performance is electric and intense, yet Karajan - ever the enigmatic blend of fire and ice - has the measure of the symphony's spiritual coolness… When the history of Twentieth Century music-making comes to be written this performance will be seen as one of its proudest landmarks. - Gramophone CD Guide

This is Dudamel’s first CD with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, recorded live at LA’s famed Disney Concert Hall as part of their epic 2012 Mahler Project, celebrating one of the most energetic and exciting musical partnerships of our times - The coming together of the very finest American orchestra, led with passion and vision by the unique force of nature that is Gustavo Dudamel.

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor; Kindertotenlieder; Rückert Lieder; Christa Ludwig, mezzosoprano; Berliner Philharmoniker; Herbert von Karajan
Classical | 2 CDs | EAC Rip | 605 Mb | FLAC+LOG+CUE | Full scans |7 RS links
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon

Karajan's reading of the Sixth, the darkest symphony of Mahler, is a revelation… the combination of polish, rhythmic point and flexibility make for a reading that has both concentration over the broadest span and consistent fantasy and imagination over detail. ..The recording is one of the very finest ever given to Karajan in Berlin, with ample range and richness…. a Mahler recording which sets new standards.
Gramophone (1978)
… magnificently prepared and executed; the orchestral playing is wonderfully beautiful, and the conductor's balancing of his vast forces is magisterially subtle… the controlled power of this account of the Sixth is enormous. Without that, the gorgeousness of the detail might have seemed cosmetic; but the strength of the framework is enough to carry it brilliantly. ..The Andante moderato, in particular, has a grandly sustained radiance that has probably never been matched.
Records and Recording (1978)