Brahms Symphonies Karajan

Here are Herbert von Karajan's celebrated interpretations of the four Brahms symphonies recorded in concert in 1973, at the peak of his career. Unitel's films from this period documented the maestro with his great Berlin orchestra on 35mm colour film and in stereo. "Others have gotten more reflection out of Brahms … but not more virility and controlled intense beauty than Karajan in the Unitel films" (New York Times).

I have to recommend this box set of Brahms Symphonies and other works including his Requiem recorded in the 1990's by Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic. Warner Classics released this edition in 2014 and it seems fitting for me to be the first one to review it now as Kurt Masur sadly passed away at the end of 2015. He had been the music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1991 until 2002 and this had been seen as a very successful period for the Orchestra which had been a bit wayward until he took over.

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 101 CDs across 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, and which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalogue.
For many, Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) – hailed early in his career as ‘Das Wunder Karajan’ (The Karajan Miracle) and known in the early 1960s as ‘the music director of Europe’ – remains the ultimate embodiment of the maestro.

Eight great symphonic cycles from the master conductor of our age in one box. Includes CD booklet with tracklists. The edition contains some of Karajans finest interpretations of Complete Symphonic Cycles by Beethoven (1970s), Brahms, Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Tchaikovsky.

Like Paavo Berglund’s Sibelius symphony recordings, also with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, these Brahms performances inject a certain novelty that will be appreciated especially by the listener who has wearied of them due to excessive repetition. While these are not radically desiccated renditions in the manner of Chailly or Harnoncourt, the COE’s smaller-scaled string body does require a bit of time at first for your ear to adjust to the thinner timbres. But the reward is a harvest of inner detail, much of it barely audible in full-size orchestral performances (but well captured by Ondine’s vivid recordings), which continually surprises and delights.