Karajan Blaue Donau

Between 1961 and 1986, Herbert von Karajan made three recordings of the Mozart Requiem for Deutsche Grammophon, with little change in his conception of the piece over the years. This recording, from 1975, is, on balance, the best of them. The approach is Romantic, broad, and sustained, marked by a thoroughly homogenized blend of chorus and orchestra, a remarkable richness of tone, striking power, and an almost marmoreal polish. Karajan viewed the Requiem as idealized church music rather than a confessional statement awash in operatic expressiveness. In this account, the orchestra is paramount, followed in importance by the chorus, then the soloists. Not surprisingly, the singing of the solo quartet sounds somewhat reined-in, especially considering these singers' pedigrees. By contrast, the Vienna Singverein, always Karajan's favorite chorus, sings with a huge dynamic range and great intensity, though with an emotional detachment nonetheless. Perfection, if not passion or poignancy, is the watchword. The Berlin orchestra plays majestically, and the sound is pleasingly vivid.

Herbert von Karajan (German: [ˈhɛɐbɛɐt fɔn ˈkaraˌjan]; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. /quote]

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.

In light of the "chill-out" trend of the 1990s, major labels released many albums of slow, meditative pieces to appeal to listeners who wanted relaxing or reflective background music. Deutsche Grammophon's vaults are full of exceptional recordings of classical orchestral music, and the performances by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic are prominent in the label's catalog. The slow selections on Karajan: Adagio are in most cases drawn from larger compositions, though these movements are frequently anthologized as if they were free-standing works. Indeed, many have come to think of the Adagietto from Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 as a separate piece in its own right, largely because of its evocative use in the film Death in Venice. Furthermore, the famous Canon by Johann Pachelbel is seldom played with its original companion piece, the Gigue in D major, let alone in its original version for three violins and continuo; it most often appears in an arrangement for strings.

A tremendous sense of energy and fulfillment. Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic gave a series of concerts of Beethoven's symphonies from April 12 to 16, 1966. Each day's programming was carefully planned by Karajan himself for maximum effect. The overture "Coriolan" at the beginning and "Leonore No. 3" before the final Ninth indicate that everything is leading up to the main Ninth. I was very interested in the full text of Mr. Nao Shibata's commentary in the booklet, in which he analyzed Karajan's intention. Except for the overture "Coriolan," this is the first time it has appeared.

Karajan could be so expressive, with the big sound of the Berlin Philharmonic, in Vivaldi's very famous Magnum Opus. Solo violinist Michel Schwalbe is also terrific, quiet and bold alternately, as needed.

Herbert von Karajan made Anton Bruckner’s mammoth 8th Symphony a center of his large repertory, recording it for release four times, in 1944, 1957, 1975 and finally in 1988, shortly before the maestro’s death. Karajan’ s emotional connection with the 8th is obvious and, in comparing the last two of these releases, I’ve been very impressed with how an aging conductor could re-invent his interpretations. As one can tell from these two Karajan performances and those from other musicians, the 8th can support many different approaches, with an almost kaleidoscopic array of musical and emotional elements revealing different colors as its components are played in different ways.