Karajan Very Best Adagio

Without a doubt, most of Herbert von Karajan records (usually with Berliner Philharmoniker) stand out as finest among the rest. Not that he turned everything he touched into pure gold, but his recordings of orchestral works are very often peerless. And in slow compositions his abilities are even more applaudable, as he was able to feel the Adagio pieces to the smallest detail.

Isaac Stern was among the most distinguished of the world's violinists. He achieved a strong rapport with his audience through his own personality and his visible love for the music, with an unerring command of the proper style for each work in his exceptionally wide repertoire. His technique was impeccable, his tone strong and warm, though not rich. He performed and recorded virtually the entire standard violin repertoire, including most of the many great violin concertos of the 1930s: those of Hindemith, Berg, Prokofiev (No. 2), Walton, Bartok (No. 2) and other works, some quite contemporary.

The breadth of clarinetist Sabine Meyer's repertoire is matched by her dedication to collaborations with other, equally skilled musicians. She received her first music lessons from her father, clarinetist Karl Meyer, and then went on to study with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart and Hans Deinzer in Hannover. She was 16 when she made her professional debut. She joined Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for a time, then in 1982, Herbert von Karajan created something of an international stir by appointing her as solo clarinetist for the Berlin Philharmonic, going against the orchestra's tradition of not admitting female musicians.

Herbert von Karajan recorded almost everything in the standard orchestral repertoire once, many works two or three times, between his 1950s recordings for EMI with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the early 1960s for Decca with the Vienna Philharmonic, and his 1960s - 1989 recordings, mostly with the Berlin Philharmonic, for Deutsche Grammophon.

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.