Word: karajans
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Among the three international superstars of conducting, Sir Georg Solti and Leonard Bernstein are almost overly familiar to audiences in the U.S. Herbert von Karajan is a more remote, elusive figure. In 1955 he was appointed conductor for life of the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the finest orchestras in the world. In the years since, he has exercised complete control over its rehearsals, working conditions, personnel and guest artists. Today he can say: "I cannot now blame anybody else for not getting the results I want. No excuses. If it's wrong, it's entirely my fault...
...right, that is his fault and joy too. Such was the case last week as Karajan brought off a bravura musical marathon in New York's Carnegie Hall. In four successive days he unraveled the musical and spiritual mysteries of Brahms' A German Requiem, the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, a double bill of the Mozart Requiem and Bruckner Te Deum and the Verdi Requiem Mass. Each of these is a work of immense proportions requiring time and money as well as skill to prepare. The average orchestra in the U.S. will usually do one such score a year...
...Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Prelude to Parsifal, Preludes to Act I and Act III of Lohengrin (Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, conductor; Philips; $7.98). If records like this did not come along occasionally, one would tend to take these familiar excerpts for granted-as Herbert von Karajan obviously does in a bleary competing version on Angel. The freshness and vigor of Haitink's interpretations stem, surprisingly enough, from his scrupulously orthodox approach. He is less interested in conveying his own message than in getting his men-all of whom seem to be virtuosos-to play precisely...
From Deutsche Grammophon conies Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. I in B-flat minor, recorded last November with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, which is both surprising and gratifying for its underplaying of the work's slam-bang heroics...
...Bach: Mass in B Minor (Michel Corboz conducting the Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Lausanne; RCA, 2 LPs, $13.96). J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor (Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic with soloists and chorus; Deutsche Grammophon, 3 LPs, $23.94). Is a cathedral or a chapel the proper setting for Bach's mighty Mass? These two recordings are not likely to resolve that longstanding controversy. The Von Karajan production is monumental, sumptuous and well planned, with the attention to detail and seamless le gato that are his trademark. In Von Karajan's hands, the six-part chorus...