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Herbert von Karajan
The Legendary Decca Recordings
Herbert von Karajan:  The Legendary Decca Recordings Tell a Friend about this album

$62.91 9-CD Set
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Album Review

Released: 2008
Label: Decca
Selection #: 217212
Nine CDs of exceptional performances from von Karajan’s fruitful 1960s stint conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
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1 Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: 1. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
2 Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: 2. Andante sostenuto
3 Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: 3. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
4 Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: 4. Adagio - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio
5 Symphony No. 103 in E flat major ('Drumroll'), H. 1/103: 1. Adagio - Allegro con spirito
6 Symphony No. 103 in E flat major ('Drumroll'), H. 1/103: 2. Andante più tosto allegretto
7 Symphony No. 103 in E flat major ('Drumroll'), H. 1/103: 3. Menuetto
8 Symphony No. 103 in E flat major ('Drumroll'), H. 1/103: 4. Finale: Allegro con spirito
9 Symphony No. 104 in D major ('London'), H. 1/104: 1. Adagio - Allegro
10 Symphony No. 104 in D major ('London'), H. 1/104: 2. Andante
11 Symphony No. 104 in D major ('London'), H. 1/104: 3. Menuetto: Allegretto
12 Symphony No. 104 in D major ('London'), H. 1/104: 4. Finale: Spiritoso
13 Tragic Overture, in D minor, Op. 81
14 Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90: 1. Allegro con brio
15 Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90: 2. Andante
16 Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90: 3. Poco allegretto
17 Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90: 4. Allegro
18 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550: 1. Molto allegro
19 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550: 2. Andante
20 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550: 3. Menuetto: Allegretto
21 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550: 4. Allegro assai
22 Symphony No. 41 in C major ('Jupiter'), K. 551: 1. Allegro vivace
23 Symphony No. 41 in C major ('Jupiter'), K. 551: 2. Andante cantabile
24 Symphony No. 41 in C major ('Jupiter'), K. 551: 3. Menuetto
25 Symphony No. 41 in C major ('Jupiter'), K. 551: 4. Finale: Molto allegro
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Album Review

Some listeners assert that Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan made his best recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in the late '70s, while others argue he did his best work for EMI in the middle '50s. But there are those, a minority but not an altogether insignificant minority, who say he made his best recordings for Decca in the early '60s. This nine-disc collection of those recordings makes a highly persuasive case for that point of view.

Working with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Decca producers John Culshaw and Erik Smith, Karajan got virtuoso performances from both the orchestra and the recording team. The Viennese musicians play with their characteristic ease and elegance, and their richly upholstered ensemble sounds lush and deep in everything from the surging rhythms of Holst's "Mars" to the heroic climaxes of Brahms' First. Culshaw and Smith capture their performances in stereo sound that rivals the best digital recordings in color and clarity and surpasses them in presence in everything from the shimmering winds in Grieg's Peer Gynt to the bludgeoning timpani of Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Because he was working with the self-governing Viennese orchestra, Karajan was less domineering than he was in his later Deutsche Grammophon recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the orchestra he ran as music director. These performances have a sense of measured strength that his DG recordings can't match; listen to the supple intensity of his tempos in Beethoven's Seventh. And because he was working with the Viennese orchestra, he was more relaxed than he was in his EMI recordings working with the Philharmonia, a studio orchestra that worked for producer Walter Legge, and these performances have a feeling of relaxed power that the EMI recordings can't touch; check out the burnished warmth of his Brahms' Third. In short, anyone who admires Karajan should certainly hear these recordings. And anyone who doesn't admire him might do well to check them out as well since they show a side of his work that is less often heard. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide

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