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Herbert von Karajan (Testament)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Herbert von Karajan (Testament)
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (5) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #2

This 1960 recording hails from EMI's golden age under producer Walter Legge. He held all the key cards--soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, tenor Nicolai Gedda, and conductor Herbert von Karajan, all in their prime--and put the...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Ludwig van Beethoven, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Nicolai Gedda
Title: Herbert von Karajan (Testament)
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Testament UK
Original Release Date: 1/1/1998
Re-Release Date: 10/10/2006
Album Type: Import
Genre: Classical
Styles: Opera & Classical Vocal, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Modern, 20th, & 21st Century, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 749677212629

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording
This 1960 recording hails from EMI's golden age under producer Walter Legge. He held all the key cards--soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, tenor Nicolai Gedda, and conductor Herbert von Karajan, all in their prime--and put them together with his London-based orchestra and the Vienna-based choir. Oddly, though, this recording never received its full due, perhaps because the original LP sound quality was rather substandard. This CD remastering is a minor miracle. It's now just as vivid and immediate as one could want from an early stereo recording, and the performance has all the power and inspiration of the young lion with none of the affectations of the more mature Karajan. There's also a good performance of Mozart's Symphony no. 38 ("Prague") plus an interview with Schwarzkopf, in which she confesses to having had vocal fatigue because she was also performing Falstaff at the time. --David Patrick Stearns
 

CD Reviews

Excellent Missa Solemnis
Erik D. LOFQUIST | Shoreline, WA | 12/02/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Few of the large works in classical music have been recorded so often, and with such success, as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. This makes it extremely difficult to choose a recording, especially if you are going to have just one. Allow me to make a case for this one! First, there is Karajan's emotionally explosive conducting, without his later annoying mannerisms. It is raw (in the best sense), fresh, and visceral, like Beethoven himself. Second, this is the best quartet of soloists ever assembled on a major recording. Schwarzkopf and Ludwig, in particular, are so well matched that it is often hard to tell where one picks up and the other leaves off. Third, there is some sublime solo violin work in the Benedictus by an unnamed soloist, presumably the concertmaster.
The downsides to this recording are minimal. Schwarzkopf is noticeably flat at one point in the Gloria, but divine everywhere else. The sound is a bit more harsh and shallow than more recent recordings, but still impressive by 1959 standards."
Herbert Von Karajan, el músico del siglo!
Francisco J. Muñoz | Santa Cruz, Bolivia | 06/07/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Karajan, sin lugar a dudas fue un músico de dotes excepcionales, fue un "milagro".Él fue el interprete ideal de la música que millones de millones de seres humanos amamos y cuantos más después de nosotros... en los siglos que vendrán. Sus interpretaciones de la Missa solemnis de Beethoven, es un ejemplo de la extraordinaria maestría que él tenía. Querido amante de la música si usted escucha cualquiera de las interpretaciones de Karajan de la Missa Op. 123 de Beethoven. Está motivo del comentario ó cualquiera de las posteriores la de 1966 con; Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich y Walter Berry ó la 1986 con; Lella Cuberli, Trudeliese Schmidt, Viston Cole y José Van Dam, estoy seguro que usted estará de acuerdo conmigo que Karajan fue el interprete ideal de ésta MAGNA OBRA. Von Karajan, le da toda la profundidad a la obra, con la mejor calidad de sonido que nadie... Además que éste álbum nos entrega en forma gratuita ensayos del gran Herbert Von Karajan, en esta obra de tanta importancia beethoveniana. Beethoven cuando mandó esta obra a su editor, la llamó mi mejor obra que hubiera compuesto. Después de la Missa, Beethoven solo compondría dos obras del calibre de su gloriosa Missa: LA NOVENA SINFONIA Y EL CUARTETO OPUS. 131.El tener este disco es una obligación para cualquier karajano ó beethoveniano.P.D.- De existir cielo seguramente esta es la música que está sonando y nada raro que sea está versión de Karajan! Francisco J. Muñoz"