Karajan and Beethoven

[jazzy_dave]

I am currently listening to the Karajan 100 Anniversary Box set 2008 of the complete Beethoven Symphonies - all none of them plus a few overtures. These were recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in the late fifties before Karajan moved to drill the Berlin Phil into the powerhouse it became.

The 5 CD box set is all mono recordings but gloriously restored and sounding great. So a youngish Karajan flexing his muscles here. Slight rough edges but is even better for it than the smooth gloss he achieved in Berlin.

I also have the recordings he di in the eighties on DG.





I also have this wondeful version of them by Herbert Blomstedt with the Staatskapelle Dresden.




But do not take my word for it, check this out from an expert -

Random Reviews No. 29 (Beethoven Cycles by Karajan, Klemperer, Dorati)

Watch on YouTube

I must admit the Klemperor cycle does sound very tempting.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Ah Karajan!

Everyone's favourite unreconstructed Nazi!

[thewayne]

I don't know if you've heard about the new Apple Classical Music app that's launching soon. Not only can you search by composer or title, you can also search by conductor and symphony orchestra!

I think it's initially launching for iPhones, but later will come to iPads and presumably late OS Mac computers.