So many great Karajan outside DG/Decca. His Salome, Cosi, Hansel and Gretel, Rosenkabelier, Falstaff, Tristan, Meistersinger, Pelleas etc. Also so many exciting live performances of Meistersinger and Tristan at Bayreuth, Elektra, Don Carlo, and his Scala recording like his Lucia, Butterfly, trovaltore etc etc As Christa Ludwig said, he was a great opera conductor, but it really depends
I love Karajan's operas very much!I will select the most favorites ones althiugh I think the others you mentioned are mostly fantastically wel done..Boris Godunov,a monumental work!!!The Prologue amazes mecas well as the entire orchestration,also all the wonderfully vocals!!The Walkirie-My God,the fantastic Jon Vickers,Gundula Janowitz and the mesmerizing Regine Crespin,me up when she sings hojotohot!!!Simply magnificent!!My opinion is that Karajan's choice of singers was always excellent and Maestro Solti's orhestrations was mostly better!
I always refer to Karajan's Turandot as "A Slow Boat To China". His tempi are so meandering and slow it almost grinds to a complete halt. Nice sonics, though.
I generally do not like Karajan. But I do like his Parsifal. It is one of the very best. Parsifal is my favorite Opera btw. Also, he did a recording of Jessye Norman singing Brunhilda's Immolation Scene (Starke Scheite!) from Gotterdammerung with either Berlin or Vienna that can be found on RUclips that is amazing. It is not a complete Opera but beautifully filmed and sung and orchestrated.
Do try his early recording of Cosi Fan Tutte, with Schwarzkop, Merriman, Otto, Simoneau, Bruscantini and Panerai- it is light, fast, and an absolute joy.
I think Baltsa had a better Carmen in her than HvK allows her to be, he thinks the drama is in the pit. You'd think Ricciarelli would have been a fine Micaela but she's schreckliche at every moment. Karajan's best Trovatore and Butterfly are the ones with Callas and not necessarily just because of her. They flow more naturally. More Italianate. Minority report on the Boheme: I think it's bloated and grandiose, I much prefer, in their very different approaches, Beecham or Toscanini, to name only two. Serafin also gets it on Decca with Tebaldi and Bergonzi.But I agree with you about the Aida. And the Ring. In the Parsifal, Moll's Gurnemanz is the best reason to have it along with the sheer sound.
Sumi Jo did an interview a decade or so ago claiming that HVK tried to convince her to record the title role of Norma with him. Her tone was “yeah, he was nuts”. She was smart to keep it moving.
Thanks for this but we disagree on "Parsifal'. After many decades it has really hit home with me. I don't know Karajan's recording, but several others are great, including a few by Knappertsbusch. Too bad Karajan never finished the Ring he started at the Met in the late 1960s.
Great review of a box-set that I love! I'm told that Sena preferred her last name pronounced Yoo-REE-natz (for obvious reasons). Hilarious (in a way) regarding the swastika layout in the box. Wonder if there'll be a Schwarzkopf box with the same design.
I happened to watch this video with the captions on which provided some very interesting spelling variants. Thus we get the Korean carry on carrion box and other equally fractured spellings of other names. Nibble onions indeed. So much for AI. Without the captions and with sound this video, for me, was useful and informative. I am not a great opera buff but I do appreciate great singing and it is good to know what Karajan opera recordings are worth seeking out and those that are not.
It’s interesting that these boxes are no longer available. Bernstein is still available. Recently we had to Szell and Ormandy boxes but Karajan - who seemed to me to be the most visible and highly promoted conductor of his time - has faded. The only box I see on Amazon is oddly enough his choral works - Which I think Dave has not reviewed yet???😅😅😅
I think the live Schöpfung from Salzburg should be seen rather as a courteous addenda from DG to the 4 boxes. The studio recording of course is in the 60s box, where the live recording logically would also belong - but if I'm not totally mistaken, the live recording was released first time AFTER the 60s box came out. So neither the boorish lack of logic, often encountered from some publishers, nor a haphazard mishap at play here. As to the performance itself, this live recording of Die Schöpfung is overall, plain and simple: wonderful. Karajan is much fresher, livelier than in the studio. We get Wunderlich all the way through the work at the top of his game - ardent, radiant, lyrical. And a very young Janowitz in glorious, fresh voice and on best behavour what diction concerns. Kim Borg might not quite match Berry/Fisch-Diesk in the studio, but never the less acquits himself with aplomb in one of his better recordings. The studio recording surely deserves its accolades and certainly has its special moments and qualities. However, it's more often than not the Karajan live recording I grab for, when wanting to treat myself to an indeed wondrous rendition of late, devout, but so very humane Haydn at his pinnacle!
The next project might be Karajan's complete EMI recordings, issued in two boxes around 2008; a few years later, selected items were issued in a set containing multiple small boxes called something like "Karajan Remastered."
I would agree with Dave that the La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, and Boris Godunov recordings are sublime (he could have mentioned Nicolai Ghiaurov, a titanic Boris), and I did learn Das Rheingold from Karajan's set. However, I loathe Jon Vickers and find the Siegfried and Gotterdammerung recordings problematic because of the cast changes, and a poor Siegfried. But then I don't like Solti's Rheingold or Walkure either but think his Siegfried and Gotterdammerung are sensational, so there is no perfect Ring cycle though I do like most of the Sawallisch with Hildegard Behrens. Karajan did superb opera recordings with EMI and Decca as Dave notes, and there are some gems here, but to purchase the whole box when I have the sets I truly want? Nein, danke!
Fantastic review! But how was Karajan Bad for singer's voices?? I've heard quite the opposite from many singers who worked with him. How he carried them with the orchestra over particularly difficult moments etc....
As he got older, and more domineering, he wanted to work with singers who agreed with his "concept," even if they were not right for the part. There are many, many examples--his Turandot, for example, or Josephine Barstow in Verdi's Ballo (his last opera recording), Helga Dernesch's Wagner, and so forth.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Fun fact: a Gramophone interview from 2003 with Sumi Jo had her admitting Karajan wanted to record NORMA with her in the title role. Of course she turned him down. Can you imagine Sumi Jo as Norma??
Great to hear that you like Karajan’s Boris Godunov. That was the first recording I had of this opera and it is still the one i prefer listening to. It is great.
If the Otello is the same mastering as the one in the Karajan Decca box or the last two releases (with the ballet music) the sound is awful- there is no bass. The organ pedal at the start which was such a presence on the lps and first cd releases is hardly there. The set can only be heard correctly on the first cd release or the Golden Age of Analogue Blu-ray release
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I love his Don Giovanni with Samuel Ramey as the title role. It’s one of my favourite Don Giovannis. His Marriage of Figaro is also excellent
So many great Karajan outside DG/Decca. His Salome, Cosi, Hansel and Gretel, Rosenkabelier, Falstaff, Tristan, Meistersinger, Pelleas etc. Also so many exciting live performances of Meistersinger and Tristan at Bayreuth, Elektra, Don Carlo, and his Scala recording like his Lucia, Butterfly, trovaltore etc etc
As Christa Ludwig said, he was a great opera conductor, but it really depends
I love Karajan's operas very much!I will select the most favorites ones althiugh I think the others you mentioned are mostly fantastically wel done..Boris Godunov,a monumental work!!!The Prologue amazes mecas well as the entire orchestration,also all the wonderfully vocals!!The Walkirie-My God,the fantastic Jon Vickers,Gundula Janowitz and the mesmerizing Regine Crespin,me up when she sings hojotohot!!!Simply magnificent!!My opinion is that Karajan's choice of singers was always excellent and Maestro Solti's orhestrations was mostly better!
I always refer to Karajan's Turandot as "A Slow Boat To China". His tempi are so meandering and slow it almost grinds to a complete halt. Nice sonics, though.
I generally do not like Karajan. But I do like his Parsifal. It is one of the very best. Parsifal is my favorite Opera btw. Also, he did a recording of Jessye Norman singing Brunhilda's Immolation Scene (Starke Scheite!) from Gotterdammerung with either Berlin or Vienna that can be found on RUclips that is amazing. It is not a complete Opera but beautifully filmed and sung and orchestrated.
Do try his early recording of Cosi Fan Tutte, with Schwarzkop, Merriman, Otto, Simoneau, Bruscantini and Panerai- it is light, fast, and an absolute joy.
I think Baltsa had a better Carmen in her than HvK allows her to be, he thinks the drama is in the pit. You'd think Ricciarelli would have been a fine Micaela but she's
schreckliche at every moment. Karajan's best Trovatore and Butterfly are the ones with Callas and not necessarily just because of her. They flow more naturally. More Italianate.
Minority report on the Boheme: I think it's bloated and grandiose, I much prefer, in their very different approaches, Beecham or Toscanini, to name only two. Serafin also gets it on Decca with Tebaldi and Bergonzi.But I agree with you about the Aida. And the Ring. In the Parsifal, Moll's Gurnemanz is the best reason to have it along with the sheer sound.
Sumi Jo did an interview a decade or so ago claiming that HVK tried to convince her to record the title role of Norma with him. Her tone was “yeah, he was nuts”. She was smart to keep it moving.
Thanks for this but we disagree on "Parsifal'. After many decades it has really hit home with me. I don't know Karajan's recording, but several others are great, including a few by Knappertsbusch. Too bad Karajan never finished the Ring he started at the Met in the late 1960s.
Great review of a box-set that I love! I'm told that Sena preferred her last name pronounced Yoo-REE-natz (for obvious reasons). Hilarious (in a way) regarding the swastika layout in the box. Wonder if there'll be a Schwarzkopf box with the same design.
You are terrible! I am LMAO!
I happened to watch this video with the captions on which provided some very interesting spelling variants. Thus we get the Korean carry on carrion box and other equally fractured spellings of other names. Nibble onions indeed. So much for AI. Without the captions and with sound this video, for me, was useful and informative. I am not a great opera buff but I do appreciate great singing and it is good to know what Karajan opera recordings are worth seeking out and those that are not.
A real pity that DG did not include a live Tannhauser that Karajan did in early 1963 in Vienna.
It’s interesting that these boxes are no longer available. Bernstein is still available. Recently we had to Szell and Ormandy boxes but Karajan - who seemed to me to be the most visible and highly promoted conductor of his time - has faded. The only box I see on Amazon is oddly enough his choral works - Which I think Dave has not reviewed yet???😅😅😅
I don't believe he's particularly looking forward to it.
I did review it. Yech.
@@DavesClassicalGuide 😊
@@DavesClassicalGuide Indeed. I'd forgotten that. There's just so much Karajan to go around.
I think the live Schöpfung from Salzburg should be seen rather as a courteous addenda from DG to the 4 boxes. The studio recording of course is in the 60s box, where the live recording logically would also belong - but if I'm not totally mistaken, the live recording was released first time AFTER the 60s box came out. So neither the boorish lack of logic, often encountered from some publishers, nor a haphazard mishap at play here.
As to the performance itself, this live recording of Die Schöpfung is overall, plain and simple: wonderful. Karajan is much fresher, livelier than in the studio. We get Wunderlich all the way through the work at the top of his game - ardent, radiant, lyrical. And a very young Janowitz in glorious, fresh voice and on best behavour what diction concerns. Kim Borg might not quite match Berry/Fisch-Diesk in the studio, but never the less acquits himself with aplomb in one of his better recordings. The studio recording surely deserves its accolades and certainly has its special moments and qualities. However, it's more often than not the Karajan live recording I grab for, when wanting to treat myself to an indeed wondrous rendition of late, devout, but so very humane Haydn at his pinnacle!
The next project might be Karajan's complete EMI recordings, issued in two boxes around 2008; a few years later, selected items were issued in a set containing multiple small boxes called something like "Karajan Remastered."
You bought this so we don't have to. Thank you.
This one I would love to own.
I would agree with Dave that the La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, and Boris Godunov recordings are sublime (he could have mentioned Nicolai Ghiaurov, a titanic Boris), and I did learn Das Rheingold from Karajan's set. However, I loathe Jon Vickers and find the Siegfried and Gotterdammerung recordings problematic because of the cast changes, and a poor Siegfried. But then I don't like Solti's Rheingold or Walkure either but think his Siegfried and Gotterdammerung are sensational, so there is no perfect Ring cycle though I do like most of the Sawallisch with Hildegard Behrens. Karajan did superb opera recordings with EMI and Decca as Dave notes, and there are some gems here, but to purchase the whole box when I have the sets I truly want? Nein, danke!
Fantastic review! But how was Karajan Bad for singer's voices?? I've heard quite the opposite from many singers who worked with him. How he carried them with the orchestra over particularly difficult moments etc....
As he got older, and more domineering, he wanted to work with singers who agreed with his "concept," even if they were not right for the part. There are many, many examples--his Turandot, for example, or Josephine Barstow in Verdi's Ballo (his last opera recording), Helga Dernesch's Wagner, and so forth.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Fun fact: a Gramophone interview from 2003 with Sumi Jo had her admitting Karajan wanted to record NORMA with her in the title role. Of course she turned him down. Can you imagine Sumi Jo as Norma??
Great to hear that you like Karajan’s Boris Godunov. That was the first recording I had of this opera and it is still the one i prefer listening to. It is great.
Me too as well and thanks to this recording i will always prefer the Rimsky orchestration.
Freni was one soprano whose voice Karajan didn't ruin, even though she did later Verdi with him, which some question as being right for her.
She was smarter than he was.
7:59 No one else matters? What about Ghiaurov, who actually sings Boris? 😂😂
Not bad.
If the Otello is the same mastering as the one in the Karajan Decca box or the last two releases (with the ballet music) the sound is awful- there is no bass. The organ pedal at the start which was such a presence on the lps and first cd releases is hardly there. The set can only be heard correctly on the first cd release or the Golden Age of Analogue Blu-ray release
Katia Ricciarelli ironically stated "I would sing Scarpia for Von Karajan, I trust him so much." I'm sure she lived to regret those words.