Karajan Live

[richardfinegold]

I’ve ordered a few recordings of Karajan in concert from St. Laurent Studio, from the mail order company Norpete.com which is boutique label that specializes in older recordings, issued in CD only, and based in Vermont. They are stereo radio tapes from the seventies and eighties from Concerts in Paris and the Salzburg Festival. I’ve ordered the Mahler 5&6 and Brahms Symphonies with the Berliners. In all cases the concerts were given a few weeks of recording sessions of the same repertoire, and indeed I have the relevant studio recordings.
I didn’t get to hear von K in concert, and the reviews that I have read of these recordings suggest that they have just that extra touch of excitement that live music making can provide. Karajan was such a control freak that it is hard to imagine hearing him letting himself go, so I am pretty excited by the prospect of receiving these.

[Petrushka]

I’ve ordered a few recordings of Karajan in concert from St. Laurent Studio, from the mail order company Norpete.com which is boutique label that specializes in older recordings, issued in CD only, and based in Vermont. They are stereo radio tapes from the seventies and eighties from Concerts in Paris and the Salzburg Festival. I’ve ordered the Mahler 5&6 and Brahms Symphonies with the Berliners. In all cases the concerts were given a few weeks of recording sessions of the same repertoire, and indeed I have the relevant studio recordings.
I didn’t get to hear von K in concert, and the reviews that I have read of these recordings suggest that they have just that extra touch of excitement that live music making can provide. Karajan was such a control freak that it is hard to imagine hearing him letting himself go, so I am pretty excited by the prospect of receiving these.

Very interesting! I'd be a bit wary about buying from the US from here but would be interested in your feedback.

I saw Karajan just the once, with the BPO in London in 1979 playing the Bruckner 8. There are only a limited number of live Karajan performances on CD, mostly comprising a few on the Testament and Orfeo labels and a few more can be found by searching on youTube. The majority of these are concert performances in either London, Vienna or Salzburg. The Berlin radio stations vaults must be stuffed full with years of Karajan recordings but my understanding is that these are owned by the Karajan estate. I may be wrong about this and would welcome any more information from anyone who knows more.

I can foresee the possibility that sometime in the unknowable future the Berlin radio recordings will be released thus keeping Karajan's name alive for a new generation. Whether I'll be around to see it is another question!

[richardfinegold]

Very interesting! I'd be a bit wary about buying from the US from here but would be interested in your feedback.

I saw Karajan just the once, with the BPO in London in 1979 playing the Bruckner 8. There are only a limited number of live Karajan performances on CD, mostly comprising a few on the Testament and Orfeo labels and a few more can be found by searching on youTube. The majority of these are concert performances in either London, Vienna or Salzburg. The Berlin radio stations vaults must be stuffed full with years of Karajan recordings but my understanding is that these are owned by the Karajan estate. I may be wrong about this and would welcome any more information from anyone who knows more.

I can foresee the possibility that sometime in the unknowable future the Berlin radio recordings will be released thus keeping Karajan's name alive for a new generation. Whether I'll be around to see it is another question!

There just aren’t a lot of non You Tube sources of live Karajan available, so as I mentioned, I am pretty excited

[jayne lee wilson]

There just aren’t a lot of non You Tube sources of live Karajan available, so as I mentioned, I am pretty excited

Like Petrushka, I've often wondered what riches there may be in the live vaults.....really fascinated to get your feedback on these soon, Richard, with, I'm quite sure, a careful sonic appraisal....

My own most exciting Karajan experiences were, precisely, those regular live or recorded relays on Radio 3 through the 70s, often on a Sunday morning... Bruckner, Mahler, Brahms, Schoenberg....

Extensive details on the sources here.....

https://www.norpete.com/orchestral.html

....some of these could easily have been the very concerts I heard back then....

[richardfinegold]

Like Petrushka, I've often wondered what riches there may be in the live vaults.....really fascinated to get your feedback on these soon, Richard, with, I'm quite sure, a careful sonic appraisal....

My own most exciting Karajan experiences were, precisely, those regular live or recorded relays on Radio 3 through the 70s, often on a Sunday morning... Bruckner, Mahler, Brahms, Schoenberg....

Extensive details on the sources here.....

https://www.norpete.com/orchestral.html

....some of these could easily have been the very concerts I heard back then....

Hopefully they come soon. It was a little discouraging to see the lead article on their website was an article about the current poor performance on the U.S. Postal Service. I just received my mother in law XMass Gift

[Petrushka]

I think that DG released some live BPO/Karajan recordings for the Japanese market of concerts given in Tokyo and elsewhere. They are on Amazon but the last time I looked they were at exorbitant prices. There's a Beethoven 9 from this source on youTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziHze4VjaNs

There is a theory that the Karajan Estate own the rights to the Berlin radio recordings (RIAS & Sender Freies Berlin) not with a view to their issue but as a means to take them out of circulation on the basis that they provide competition for the studio recordings. This might also apply to Austrian Radio (ORF) recordings of the BPO as very few of these have even made their way on to youTube never mind on CD. We could really do with some official confirmation of the actual position regarding Karajan's live recordings instead of guesswork. Those live recordings with the BPO that have been issued all come from foreign radio stations, including our own BBC, and some of these are sonically compromised, another reason to take them out of circulation.

Anyone wishing to view a complete record of Karajan's concert programmes and discography may like to spend a few happy hours with this: http://www.karajan.org/jart/prj3/kar...ve-mode=active

[LHC]

There were also some live concerts he gave in Moscow that were released on CD, including Shostakovich 10th Symphony. They appear to be available to download on Amazon, but the CDs are no longer available.

The Shostakovich can be heard on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2XI8SoJito

I was lucky enough to attend his last two concerts with the BPO at the Royal Festival Hall, the last one of which has been released by Testament. The other concert, of Brahms 2 and 4, was rather unusual in that the BPO had given a concert in Paris on the previous day, and their formal attire had been held up in transit by French strikers, so the orchestra appeared wearing their normal day clothes. I would love to have a copy of that concert as well, as it was a wonderful concert.

[gradus]

I saw him with the VPO on a couple of occasions and was more struck by the sound of the VPO string section than the actual performances themselves - my loss I guess as I certainly don't subscribe to the distaste for his recordings that seems to be commonplace these days.

[Barbirollians]

I struggled with a lot of his 1980s DG recordings but much of his earlier output especially the 1960s Beethoven and his work with the Philharmonia is generally brilliant as was the very late VPO Bruckner .

The Testament live discs are great especially the Brahms 1 - the coda in the finale is extraordinary.

[jayne lee wilson]

Some here may recall the luxuriously packaged andante series, where the live Karajan was from the Salzburg Festival...4-disc set from Mozart to Strauss, Bruckner 5 to Beethoven 1, 1964-79 with the VPO mono/stereo.... can't recall what I thought of it all in its extravagant hardback presentation.... IIRC I loved the Coronation Mass and Bruckner Te Deum most.....

Probably long gone now, worth seeking for if you're keen.....(AND2060)...

[Petrushka]

Some here may recall the luxuriously packaged andante series, where the live Karajan was from the Salzburg Festival...4-disc set from Mozart to Strauss, Bruckner 5 to Beethoven 1, 1964-79 with the VPO mono/stereo.... can't recall what I thought of it all in its extravagant hardback presentation.... IIRC I loved the Coronation Mass and Bruckner Te Deum most.....

Probably long gone now, worth seeking for if you're keen.....(AND2060)...

I have that Andante box, Jayne, bought it from HMV in London many moons ago. The truly outstanding performance there is the extraordinary Bruckner 5 from 1969 sounding magnificent in this transfer. You know you're in for something special from the very first note.

Another live VPO/Bruckner recording with Karajan is one from DG of the 9th Symphony given at Salzburg on July 25 1976. It was issued in 1992 as part of a set commemorating the 150th anniversary of the VPO. I remember hearing it live in a broadcast on R3 that boiling hot Sunday morning and it is a devastating performance. If you pack only one live Karajan performance in your desert island bag it should be this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-9-...s%2C177&sr=1-4

[richardfinegold]

I have that Andante box, Jayne, bought it from HMV in London many moons ago. The truly outstanding performance there is the extraordinary Bruckner 5 from 1969 sounding magnificent in this transfer. You know you're in for something special from the very first note.

Another live VPO/Bruckner recording with Karajan is one from DG of the 9th Symphony given at Salzburg on July 25 1976. It was issued in 1992 as part of a set commemorating the 150th anniversary of the VPO. I remember hearing it live in a broadcast on R3 that boiling hot Sunday morning and it is a devastating performance. If you pack only one live Karajan performance in your desert island bag it should be this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-9-...s%2C177&sr=1-4

When I want to hear Bruckner 5 it’s the Karajan recording I reach for..that 1969 account sounds tempting

[richardfinegold]

The trove arrived today. First up was the Sixth, from a concert in Paris in June 17, 1977. I am not sure when the studio Mahler 6 was released, but I bought it in 1980, then on CD, and have listened to it countless times, so I thought I’d start with the live Sixth.
It does greatly resemble the studio account, but it has that extra bit of urgency that one would expect. The double basses at the outset sound positively feral. In IV, at the conclusion of the long introduction, the leap into the body of the movement is much more athletic and fast. The brass players must have earned their paycheck. Also in IV, the jaunty March episode that occurs about 15minutes in sounds a lot more pompous and menacing, anticipating the Rondo-Burlesque of the Ninth. One can almost see the Brownshirts bullying people in Pre Warin 1933 Berlin, pushing the World into the maelstrom.
One disappointment is the great surging theme of the slow movement. In the studio it’s an an unstoppable Tidal Wave. Here, it has a few hitches in the climax.
The critic who claimed the Sonics here equal the studio version is somewhat deluded. It is a good transfer of a stereo broadcast, but tends to overload at climaxes and lacks the front to back depth of soundstage of the recording. And there are coughs, occasional horn bobbles, all of which are irrelevant.
The audience goes nuts at the end. Surelly the French had never heard Mahler played like that at that time

[jayne lee wilson]

The trove arrived today. First up was the Sixth, from a concert in Paris in June 17, 1977. I am not sure when the studio Mahler 6 was released, but I bought it in 1980, then on CD, and have listened to it countless times, so I thought I’d start with the live Sixth.
It does greatly resemble the studio account, but it has that extra bit of urgency that one would expect. The double basses at the outset sound positively feral. In IV, at the conclusion of the long introduction, the leap into the body of the movement is much more athletic and fast. The brass players must have earned their paycheck. Also in IV, the jaunty March episode that occurs about 15minutes in sounds a lot more pompous and menacing, anticipating the Rondo-Burlesque of the Ninth. One can almost see the Brownshirts bullying people in Pre Warin 1933 Berlin, pushing the World into the maelstrom.
One disappointment is the great surging theme of the slow movement. In the studio it’s an an unstoppable Tidal Wave. Here, it has a few hitches in the climax.
The critic who claimed the Sonics here equal the studio version is somewhat deluded. It is a good transfer of a stereo broadcast, but tends to overload at climaxes and lacks the front to back depth of soundstage of the recording. And there are coughs, occasional horn bobbles, all of which are irrelevant.
The audience goes nuts at the end. Surelly the French had never heard Mahler played like that at that time

Useful, Richard, thanks...I'm still wondering whether to take a gamble on the Brahms cycle in the series......

[richardfinegold]

Useful, Richard, thanks...I'm still wondering whether to take a gamble on the Brahms cycle in the series......

I bought the Brahms. Hopefully get to it this weekend