HvK best at ... ?

[cloughie]

His Philharmonia account from the late forties is usually considered to be his best; needless to add, it doesn’t convince me.

Wasn’t late 40s VPO, late 50s was PO and the only one of the ‘cycle’ recorded over the decade in stereo!

[mathias broucek]

Nice to read some positives on Herbie.

Excellent in "core repertoire" but usually excellent value too when outside his comfort zone (Balakirev, Honegger, Berg etc.)

I even quite like his Handel Op 6. Yes, it's a bit slow and a bit heavy but he LOVES the music, clearly and the quality of string playing is pretty wonderful...

It's a shame there's not more live stuff out there. I have a couple of excellent Testament RFH issues, the stunning VPO Bruckner 9 put out by DG as a limited edition and a reasonably savage Rite of Spring in decent enough sound on Palexa (although still tame compared to the Gergiev I spun last night)

[silvestrione]

Nice to read some positives on Herbie.

Excellent in "core repertoire" but usually excellent value too when outside his comfort zone (Balakirev, Honegger, Berg etc.)

I even quite like his Handel Op 6. Yes, it's a bit slow and a bit heavy but he LOVES the music, clearly and the quality of string playing is pretty wonderful...

It's a shame there's not more live stuff out there. I have a couple of excellent Testament RFH issues, the stunning VPO Bruckner 9 put out by DG as a limited edition and a reasonably savage Rite of Spring in decent enough sound on Palexa (although still tame compared to the Gergiev I spun last night)

Yes, but positive threads can be expensive too! I've ordered the live VPO Bruckner, and the DVD Bruckner mentioned above.

[HighlandDougie]

It's a shame there's not more live stuff out there.

I wish that I could say that they are easily available (other than as MP3s) but the "Karajan in Moscow" trio is well worth seeking out, especially Volume 2 - the DSCH 10th makes one wish that HvK had tackled the 8th. Did he ever conduct the 5th? Whatever, if anyone ever comes across the CD, snap it up (as long as it's reasonably priced!).

[mathias broucek]

I wish that I could say that they are easily available (other than as MP3s) but the "Karajan in Moscow" trio is well worth seeking out, especially Volume 2 - the DSCH 10th makes one wish that HvK had tackled the 8th. Did he ever conduct the 5th? Whatever, if anyone ever comes across the CD, snap it up (as long as it's reasonably priced!).

Thanks Dougie - I should have included the Moscow DSCH10!

Another "official" live recording is Beethoven PC3 with Gould! (The coupled Sibelius 5 is nothing special compared to his studio versions.)

[verismissimo]

Tremendous Haydn - symphony 104 - BPO 1975 …

[jayne lee wilson]

I wish that I could say that they are easily available (other than as MP3s) but the "Karajan in Moscow" trio is well worth seeking out, especially Volume 2 - the DSCH 10th makes one wish that HvK had tackled the 8th. Did he ever conduct the 5th? Whatever, if anyone ever comes across the CD, snap it up (as long as it's reasonably priced!).

Qobuz in 16/44.1, stream/download....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/search?q=karajan+in+moscow+melodiya&i=boutique

[HighlandDougie]

Qobuz in 16/44.1, stream/download....
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/search?q...iya&i=boutique

Thanks Jayne. I somehow never thought to look on Qobuz (duh!) when I downloaded them a couple of years ago. Someone on the Forum's enthusiasm for the DSCH 10th led me to them (FHG? Petrushka? Apologies for not remembering).

[verismissimo]

Thanks Jayne. I somehow never thought to look on Qobuz (duh!) when I downloaded them a couple of years ago. Someone on the Forum's enthusiasm for the DSCH 10th led me to them (FHG? Petrushka? Apologies for not remembering).

Peter Quantrill featured the live Shost 10 in his Gram piece (featured earlier in this thread) as his top pick from K's vast discography.

[mathias broucek]

Qobuz in 16/44.1, stream/download....
https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/search?q...iya&i=boutique

The Shostakovich is truly outstanding and at that price no one should hesitate!

[Petrushka]

It's a shame there's not more live stuff out there.

A constant complaint from me too. There are some live Salzburg recordings on youTube and when the BPO was on tour to be found here and there but I recall reading somewhere that HvK's widow holds all the rights to the many Berlin radio recordings (SFB, RIAS) which is why they have never seen the light of day. Does anyone have any more info on this?

[verismissimo]

Just reached K's outstanding R Strauss tone poems with the Philharmonia in 1951/53.

Don Juan, Till, Tod und … Don Quixote with BPO and Rostropovich from twenty years later to come.

[verismissimo]

I started collecting in earnest around 1966 and at that time the top end of the market seemed to be dominated by Karajan's Beethoven, especially the symphonies, on DGG.

So here we are some 53 years later and I've been listening to them this week for the first time.

They are quite outstanding, of course.