Top 5 Karajan Recordings

[jjfan]

Based on the 2 other threads about Karajan, that I'm asking this.. What's your top 5 Karajan recordings? I hope this will give us newbies, a good starting point in exploring this very popular conductor.

For interesting view points about the conductor, please do visit these other threads..
Warning: Herbert von Karajan
What is Karajan known for?

[Harry]

Based on the 2 other threads about Karajan, that I'm asking this.. What's your top 5 Karajan recordings? I hope this will give us newbies, a good starting point in exploring this very popular conductor.

For interesting view points about the conductor, please do visit these other threads..
Warning: Herbert von Karajan
What is Karajan known for?

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2. Sixties.
Brahms, Symphony No. 1, Seventies.
Bruckner Symphony No 8.
Sibelius Symphony No. 4.
Straus,  Metamorphosen
All DGG

And apart from all that the Beethoven Symphonies, whatever age, but I prefer the sixties recordings by a small margin.

[Valentino]

Mozart: Violin concerti 3 & 5 with Mutter, DG
Mozart: Horn concerti with Brain, EMI (mono)
LvB: Sym 9, the '77 recording, DG

There are others, but in my collection these are absolutely indespensable.

I do not know Sibelius or Bruckner, so there I cannot claim that Harry is mistaken!

[Tsaraslondon]

Of course one's own top 5 will depend to a great deal on one's own favourite repertoire, so, with a regretful glance at some of his orchestral Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Debussy's La Mer (1st DG recording), I nominate

Verdi: Il Trovatore (with Callas)
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (with Callas)
R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (with Schwarzkopf)
Verdi: Falstaff (with Gobbi)
Wagner: The Ring

That still leaves out alot of other great opera recordings, but the above would be my top 5.

[rubio]

Of the ones I've heard and can remember here are som top choices:

- Bruckner 7, VPO (DG)
- Bruckner 5, BPO (DG)
- Beethoven 5, 1963, BPO (DG)
- Shostakovich 10, BPO (DG)
- Dvorak Cello Concerto, Rostropovich (DG)
- Schumann 4, SD or VPO (DG)

[Sergeant Rock]

Only five is tough because Herbie is my favorite conductor of opera and he recorded a ton of opera for EMI, DG and Decca. I love almost everything I've heard so far (yes, even his DG Don Giovanni  )


Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (with Jon Vickers and Helga Dernesch)

Debussy: Pélleas et Mélisande

Bruckner: Symphony #4 (EMI)

Schönberg: Pelleas und Melisande


Sarge

P.S. I have to mention this one too: Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor, the live 1955 Berlin performance with Callas. So good it makes you utterly forget the wretched sound.

[Hector]

Prokofiev's 5th on DG;

Schoenberg's Verklarkte Nacht on DG;

R. Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos on EMI;

Verdi's Aida on Decca;

Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition on EMI.

[Todd]

Wagner - Parsifal
Strauss - Four Last Songs, Metamorphosen, Death and Transfiguration
Beethoven - Violin Concerto (with Christian Ferras)
Honegger - Symphonies 2 & 3
Sibelius - Symphonies 4-7, Tapiola

All on DG

[Tsaraslondon]

P.S. I have to mention this one too: Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor, the live 1955 Berlin performance with Callas. So good it makes you utterly forget the wretched sound.

I couldn't agree more. I only left it out of my top 5 because it was live, and didn't receive an official release until released by EMI in 1990.

[dirkronk]

Though I owned a ton of Karajan performances years ago, I eventually purged most of Herbie's recordings from the collection. It wasn't really a "hate the guy" thing--I just went through a period of NOT liking his approach to a number of orchestral pieces (e.g., his DGG Rossini overtures sound humorless to my ears and the Beethoven sym. 6 from his early '60s cycle still makes me cringe), disliking the artificial sonics of a large number of his later (post-1970) recordings, or simply preferring other conductors. Still, when the guy is "on" he's amazing, so there were a few items that I could never get rid of. These included:

Schoenberg: Verklaerte Nacht.
Though I usually dislike HvK's "blenderized" orchestral presentation--prettifying things or smoothing out too many edges--in this case it makes the piece totally different from its chamber ensemble form, and I find it a beautiful and interesting alternative.

Sibelius: sym. 5.
This is his EMI recording, not the DGG.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis.
Don't care for the DGG version but his early stereo recording on EMI is just amazingly appealing to my ears. I understand there's a mono late-1940s version that Karajan did which some people think is even more impressive, but haven't yet been able to hear that one.

Assorted concerti with Brain (Mozart horn concerti), Lipatti (Schumann piano cto), Gieseking (assorted Beethoven, Grieg, other piano cti) and others.

Puccini: La Boheme.
This Decca set (I have it on original vinyl) is simply astounding as a performance and a recording. Having a youngish Pavarotti in fine voice doesn't hurt, either. I'm NOT an opera fan at all, but this performance just sucked me in--and I have to give credit to Karajan for a beautifully pointed and powerful presentation.

Beethoven: symphonies (early '60s DGG).
This was my first set of Beethoven symphonies and it's very fine indeed...but NOT without flaws: the 6th is a total stinker IMO, and in movements i and ii of symphony 9 speed demons Herbie and the Berlin players get almost dangerously out of sync with each other (to an extent that I find annoying after listening for so many years to this otherwise superb performance--and I find it odd that almost no one else points this out when writing about the recording). Almost everything else in the set is admirable, but you'll decide for yourself whether you find them "great" or simply "very good." I personally tend toward the latter evaluation.

Brahms: symphonies (early '60s DGG).
Confession--the very first time I heard these was about three weeks ago! I found a tulip-label LP set and decided to finally listen to what Herbie could do with Brahms in his somewhat younger years. I'd heard Brahms recordings he'd made in the 1970s (I think) and didn't care for them, but in these '60s performances, phrasing, speed, orchestral balance, everything is beautifully done. I'm not yet ready to declare these "great" but I wouldn't be surprised if I eventually came to that conclusion--they DID impress me. I especially like 2 and 3. However, I have minor sonic clarity issues with the particular DGG transfers on the set, so I'll look for other LP pressings or for CD transfers of these.

FWIW,

Dirk

P.S. I just noticed that Todd recommended Karajan's Wagner Parsifal. Though I haven't heard this all the way through, I HAVE heard excerpts and yes, it is quite beautiful.

[david johnson]

- Beethoven 5, 1963, BPO (DG)
- Shostakovich 10, BPO (DG)
definitely
i add his 60's bruckner 9 (with one tiny reservation regarding not enough horn for me in one small spot), the 60's beethoven 9, and the brahms 1.

dj

[head-case]

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2. Sixties.
Brahms, Symphony No. 1, Seventies.
Bruckner Symphony No 8.
Sibelius Symphony No. 4.
Straus,  Metamorphosen
All DGG

Both Bruckner 8 and Strauss Metamorphosen were recorded more than once for DGG by Karajan, Bruckner 8 in 1975 and 1988, Metamorphosen in 1970 and 1981 (dates approximate).

[MishaK]

There are few things where I feel what Karajan does couldn't be done more compellingly and musically more revealingly by someone else, but three recordings of his that are certainly superlative are:

- Mendelssohn Symphonies 3 & 4, BPO/DG. Great flair and elan, wonderful pulse. The Berliners play like gods.

- Strauss 4 letzte Lieder, BPO/Janowitz. I love this mostly for Janowitz's otherworldly voice. But Karajan gets the Berliners to lay out a sumptuous red carpet for Janowitz to just float upon. I don't like "best of" lists, but I have yet to hear a recording of these works that is on a par.

- Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel, Philharmonia/EMI. This opera is an underrated, if anachronistic, German romantic gem. Too few treat it with the dignity it deserves. Karajan does here, and it's magical. A stellar cast of singers helps.

[Harry]

Both Bruckner 8 and Strauss Metamorphosen were recorded more than once for DGG by Karajan, Bruckner 8 in 1975 and 1988, Metamorphosen in 1970 and 1981 (dates approximate).

I meant for the Bruckner 1975 and for the Strauss 1981.

[Tyson]

I find his Mahler 5 and 6 superlative.

[Harry]

- Strauss 4 letzte Lieder, BPO/Janowitz. I love this mostly for Janowitz's otherworldly voice. But Karajan gets the Berliners to lay out a sumptuous red carpet for Janowitz to just float upon. I don't like "best of" lists, but I have yet to hear a recording of these works that is on a par.

.

That is certainly true.....

[Expresso]

Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos
Strauss - 4 Last Songs, Metamorphosen,Death and Transfiguration
Beethoven - All 9 symphonies
Haydn - Creation

[Drasko]

Some I like:

Schumann - Symphony No.4 (Dresden '72 or Wiena '87 both live, both DG)
Strauss - New Year's Concert '87 (Wiena, live, DG)
Honegger - Symphony No.3 (Berlin '69, DG)
Mahler - Symphony No.9 (Berlin, '82 live, DG)
R.Strauss - Don Juan (Berlin '72, DG)

[bhodges]

My favorites, of many:

R. Strauss: Four Last Songs, Tod und Verklärung, Metamorphosen
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (with Vienna)
Mahler: Symphony No. 6
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Berg/Schoenberg/Webern: Orchestral Works

--Bruce

[jwinter]

Beethoven 5, 1970's  Best I've ever heard
Brahms 1, 1960s
Strauss Metamorphosen/Death & Transfiguration 1970s
Wagner Parsifal (or the orchestral pieces on EMI, can't decide)
Bach Mass in B Minor 1970s  (yes, I know, a guilty pleasure )