This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.
Notes and Editorial Reviews
Karajan recorded the Fourth Symphony three times, once in the 1950s with the Philharmonia and twice with the Berlin Philharmonic. The work obviously meant a great deal to him. He insisted on its inclusion in his very first concert on his appointment at the Berlin Philharmonic in the early 1960s at a time when Sibelius's cause had few champions in Germany, so keen was he to stake its claim as one of the great symphonies of the day. Karajan's account has withstood the test of time as one of the most searching, profound and concentrated performances of this masterpiece...
-- Gramophone [5/1994]
reviewing Symphony no 4 reissued as DG 439527
---------
No performance of the Fourth on record
Read more
surpasses the present issue in opulence of sound and magnificence of colour... At first its sheer beauty of sound seemed to me to cushion the discomfort this work generates and diminish the intensity of its desolation. Yet, over the years, it is its strengths that have gained, and the surface beauties, far from drawing attention to themselves, seem to me the servant of this conception... Karajan's reading of the Sixth Symphony is much to be admired and is finer than his Seventh. The Sixth is difficult to bring off and despite the pallor of the recording, this is an undoubted triumph: he succeeds in evoking the colours of the northern summer more successfully than any of his rivals, save for Sir Thomas Beecham.
-- Gramophone [9/1981]
reviewing these performances reissued on LP as DG 2740 255
Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony no 4 in A minor, Op. 63 by Jean Sibelius
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1911; Finland
Date of Recording: 1965
Length: 36 Minutes 0 Secs.
2.
Symphony no 6 in D minor, Op. 104 by Jean Sibelius
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1923; Finland
Date of Recording: 1967
Length: 28 Minutes 36 Secs.
Customer Reviews
Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
