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Herbert von Karajan - The Early Lucerne Years
Audite Musikproduktion

Herbert von Karajan - The Early Lucerne Years

Baroque Spiritual Virtuosic Uplifting Dramatic
$20.99
$27.99 Save 25%

Details

Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Arthur Honegger, Wolfgang Amadeus Moza
Artist
Robert Casadesus, Nathan Milstein, Geza Anda, Clara Haskil, Schweizerisches Festspielorchester, Phil
Format
CD
Label
Audite Musikproduktion
Released
Sep 15, 2023
Catalog #
ADT21464
UPC
4022143214645

About

For the first time; this edition makes available Herbert von Karajan's previously unpublished early live recordings from the Lucerne Music Festival - made in a decade in which Karajan was rebuilding his career. Included are legendary soloists such as Clara Haskil and Géza Anda; Robert Casadesus and Nathan Milstein. The Lucerne International Music Festival (today's Lucerne Festival) was the first organiser outside Austria to engage Herbert von Karajan after his ban from performing and denazification proceedings; thus enabling him to return to the international podiums. "I will never forget that," Karajan later confessed. For almost four decades; from 1948 to 1988; he was to make his mark on Lucerne Festival. His annual guest appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic (from 1958) enjoyed cult status. But already in the decade before; which this edition documents; Karajan thrilled audiences and critics alike in Lucerne and quickly rose to become the defining artistic personality alongside Wilhelm Furtwängler: with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; but above all on the podium of the Swiss Festival Orchestra; which he held in high esteem and which he conducted in a total of nine concerts.

The preserved Lucerne live recordings range from Bach's C major Concerto for Two Keyboard Instruments BWV 1061 (with Clara Haskil and Géza Anda) to Arthur Honegger's Symphonie liturgique. The exciting; rhythmically tightly formed interpretations show Karajan to be an extremely form-conscious; textually faithful conductor of great expressive power. He spurs his orchestras on to top performances; but also acts as a sensitive and at the same time extremely present accompanist - for example in Brahms' Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein or in Mozart's dramatically pointed C minor Concerto K. 491 with Robert Casadesus. As a digital bonus; the edition includes Bach's Mass in B minor; which Karajan celebrated at the end of the 1951 festival with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; the Vienna Singverein and a top-class quartet of soloists (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; Elsa Cavelti; Ernst Haefliger and Hans Braun): a stylistically distant; but nevertheless fascinating audio document due to Karajan's very personal approach. The sound of the live recordings on the 3-CD box set has been carefully restored. The 62-page; trilingual booklet contains essays by Wolfgang Rathert and Erich Singer on Karajan's new career start in the post-war years and on his special relationship with Lucerne Festival. It contains numerous previously unpublished photos.

REVIEW:

Included among the contents of this set are quite a few gems. Most unexpected but welcome is Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein. Karajan and his Swiss Festival Orchestra are fully ablaze, Milstein’s tone typically lean and sinewy. Overall, this is an intriguing batch of musically worthwhile live Karajan discoveries, very well transferred from clean analogue sources.

— Gramophone

Tracklist 25 tracks

  1. Disc 1
  2. 1 I. Allegro vivace e con brio 09:44
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegro vivace e con brio
    Duration
    09:44
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  3. 2 II. Allegretto scherzando 04:02
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Allegretto scherzando
    Duration
    04:02
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  4. 3 III. Tempo di menuetto 05:28
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Tempo di menuetto
    Duration
    05:28
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  5. 4 IV. Allegro vivace 07:52
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Allegro vivace
    Duration
    07:52
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  6. 5 I. Allegro 13:14
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Allegro
    Duration
    13:14
    Composer
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Performer
    Robert Casadesus
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  7. 6 II. Larghetto 08:37
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Larghetto
    Duration
    08:37
    Composer
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Performer
    Robert Casadesus
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  8. 7 III. Allegretto 08:26
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Allegretto
    Duration
    08:26
    Composer
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Performer
    Robert Casadesus
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  9. 8 I. [Allegro] 07:40
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. [Allegro]
    Duration
    07:40
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Géza Anda, Clara Haskil
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  10. 9 II. Adagio ovvero Largo 04:28
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. Adagio ovvero Largo
    Duration
    04:28
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Géza Anda, Clara Haskil
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  11. 10 III. Fuga 05:28
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Fuga
    Duration
    05:28
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Géza Anda, Clara Haskil
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  12. Disc 2
  13. 1 I. Awakening of Cheerful Feelings Upon Arrival in the Country: Allegro ma non troppo 11:20
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Awakening of Cheerful Feelings Upon Arrival in the Country: Allegro ma non troppo
    Duration
    11:20
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  14. 2 II. Scene by the Brook: Andante molto mosso 11:16
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Scene by the Brook: Andante molto mosso
    Duration
    11:16
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  15. 3 III. Merry Gathering of Country Folk: Allegro 02:56
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Merry Gathering of Country Folk: Allegro
    Duration
    02:56
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  16. 4 IV. Thunderstorm: Allegro 03:23
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Thunderstorm: Allegro
    Duration
    03:23
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  17. 5 V. Shepherd's Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings after the Storm: Allegretto 09:17
    Track
    5
    Title
    V. Shepherd's Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings after the Storm: Allegretto
    Duration
    09:17
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  18. 6 I. Allegro non troppo 13:18
    Track
    6
    Title
    I. Allegro non troppo
    Duration
    13:18
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  19. 7 II. Andante moderato 12:02
    Track
    7
    Title
    II. Andante moderato
    Duration
    12:02
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  20. 8 III. Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto 06:11
    Track
    8
    Title
    III. Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto
    Duration
    06:11
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  21. 9 IV. Allegro energico e passionato - Più allegro 10:21
    Track
    9
    Title
    IV. Allegro energico e passionato - Più allegro
    Duration
    10:21
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Ensemble
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  22. Disc 3
  23. 1 I. Allegro non troppo 20:33
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegro non troppo
    Duration
    20:33
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Nathan Milstein
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  24. 2 II. Adagio 08:51
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Adagio
    Duration
    08:51
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Nathan Milstein
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  25. 3 III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace 08:23
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace
    Duration
    08:23
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Nathan Milstein
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  26. 4 I. Dies Irae: Allegro marcato 06:56
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. Dies Irae: Allegro marcato
    Duration
    06:56
    Composer
    Arthur Honegger
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  27. 5 II. De profundis clamavi: Adagio 13:06
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. De profundis clamavi: Adagio
    Duration
    13:06
    Composer
    Arthur Honegger
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan
  28. 6 III. Dona nobis pacem: Andante 12:02
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Dona nobis pacem: Andante
    Duration
    12:02
    Composer
    Arthur Honegger
    Ensemble
    Swiss Festival Orchestra
    Conductor
    Herbert von Karajan