For dedicated fans of Herbert von Karajan, this two-disc set with the late Austrian conductor leading the Berliner Philharmoniker in Beethoven's Third and Ninth symphonies will be mandatory listening. Karajan had recorded the Ninth once before with the Wiener Philharmoniker in 1947 and had already embarked earlier on recording the composer's complete symphonies with London's Philharmonia, including a Third in 1952 and a Ninth in 1955. But he had not yet recorded these works with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the orchestra he ...
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For dedicated fans of Herbert von Karajan, this two-disc set with the late Austrian conductor leading the Berliner Philharmoniker in Beethoven's Third and Ninth symphonies will be mandatory listening. Karajan had recorded the Ninth once before with the Wiener Philharmoniker in 1947 and had already embarked earlier on recording the composer's complete symphonies with London's Philharmonia, including a Third in 1952 and a Ninth in 1955. But he had not yet recorded these works with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the orchestra he had recently inherited from the late Wilhelm Furtwängler. His three cycles with the German orchestra from 1963, 1977, and 1984 were yet to come, and these 1953 and 1957 recordings show how the Austrian conductor and the German orchestra were getting along before their relationship had been formally immortalized in studio recordings.The performances contain no special surprises. At this point in this career, Karajan was still just a very famous conductor and not quite yet the...
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