Review: Karajan's Mostly Excellent Complete Decca Recordings

This big box contains all of the orchestral stuff in Decca's previous Karajan box, plus his opera recordings for that label, many of which are classics, including Puccini's Tosca, La Bohème, and Madame Butterfly, the Tebaldi Aida, a great Fledermaus, and the best yet Mussorgsky Boris Godunov (in the Rimsky-Korsakov edition). Bottom line: if you don't already have most of these performances, you should get this.

[@frankenoise]

Love your comedic wit in your reviews.😄

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you 😁

[@yiannisvassilakis7005]

You don't want your Carmen in a..convent!!!😀😁😂😅😆 Great comment!

[@folco9882]

Listened to your comments once more with a broad smile. Good to hear your positive comments on the Rimsky-Korsakov- version of "Boris" that practically has disappeared from the stages today. Karajan's Boris has by far the best singers, choir and orchestra. "Ghiaurov and Talvela- just overwhelming- and all that in wonderful sound.

[@hwelf11]

That old Karajan Carmen has always been my favorite recorded version, despite the lack of authentic French style lamented by some. The three principals were all in fabulous voice; I especially enjoy the top A# Price interpolates in the middle of the Seguidilla, a moment guaranteed to make a purist cringe. And then there is Corelli's "French" diction ... Apparently, there was a French coach hired to work with him on the pronunciation who had to give up in despair. A typical moment, from the 1st act duet with Micaela when Jose sings about how he sees his mother: "...je la vois" (I see her), which comes out more like "j'ai la voix" (I have the voice). Well he certainly had the voice, but he didn't quite 'ave ze French. But with a sound like that, who cares.

[@hwelf11]

@@paxpaxart4740 You do have a point in regard to Karajan's tempi . I tend to prioritize favorite singers over other factors in opera recordings, but HvK does have a strong tendency to choose distended tempos in order to draw out the maximum Karajan-ischer smoothness and polish, often at the expense of natural flow or dramatic thrust. This is a problem in much of the non-Germanic rep. he conducted: e.g., both his otherwise excellent Boheme and Butterfly recordings for Decca. As a model for how those operas should go, especially in the theater, I much prefer Serafin. But Pavarotti and Freni in their youthful prime plus Decca engineering -- hard to resist.

[@bbailey7818]

@@hwelf11 But what a guilty pleasure wallow that Jose/Micaela duet is! Probably not what Bizet would have recognized but it's irresistable with those two voices. OTH, I have never liked that Boheme, Butterfly or really any of his Puccini except the Tosca with Price and Taddei. There his tendency to monumentalize and inflate pays off. In the Boheme Freni and Pavarotti are better heard elsewhere and Decca's Musetta, Harwood, is dreadful.

[@markgibson6654]

Thanks David and I agree in particular about Karajan and Brahms Third.... fantastic!!

[@BVcello]

I can only concur... Really must-have Karajan. Perhaps you can do a video on how to stock boxes on the shelf (just kidding): but I do prefer the RCA ones, I take off the lid and put them on their side on the shelf, with the top of the sleeves pointed towards me. You can read every disc in a glance and actually listen to these from time to time. And then at least all these dead guys don't stare at you all the time. Get better soon!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thanks. That is a GREAT shelving idea! Thanks for sharing. It never would have occurred to me.

[@BVcello]

@@DavesClassicalGuide my pleasure, the only downside is that you need quite a bit of space to store the lids...

[@pierrerobitaille5324]

An interesting and valuable reassesment of the Karajan legacy on Decca. There, he often benefited from the flair and guidance of John Culshaw, the imaginative, demanding, controversial producer who gave much impact sonically and theatrical flavor to Karajan's recordings with Decca. Thank you. Get better soon.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you,

[@stephenhuntsucker3766]

You are very fair to Karajan I think. I’ve noticed many people just avoid him because of what they heard about him or judge him based on a few recordings. You don’t lump all his work together and say it’s all the same. It has also helped me to discern a little more and not just grab a recording when I see his name.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you.

[@therealdealblues]

I know sometimes people will ask about the remastering and I have the small Karajan complete Decca recordings orchestral box (although with a different cover than the one David showed here) and I would just comment this is one of the few times I really noticed a fairly large difference in the sound between that set and this new set when comparing them. Most of the time I don't hear differences but with this new one I really did.

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

In what way? You don't say which set is better or worse sounding.

[@therealdealblues]

@@OuterGalaxyLounge It would depend on your ears as to which is better to you. The newer one is definitely "brighter" sounding. Some might describe it as "clarity", others might just say it's added "treble". I never thought the old mastering sounded bad to begin with. I probably wouldn't have noticed had I not played them back to back, but there is definitely a noticeable difference.

[@user-pv5ur8lm1i]

Excellent Review and even better side comments 😅 You really make your points. Seriously and hilarious at the same time. Even HvK would have enjoyed it.

[@markdecker7489]

I agree that the Karajan Boris is the best overall recording of the Rimsky version, but there's one glaring failure in it: the Coronation Scene. What should be the most exciting, spectacular set piece in the opera is just... well, kind of stodgy. It's too slow, and there is a lack of all the bright shimmering sound that one can find in other renditions. It leaves one cold. That being said, the rest of it is unmatched. The inclusion of the St. Basil Scene is especially wonderful, as it's one of the most dramatically arresting moments ever created for the operatic stage. And the death scene... wooo, Ghiaurov knocks it out of the park.

[@richard141724]

"Carmen in a convent". Very funny! Greetings from UK.

[@stevenklinden]

I'll stick up (a bit) for Karajan's Mozart, though I'm biased since I grew up with these recordings of the 40th and 41st symphonies. In particular, I have a soft spot for this recording of the 40th, where I think the rich, warm string tone is more effective, and where the woodwinds, to my ears, have a lot more presence in the sonority than in most of Karajan's Mozart recordings (certainly more than in his Berlin recordings). Again, though, I'll admit that this opinion may in some part be my own nostalgia.

[@markmelson1925]

Protti was a last-minute sub in the Otello recording. John Culshaw tells the story in his book "Putting the Record Straight" (a must-read for most of the people who follow Dave Hurwitz!). Ettore Bastianini was contracted for the role, but showed up at the recording sessions not knowing his part. Karajan threatened to quit unless Bastianini was fired, and he insisted on Protti as the replacement. Whatever Karajan wanted, Karajan got. Dave, are you sure the Karajan Vienna was the recording used for the 2001 Space Odyssey soundtrack? I have read elsewhere that the Karl Bohm recording was used.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I'm sure.

[@tterrace]

The Bohm recording was used on the MGM “soundtrack” album but not on the film soundtrack. -Paul Penna

[@tterrace]

@@leefromengland1404 I sure did do that! Thanks.

[@matts9064]

“If you are going to commit Harakiri you want that tam tam” Hahaha brilliant!!!

[@deedeequast9148]

Thanks for another insightful review.:) (BTW, what's your kitty's name?)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Pipo. My niece named her. She was a stray who just moved in one day.

[@deedeequast9148]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Very nice!

[@frankgyure3154]

I have several of these Decca Karajan recordings so I don’t if it’s “worth” it. I’ll have to check it out. The major thought for me is that Karajan got the best sound engineering across all the recordings. I have issues with most of Karajan’s EMI/DG recordings. Most of the DG recordings are too bright and the EMI recordings are the opposite as if a blanket was wrapped around the microphones. DG recordings of Sibelius are great. I find the R. Strauss DG recordings to be to too bright. Karajan/Strauss on EMI sounds like I described EMI sound engineering above. As for DG,I don’t hear this brightness,edge on other DG recording of the same period eg Karl Bohm recordings. BTW,Peabo has an operatic voice.

[@davidaiken1061]

Thanks, Dave for this fine review of the Karajan/Decca box, which I tuned into late today, but thought I would add a brief comment. I have always enjoyed these recordings, most of which I have known and/or owned for years. What a fine Puccini interpreter Karajan was! Hardly a hint of vulgarity; his penchant for refinement worked wonders in these operatic warhorses (and his casts were splendid, too). I have always thought that Karajan made his best recordings for labels other than DG and with orchestras other than the BPO. Many of those early EMI's with the Philharmonia convey a vitality, clarity and transparency of texture that eluded him later on--though even the later EMI's in Berlin sounded better than most of the DG's of the same period. The Decca engineers knew what they were about, too, and helped to counteract any of Karajan's predilection for glossy surfaces and string-saturated textures. I hope your cold gets better soon.

[@danielhornby5581]

Absolutely. I own a lot of the EMI ‘Great Recordings of the Century’ in regards to opera and most of the Karajan discs are reference recordings. I do think however that Karajan is maligned somewhat unfairly by many given the sheer volume of recordings and quality of the work within. There is a lot of DG work which is equally first rate, his Strauss tone poems for instance were always well thought out and gripping - I particularly love the 1984 Also Sprach Zarathustra and prefer it over the 1973 for the lush tone he manages from the strings in the more heartfelt moments. That clang signalling the final section is dangerously loud though.

[@davidaiken1061]

@@danielhornby5581 Agreed on all counts. Somewhere in an Amazon review I opined that Karajan was probably "the greatest conductor of the second half of the twentieth century." Yes, he did favor a smooth execution and homogenized sonority, and that is why I don't particularly favor his Haydn (still less anything from the Baroque). But in general I stand by my assessment of his standing among the distinguished conductors of the past 120 years. Another maestro who sendom gets his due is Georg Solti. For some reason the critics love to stereogype his conducting as shallow and sensationalistic, just as they love to characterize Karajan's as smoothly superficial. Whatever one may think of Solti, I can say with some confidence that he never made a dull recording. And neither did Karajan, for that matter.

[@danielhornby5581]

@@davidaiken1061 Agreed! Interesting you mention Solti because although his Ring is generally cited as the reference version, the version I come back to is the 1960s Karajan. The Die Walküre is, for me at least, HVK’s best opera recording.

[@davidaiken1061]

@@danielhornby5581 Karajan's Wagner is wonderful. Do you know his late recording of Parsifal? Uneven casting, but the interpretation is heavenly. I wouldn't put Karajan and Solti in competition as Wagnerians. They were different. Solti more intensely dramatic; Karajan more luminous and lyrical. We need both.

[@michelangelomulieri5134]

Agree almost on everything. There's one con: Otello is Del Monaco and Karajan gives a great tension to the whole recording. Ok, Protti is the weak point.

[@walkure48]

The "sexless" Carmen thingy reminds me of the good old Golden Days of Hollywood where Jack the Ripper murdered showgirls instead of prostitutes :) Most of the reviews I've seen over the years generally have said that while this Carmen may not be "French", it was certainly full of blood guts and passion. Also, while I'm not a big Mozart opera guy, I did hold the Figaro lp box in my hand a number of times, but a review stating that the singers were so closely mixed that the recitatives sounded almost like whispers always made me put it back. That was during the day when those overly-engineered Karajan recordings were appearing on a fairly regular basis and people were tired of them.

[@AlexMadorsky]

It really boggles the mind that someone who wanted a chaste, sexless Carmen was actually paid to express that sentiment in writing. I have very little familiarity with HvK’s Decca period; I was raised listening to his DG recordings as a young stripling. As usual, time for me to keep on listening!

[@musiconrecord6724]

I love how your cat makes the occasional unscripted entrance - maybe one day we will get to see him/her. Is he/she more fond of certain composers and conductors than others, or more partial to baroque/romantic or modern music..... An opera fan?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

She has appeared on numerous videos as a special guest.

[@JanPBtest]

0:48 That's probably because the Decca engineers never let Karajan dictate their recording equipment and techniques. Can you imagine John Culshaw allowing anyone telling him what to do in the control room? Haha. I'm not sure why Deutsche Grammophon was not similarly firm with the capricious and technologically somewhat incompetent conductor, something to do with their administrative structure perhaps.

[@Bachback]

The Hurwitz cat always has a comment.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yes, she's very pushy,

[@rolandonavarro3170]

Dear David: I am agree with your cat 😂 Karajan was indisputably a great businessman. But there were many better conductors in his days who didn't have the "good luck" or his visión of an entrepreneur that he had. He strategically sourranded himself with the best singers and instrumentalist of his time. And that made him a legend. My best wishes from Colombia, Rolando.

[@tatters1232006]

So Mr Hurwitz when are you going to do a review of the huge DGbox that you have on your shelf. As for the decca box there are indeed alot of superb hight quality performances here hallmarks of Karajan conducting

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Check out my workout video. You'll find it there.

[@b1i2l336]

I have always thought that Karajan's best work was for Decca/London and EMI and in London (Philharmonia), Milan (La Scala), and Vienna (Vienna Philharmonic.) Of these, the Vienna ones are the most superbly played and recorded. I also think his work there was more musically "honest," if you will, and less egocentric. Just compare his Vienna 'Planets' to the later Berlin remake, for example.

[@danielhornby5581]

You’re probably right but some of us LOVE the string heavy textures!

[@ftumschk]

Of course _Carmen_ has a sexual aspect. It has castanets in it, which is a dead giveaway.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yep!

[@richardsauer7494]

The music critic for Commentary and The New Criterion, Samuel Lipmann wrote a very good essay on Karajan titled "Karajan on Two Coasts" ..he reviewed Karajan's Beethoven, saying that it sounded like he was conducting the music of someone else, and that someone else might very well be Wagner.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Hmmm. And his Wagner sounded like what?

[@MisterOE3]

I bought this set last Christmastime, even as I had most of the recordings in it. A great set, especially, perhaps, for Karajan deniers/refusers/doubters. Online libretti key included, although one of the works, a Strauss, I believe, is left out. La boheme is justly famous. The Haydn/Mozart disc is the least successful on offer here. Re Carmen/Penguin Guide, there’s three names: March (I.M.), Greenfield (E.G.), Layton (R.L.). Who heard the threat?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

We don't know who said what.

[@HankDrake]

Love your takedown of the British critics. I remember a local (non-British) critic who complained a piano performance of a Liszt work was "appallingly erotic." Um, isn't it SUPPOSED to be erotic?

[@mackjay2]

In London, there was a stage show called 'No Sex Please, We're British"

[@josecarmona9168]

David, I have a doubt: is Die Fledermaus ballet music reinstated in the complete opera? It isn't in the Originals edition of the opera and it appears separately in the orchestral box. But I haven't heard you mention the ballet when you were listing the orchestral issue of this complete box.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No. They left it out entirely it seems. Good catch.

[@josecarmona9168]

@@DavesClassicalGuide , that's a pity!!! So not so complete 😒

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@josecarmona9168 Do they ever get it totally right? I guess not.

[@andreashelling3076]

Do u listen to Lps too or do u prefer cd

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

CDs only.

[@martinhochbaum8936]

Two words: Chicken soup...

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Oh yeah...

[@richard141724]

Is that the call of a Siamese?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No.

[@weewee2169]

bless karajan his voice is even more funny in contrast with his otherwise stylish and inflated sense of self, he sounds sooo silly

[@salt_cots]

I remember being very surprised the first time I heard Karajan speak because his reputation had preceded him and I thought he was going to be some Titanic figure with a voice to match

[@weewee2169]

@@salt_cots hahaha yeah he sounds like he liked smoking like when he was awake and asleep and in the shower

[@carlosshosta9040]

British reviewers are still ¨victorian¨

[@dr.alexanderhall4916]

As a Brit and a reviewer myself, I would argue that it's not the Victorian values that might bother me, if they were indeed much in evidence. It is the opinionated stance these people take. They claim to be rather like Moses and the famous tablets: their word alone is gospel. There was once a famous opera critic, one of the big-plum-in-his-mouth variety (he's dead now actually, but I'll still spare him sepulchral blushes), who decried everything that Sinopoli did. It was all bad, even the things that were far from bad. The basic problem with many of those who review for Gramophone and indeed Radio 3 is that instead of admitting their undeniable subjectivity, they wrap up their findings as objective truth. And that leads sometimes to the weirdest of results. David's view of the Abbado Des Knaben Wunderhorn (terrible!) came out top of the pile on Radio 3. What does that demonstrate? Chacun à son goût.

[@johns9624]

@@dr.alexanderhall4916 Hear, hear! It's the bias and subjectivity that's most galling. You just knew, before you read a review, that the performance was going to get slammed because conductor A was doing it, or lauded to the skies because it was conductor B. And as an untutored reader of G mag and listener to Radio 3 for years, it took me half a lifetime to sift the wheat from the chaff in those reviews of British composers, great, good, indifferent, uneven, bad and appalling.

[@barryguerrero7652]

What's not to like!

[@MarauderOSU]

I still prefer Solti for Carmen and Le nozze di Figaro myself. I understand the latter was one of the late RBG's favorites.

[@antwerpsmerle1404]

Who is RBG?

[@MarauderOSU]

@@antwerpsmerle1404 Ruth Bader Ginsburg

[@vinylisland6386]

I don't think the Gramophone critics were opposed to sex, per se. But overt heterosexual sex in opera, darling, come on!