Re: Recordings by Herbert von Karajan: recommendations?

On 7/8/2024 11:23 AM, Roland van Gaalen wrote:

I guess I have changed my mind about the Karajan recordings.
 Part of the explanation may be that I have a much larger and nicer, and more comfortable, living room now.
 The sound of the Berlin Philharmonic feels better here!

As long as they were recorded in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, not the Philharmonie!
More generally on Fluffy, Karajan's critical appreciation is bound to be subject to a cyclical history of corsi e ricorsi (pace Giambattista Vico), with cycles of starry-eyed enthusiasm followed by counter-cycles of blunt dismissal and back and forth. Something in between, Karajan was exceedingly good as an opera conductor, especially (but not exclusively) in the first half of his career. Things like the 1953 Hänsel und Gretel; the 1954 Ariadne auf Naxos; the 1955 Berlin Lucia di Lammermoor and the 1956 Trovatore with the best Callas on record; why not, the 1956 Rosenkavalier; hell yes, the 1963 Vienna Carmen; the 1965 La Scala Cav and Pag; the 1972 Boheme which obliterates all other Bohemes on record, starting from Beecham; and the 1979 Parsifal that on net supersedes even Knappertsbusch at his best. In the symphonic repertoire the 1964-67 Sibelius is the unsurpassed peak, possibly matched by the 1969 Honegger. Everything else I am afraid is subject to corsi e ricorsi...