The Music, The Legend. A Centennial Celebration
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Free Music Notes for The Music, The Legend. A Centennial Celebration
Free Music Review: You don't have to accept the devotion -- here is a great Brahms 4th
Hit: 5 Stars
This elaborate memorial package for the Karajan centenary is stuffed with devotional material, including a fat hard-cover book that promotes the famous conductor and his extensive DG catalog. For many, the unsavory aspects of Karajan's pre-war past still overshadow any attempt to lionize him. But if you bypass all that, we are given some fine and often unusual material, all of it remastered in best sound.
Liszt Hugarian Rhapsody #5 - 1960
Bach Double Concerto - 1968
Brahms Sym. #4 - 1963
(DVD) Beethoven Sym. #5 - 1972
The bonus DVD features mostly rehearsals, conducted in German, with the complete Beethoven Fifth at the end. It's a triumphal Fifth, a reminder of Karajan's lifelong dedication to the composer. These early Unitel producitons are generally considered the best of his video output.
When all is said and done, for me the Bach concerto is overblown and out-dated, the Liszt is elegant and subdued, and the Brahms Fourth winds up being the main attraction. DG owns so much Brahms from Karajan -- three complete symphony cycles -- that the company has been chary about releasing this early analog recording, offering it only sporadically on CD in sketchy sound. Now we have it in wonderful sound, and with some searching you can add the three other symphonies from the Sixties cycle, also remastered.
To the end of his career, accusations of over-refinement and glossiness never applied to Karajan's Brahms. He was the greatest Brahmsian of his generation and second only to Furtwangler overall. All his artistry comes out in this forceful, uplifiting Fourth, which may not be as tragic or rough-hewn as some would want but is nevertheless splendid.
P.S. -- I noticed after writing this review that the remzstered Brahms Fourth can be had on its own in a mid-price release, at this point only available in the UK and Europe but readily purchased online.