Karajan Checklist

This being the centenary of Herbert von Karajan's birth, there will be commemorations aplenty, starting today in his hometown, Salzburg, with a concert by the Berlin Philharmonic. Here is my highly subjective list of the Karajan recordings I could not live without (unless otherwise noted, the orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic):

1) Tristan und Isolde, Wagner (Orfeo). This is the live Bayreuth festival performance from July 23, 1952. The intensity of the performance--and of the performers, notably Modl's incandescent Isolde and Vinay's wrenching Tristan--is completely shattering.

2) Der Rosenkavalier, Strauss (Gala). This isn't the justly famous studio recording with Schwarzkopf. It is, rather, a live recording of a 1960 Salzburg performance with the dream trio of Lisa Della Casa as the Marschallin, Sena Jurinac as Octavian, and Hilde Guden as Sophie. Karajan's conducting here is, if anything, better than on the studio recording: better proportioned for one, less feverish and rushed, and in this performance he is the only conductor I've ever heard to make sense of the third-act prelude. Plus he is a remarkably sensitive accompanist to his singers.

3) Symphony No. 6, Mahler (DG). This is from his series, with the Berlin Philharmonic, of Mahler's symphonies. His reading is relentless and precise, an overwhelming combination. I've yet to hear a live performance this convincing.

4) Symphony No. 7, Bruckner (DG). This is his "last recording," made with the Vienna Philharmonic. It's somewhat lighter in texture than his earlier Bruckner-cycle recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, but it feels more passionate, more inspired by genuine human feeling.

5) Symphony No. 8, Bruckner (DG). This is from his Berlin Philharmonic Bruckner cycle, and it is not only fittingly grand in scale and conception, but it makes a powerful case that Bruckner's thoughts when composing it were of life passing and the unknown beyond.

6) Fidelio, Beethoven (Walhall). A concert performance from Vienna in 1953; Karajan was conducting the Vienna Symphony at the time and was waging a kind of war with the Vienna State Opera, so he put this on as a show of strength. Modl, Windgassen, Metternich and Edelmann are the leads; the Marzelline and Jacquino are none other than Schwarzkopf and Schock. There are many fine recordings of this opera, but this is the one that comes closest to how I hear the music in my head: vivid, rich, but not over-lush on the one hand or overly pared down on the other, with a gripping sense of momentum and real catharsis at the end. (And I don't think anyone ever conducted the "Fidelio" overture better.)

7) Symphony No. 8, Dvorak (DG). No one conducts the finale of this symphony as excitingly--those trilling horns sound as though they're exploding, but the ensemble never breaks.

8 and 9) Symphonies 4 and 6, Symphonies 5 and 7, Sibelius (DG). Sibelius's music, like Bruckner's, was a good fit for Karajan's esthetic--tonal and lush but also ascetic and emotionally cryptic. In Karajan's hands the orchestra glows and shimmers, and he lets the music speak for its eloquent self.

10) Symphony in D Minor, Franck (EMI). I believe this was Karajan's first recording with L'Orchestre de Paris. Not only do they sound world-class; he manages to conduct this music with a real sense of French style. No other performance that I have heard brings out the pealing brass in the finale of the coda, a testament to the remarkable clarity Karajan was able to achieve.

11) Organ Symphony, Saint-Saens (DG). Karajan pulls out every perfumed color, every effect, large or small, and brings it all to a pulse-racing ending--once again showing off his ability to bring the orchestra right to the edge but maintain ensemble to the very last note.

12) Sympony No. 2, Brahms (EMI). Many of Karajan's recordings with the Philharmonia are legendary, and rightly so; this one may be my favorite. The strings are plush but with just the right amount of bite to keep them from sounding overly honeyed. The tempi, the musical argument, the architectonics are all exactly right.

13) Symphony No. 9, Schubert (EMI). Karajan recorded a complete set of Schubert's symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic. All of the recordings are excellent (although I think the tempi in his earlier recording, with the Philharmonia, of the "Unfinished" are less ponderous and more effective). Schubert's Ninth is a hard symphony to pull off. I like Karajan's approach--generous, large-scale, but that precise ensemble and textural clarity keep it from becoming heavy; if anything, it soars.

14) "Ein heldenleben," Strauss (DG). Karajan was a great Straussian, although, to be honest, I prefer Fritz Reiner in much of this music, especially the orchestral works. But this recording may give Reiner a run for the money; the overall arch and thrust of the music is more, well, heroic, more inspired--yes, it's less ironic, perhaps more earnest, but he sells it.

DG has set up a special Karajan web site to mark this anniversary; it looks as though they'll be putting out all sorts of special CDs and DVDs. And of course I must commend Richard Osborne's biography; it is more objective than one might expect from Osborne, a Karajanite par excellence. There are many anecdotes that show a side of Karajan that is endearing and vulnerable; Osborne does not shy away from the less-endearing parts of Karajan's personality, either.