[size=10.666666984558105px]Between 1980 and his death in 1989, Herbert von Karajan recorded the incredible amount of 78 CDs worth of orchestral and choral music for DGG. In the final decade of his creative life, Karajan once again revisited some of the keystones of his repertoire, such as the Beethoven and Brahms symphonies, but also made quintessential recordings of major works he never touched before.
Among the highpoints of Karajan’s late years is the major part of his collaboration with Anne-Sophie Mutter, the “wunderkind” Karajan discovered in the late 1970s and mentored throughout the 1980s. The almost complete recordings of Richard Strauss’ great symphonic poems radically re-thought and played like you never heard them before under the great maestro’s baton. Massive renderings of Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiems stand next to Karajan’s personal “requiems”: The famous 1987 New Year’s Concert and the “farewell” recordings of Bruckner 7 and Bruckner 8, where you can still experience how Karajan, struggling with his fading health, infused the music with contemplations about life and death. Pure musical magic, as powerful as it was 25 years ago!
The box contains the core of Karajan’s repertoire as an orchestral conductor:
Full symphony cycles of Beethoven and Brahms
Haydn: “Paris” and “London” Symphonies
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4-6
The celebrated Brahms, Bruch, Mendelssohn & Tchaikovsky concerto recordings with Anne-Sophie Mutter
Karajan’s artistic testament: His final recordings of Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
The famous New Year’s Concert of 1987
Karajan’s final take on the great works of Richard Strauss: “Eine Alpensymphonie”, “Ein Heldenleben”, “Also sprach Zarathustra”, “Tod und Verklärung” and many more
The legendary 1982 live recording of Mahler 9
Solemn and massive recordings of the Mozart and Verdi Requiems & Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
Fascinating forays into repertoire that Karajan had not recorded before: Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 “The Inextinguishable” and Saint-Saëns’ “Organ”-Symphony
Three delightful albums with recordings of Strauss waltzes, marches & polkas
...and many more!
…It’s all there, 78 CDs of the original LPs, in their original cover art, most of them in their original couplings, arranged in four snug compartments.
On top of the CDs, there’s The Book: 200+ pages, containing two newly commissioned articles:
• an extensive new interview with Anne-Sophie Mutter, where she relates the story of her discovery by Karajan and sheds light upon his defining role as her mentor.
• Günther Breest, Karajan’s producer at Deutsche Grammophon, remembering the years he worked side by side with one of the greatest maestros of all times.
In addition, the book will contain a Karajan timeline, a tracklist with full recording details, a discography of Karajan’s 1980s opera recordings, and many photos of the maestro.