Some listeners assert that Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan made his best recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in the late '70s, while others argue he did his best work for EMI in the middle '50s. But there are those, a minority but not an altogether insignificant minority, who say he made his best recordings for Decca in the early '60s. This nine-disc collection of those recordings makes a highly persuasive case for that point of view.Working with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Decca producers John Culshaw and Erik ...
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Some listeners assert that Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan made his best recordings for Deutsche Grammophon in the late '70s, while others argue he did his best work for EMI in the middle '50s. But there are those, a minority but not an altogether insignificant minority, who say he made his best recordings for Decca in the early '60s. This nine-disc collection of those recordings makes a highly persuasive case for that point of view.Working with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Decca producers John Culshaw and Erik Smith, Karajan got virtuoso performances from both the orchestra and the recording team. The Viennese musicians play with their characteristic ease and elegance, and their richly upholstered ensemble sounds lush and deep in everything from the surging rhythms of Holst's "Mars" to the heroic climaxes of Brahms' First. Culshaw and Smith capture their performances in stereo sound that rivals the best digital recordings in color and clarity and surpasses them in presence in everything from...
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