Herbert von Karajan - Complete Decca Recordings

 
Herbert von Karajan - Complete Decca Recordings cover
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STRAUSS / VERDI / ADAM / TCHAIKOVSKY / MOZART / etc
Herbert von Karajan - Complete Decca Recordings
Herbert von Karajan with Vienna Philharmonic, with Mario del Monaco, Renata Tebaldi, Hilde Güden, Leontyne Price, etc

[ Decca / 33 CD Box Set ]

Release Date: Friday 21 February 2020

Should this item be out of stock at the time of your order, we would expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks.

Presented with original sleeves and spined wallets, this 33CD set of Herbert von Karajan's complete Decca recordings includes a new essay by Karajan biographer, Richard Osborne.

The set includes ten complete operas with the Decca-RCA recordings of Tosca and Carmen, landmark recordings of Holst's The Planets, and the Tchaikovsky ballet suites, plus Adam's Giselle.
Opera stars on this set include Mirella Freni, Leontyne Price, Luciano Pavarotti, Mario del Monaco, Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe di Stefano and Carlo Bergonzi. It is newly remastered for this release.

"This is where the Decca legacy comes into its own … musically and in terms of sonic refinement and splendour" Richard Osborne

"Pavarotti is an inspired Rodolfo, with comic flair and expressive passion, while Freni is just as seductive as Mimi."
* * * 3 Stars PENGUIN STEREO GUIDE [La Boheme]

"Karajan fans, who lack this recording, should not hesitate and I hope that others now have some idea of what to expect. Karajan's approach is refreshing and the singing is superb." MusicWeb [The Marriage of Figaro]

'I found this an enormously exciting performance of The Planets...Karajan gives an absolutely splendid performance, breathing new life into the music...and it is just so welcome to see how finely this music comes up in the hands of a...different conductor of such gifts...this is a performance to be heard...Karajan has brought a new excitement to this music." Gramophone [The Planets]

"Clarity coupled with richness of sound, plus a believable concert-hall ambience, create a backdrop for playing that for the most part is full of character and colour...a snapshot of the younger Karajan at the height of his powers, and a kind of half-way point between his Philharmonia and Berlin periods. The Tchaikovsky and Adam excerpts are deservedly famous for the panache of the performances; the same goes for Romeo and Juliet and Peer Gynt where the orchestral colour is tempered by Nordic coolness.

Karajan's justly famous performance of Strauss's Zarathustra fully encompasses the composer's Nietzschean vision, both in the purple passages and the more delicate moments. Here and in the other Strauss works on the disc Karajan demonstrates how fully attuned he remained to this composer throughout his life. Till is suitably mischievous and pitiful by turns, Juan ardent and dashing, Tod und Verklärung suffused with the nobility this score needs if it is to avoid becoming mawkish. Karajan was always at his most persuasive in ballet scores, where the drama and colour inherent in the music seemed to bring out his most imaginative responses." (MusicWeb}

Tracks:

anon.: Angels We Have Heard on High
anon.: God rest ye merry, gentlemen
anon.: O Tannenbaum
anon.: Sweet L'il Jesus
Adam: Giselle
Adam: O Holy Night

Bach, J S: Canonic Variations on the Christmas Hymn 'Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her', BWV769

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

Bizet: Carmen
Leontyne Price (Carmen), Franco Corelli (Don José), Mirella Freni (Micaëla), Robert Merrill (Escamillo)

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Brahms: Tragic Overture, Op. 81

Dvoƙák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88

Gounod: Ave Maria

Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46
Grieg: Solveig's Song (from Peer Gynt)

Gruber, F: Stille Nacht

Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in E flat major 'Drum Roll'
Haydn: Symphony No. 104 in D major 'London'

Holst: The Planets, Op. 32

Hopkins, J H: We three Kings of Orient are

Mendelssohn: Hark! the herald angels sing

Mozart: Exsultate, jubilate, K165 - Alleluia

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K492
Ileana Cotrubas (Susanna), José van Dam (Figaro), Tom Krause (Il Conte), Anna Tomowa-Sintow (La Contessa)

Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K551 'Jupiter'

Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Nicolai Ghiaurov (Boris), Olivera Miljakovic (Fyodor), Aleksei Maslennikov (Shuisky/Simpleton)

Puccini: La Bohème
Mirella Freni (Mimi), Luciano Pavarotti (Rodolfo), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Colline), Elizabeth Harwood (Musetta)

Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Mirella Freni (Butterfly), Luciano Pavarotti (Pinkterton), Christa Ludwig (Suzuki)

Puccini: Tosca
Leontyne Price (Tosca), Giuseppe di Stefano (Cavaradossi), Giuseppe Taddei (Scarpia)

Schubert: Ave Maria, D839

Strauss, J, II: Annen-Polka, Op. 117
Strauss, J, II: Auf der Jagd, Op. 373
Strauss, J, II: Der Zigeunerbaron Overture

Strauss, J, II: Die Fledermaus
Hilde Güden (Rosalinde), Eberhard Wächter (Eisenstein), Giuseppe Zampieri (Alfred), Rita Streich (Adele)

Strauss, J, II: Die Fledermaus Overture
Strauss, J, II: Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, Op. 325

Strauss, Josef: Delirien Waltz, Op. 212

Strauss, R: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
Strauss, R: Don Juan, Op. 20
Strauss, R: Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils
Strauss, R: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28
Strauss, R: Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24

Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet - Fantasy Overture
Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66: Ballet Suite
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20 Suite
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

Verdi: Aida
Renata Tebaldi (Aida), Carlo Bergonzi (Radamès), Giulietta Simionato (Amneris)

Verdi: Otello
Mario del Monaco (Otello), Aldo Protti (Iago), Renata Tebaldi (Desdemona), Nello Romanato (Cassio)

Willis, R S: It came upon the midnight clear (Carol)

Herbert von Karajan: The Complete Decca Recordings