Search - Richard [1] Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben/Tod und Verklärung

The Ein Heldenleben Performance Is Extraordinary But Has Gla

dv_forever | Michigan, USA | 11/07/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The final Ein Heldenleben from Karajan's digital days is a tremendous performance as usual with this great conductor but the DG engineers let him down slightly in that the sound has that early digital edge with the glassy violins, even in this Karajan Gold remastered performance. If you truly want to hear the pure, gorgeous sound of Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in Ein Heldenleben, seek out the EMI performance from the 1970's. It is available in the "Karajan Edition" and the "Karajan Collection" on EMI. The reading is just as amazing as this one but has even more impetus and the sound EMI provides is heavenly, lush, warm and wide-ranging.



Now to Death and Transfiguration, not only is the performance one of the greatest in history, the recorded sound is just as good. No edge or glassiness here, it sounds like a million bucks. It's one of Karajan's most famous performances of Richard Strauss and to listen to it in remastered sound is a major treat if you love this tone poem, which I surely do."