Search - Schumann, Dvorak, Karajan :: Symphony 4 / Symphony 8

Overlooked gems in Karajan's late career

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In his last, rocky years with the Berlin Phil., which were full of contentiousness and bad feeling, Karajan became more associated with the Vienna Phil. They made a good match throughout his career, beginning in the rubble of WW II when both orchestra and conductor struggled to regain their prominence. Whether it was the Austrian link of a native-born conductor or simply the inescapable Viennese tradition, Karajan relaxed with the VPO. Here we have a lovely Dvorak 8th from 1985, as golden and sunny as you could ever want. The slow movement is unusually slow and touching. You can't help but hear a valedictory in it, which holds true for the Bruckner and Tchaikovsky that Karajan recorded at this time. There is also a late "New World" from Vienna, but DG has singled it out for release in their Karajan Gold series.



But even more poignant is the Schumann Fourth, which marks three recordings that I know of from Karajan, the other two being from Berlin in 1957 (EMI) and 1971 (DG) -- the second is much better than the first. This one, recorded in concert in 1987, strikes me as not only a triumph of perfect skill and musicality, but there hangs over it the autumnal melancholy of an elderly condcutor who loved Schumann all hs life and performed the symphonies with unassailable rightness. Admittedly, there is lessened vigor in the thrid movement and finale, but simply to listen to the oboe and cello duet in the second movement brings tears. If it's possible for a performance to have ineffable overtones, this one does."