Perhaps the only music conductor in the world that I have consistently adored since I was young was this Austrian maestro by the name of Herbert von Karajan. It was through him that I also fell in love with the sounds of the Berliner Philharmonic (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra). The combined talents of both these greats made them a force to be reckoned with in the music world - to me, probably the best.His obituary in the New York Times described him as "probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music." Apart from leading the Vienna Philharmonic, Karajan's name became synonymous with the Berliner Philharmonic as he conducted that orchestra for thirty-five years. He died in 1989.
A musical prodigy, he first performed publicly on the piano at the tender age of only 5 years old. By the time he reached 20 years old, he gave his first public performance as a conductor in Salzburg. At the age of 27, he was Germany's youngest Generalmusikdirektor - the general music director with the Aachen Staddtheater. A long list of achievements followed when eventually in 1955 he was appointed the Principal Conductor for Life with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
He made an impressive recording of many of his works. The sounds of the Berliner Philharmonic that resonates to me are the big orchestral sounds and one which the world attributed to what is passionately known as the "The Karajan Sound" - with the works of Mahler, Beethoven, Wagner and Stravinski comes to mind. Also my favourites are his works on Bach, Bruckner, Sibelius and Ravel. But Karajan and Mahler is absolute perfection.
Karajan comes to mind as I was listening to his recording of Mahler Symphony No. 2 last night. Besides, 2008 is Karajan's centenary celebration with performances all over Europe by the biggest orchestras and conductors of our time. Unfortunately, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra will hardly, if ever, do justice.
2 comments:
I agree with your appraisal of Karajan -- quite simply, the greatest conductor who has ever been, with no real rivals in the past or present. However, you must mean a different recording. Karajan never recorded the Mahler 2nd. He did, however record the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, and Das Lied von der Erde.
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for pointing this out.
As I mentally traced the history of events, I remembered being so engrossed into von Karajan that night that I was in fact listening to Das Lied von der Erde prior to listening to the recording led by Claudio Abbado with the Vienna Philharmonic for Symphony No. 2 instead. He succeeded von Karajan at Berliner Philharmonic from 1989 till 2002.
The error was mine - but my love for Gustav Mahler and von Karajan remains :)
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