Product Review

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalog. This 5-CD box of recordings made in Vienna and London brings together supreme choral and vocal works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Strauss, performed by soloists of the stature of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kathleen Ferrier, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, and Hans Hotter. For many, Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) hailed early in his career as Das Wunder Karajan (The Karajan Miracle) and known in the early 1960s as the music director of Europe remains the ultimate embodiment of the maestro. The release of the Karajan Official Remastered Edition over the first half of 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the conductors death in July 1989 at the age of 81. He was closely associated with EMI for the majority of his recording career (specifically from 1946 to 1960 and then again from 1969 to 1984). EMIs legendary producer Walter Legge sought him out in Vienna just after World War II and the long relationship that ensued embraced recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philharmonia (the orchestra founded by Legge), the Berlin Philharmonic (of which Karajan became conductor for life in 1955), La Scala, Milan, and the Orchestre de Paris.

CD Listing:
CD 1-2: J.S. Bach Mass in B minor
CD 3: Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem
CD 4-5: Beethoven Missa solemnis, Ah! Perfido, Fidelio Abscheulicher!; Mozart Ave verum corpus; Richart Strauss Vier letzte Lieder