The end of Herbert K's life brought a strange amount of discord. His health was very bad after falling off of a podium which broke his hip and there was an estrangement which set in between the Berlin Phil which sadly darkened the last years after all he did for this orchestra. That being said, the relationship which spawned again with the Vienna Philharmonic was a source of great music making...so that being said one can imagine how fine things were in Vienna in the late 80s with such conductors as... more info
Very difficult to surpass:
Besides this recording, I also own Chailly, Celibidache (Munich), Jochum (Dresden) and Solti (CSO, nla). The spirituality is much more intense than all the others. The acoustics of the Grosser Saal of Musikverein is superb (i.e. just resonant enough, not too reverberating). The response from Wiener Philharmoniker is precise (you can hear pp,p,mf,f,ff), their playing natural and idiomatic. The whole recording has been remastered with the so-called 'Original Bit Processing' and is very satisfying. In short,... more info
A "farrewell" recording but not conducted that way:
Reviewers here treat this Bruckner Seventh, which was released posthumously after Karajan's death in 1989, as if it foreshadows his passing. But this isn't a slow or reflectively melancholy reading--in fact, the first movement is quicker (if only marginally) than any of Karajan's two previous recordings for EMI and DG, both with the Berlin Phil. By comparison, the Vienna Phil. sounds sweeter, never bombastic, incapable of a brash phrase. The recordidng sounds so alive and present that one could swear this... more info
A Double Requiem:
On the subject of Bruckner's 7th Symphony, composed after Bruckner perceived the impending death of his hero Richard Wagner and indeed appropriating the very Wagner tubas into the score in the Adagio which was apparently directly inspired by Bruckner's encounter with Wagner, it would be a disservice to the recorded versions of this work not to include this CD which proved to be Herbert von Karajan's valedictory recording. Though the actual performance with the Vienna Philharmonic is not fully uplifting... more info
Tracks:
Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107: Allegro moderato
Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107: Adagio: Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam
Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107: Scherzo: Nicht schnell, Trio: Langsam
Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107: Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
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