Post by darkehmen on Feb 29, 2008 23:53:35 GMT 1
I finally obtained this DVD from Classical Video Rarities. It was clearly recorded from the Japanese Toshiba laserdisc, as it features Japanese subtitles, and the opening credits name Toshiba and EMI. This might be one reason why this splendid film hasn't been released on DVD. If EMI owns the rights, and Mutter is signed with DG, perhaps there's a contract problem.
At any rate, it's thoroughly enjoyable, although the sound is unfortunately mono, and the picture quality could use a digital remastering. The Classical Video Rarity transfer is a good DVD-R recording, and probably loses little in quality from the laserdisc. One forgets just how much of an advance, picture-wise, DVDs were over laserdiscs (let alone over VHS).
The film is of note because it fills the "gap years" (filmed 1980, c.1981) between the final Unitel productions and the Telemondial era. It comprises a rehearsal with the European Youth Orchestra, followed by a performance in Salzburg.
The rehearsal, in the Philharmonie, is fascinating in the same way that Karajan's Clouzot films are. Because the conductor is working with an orchestra that isn't quite top-flight, he has to attend to many particulars. One gets a real sense of Karajan's training method. At one point, he actually taps on the stand, like a metronome, to keep the players in tempo (an interesting method, and it works). He also employs an intriguing technique, described in Osborne's "Conversations with Von Karajan" book, of asking the players to hold a fermata for many, many moments, to teach them to sustain a tone. Even the casual listener can discern the weakness of their playing before this instruction, and their increase in power afterward.
One forgets just how gorgeous Anne-Sophie Mutter was in her youth. One of the loveliest young women I've ever seen. She looks resplendent during the Salzburg performance, dressed in a white gown with a silk shawl. In some ways, I find her performance in this video even more compelling than in the Telemondial film of the concerto, because while there, she has perfected the work, and makes it look easy, here, she requires a little more...effort, for lack of a better word.
Interestingly, in this film, when she plays the theme from the third movement, she makes it sound rather more like a folk dance than she does in the DG recording, or in the Telemondial film.
The orchestra is...well, what can one say? It's not the Berlin Philharmonic, but they do a reasonable job. Comparisons are difficult because of the deficiencies in sound, and I'm sure that at least part of the reason for the lack of strength in the tutti is due simply to the limitations of the mono recording.
The camera work is mixed. The shots of Karajan and Mutter are wonderful, and in fact, they remind me more of Siegfried Lauterwasser's famous photographs of Karajan than do any other videos of the conductor (earlier or later). The orchestral filming is disappointing, though -- sweeping, meaningless middle-distance shots, for the most part. The Telemondial films rather spoil one for this more basic kind of concert filming.
Another point of interest is seeing a concert in the mighty Festspielhaus. One of the treats of the Telemondial films is getting to view both the Philharmonie and the Musikverein, but sadly, none were filmed in Karajan's third great temple of music, the Festspielhaus (except for the Jessye Norman video, if it exists). A couple of the Unitel films were shot there, but I would have loved to have seen a few Telemondial concerts recorded on this magnificent stage.
What an extraordinary act of generosity on Karajan's part to have worked with these young people, especially at a time when he had shed all of his ties to other orchestras and institutions, and was concentrating solely on the Berlin and Vienna orchestras. During the rehearsal, and during the performance, he never once patronized the players, or let them off easy, or gave them meaningless praise, but treated them like serious musicians, required them to improve their work, and devoted just as much attention to their performance as he did to any of the famous orchestras he led.
If these young performers retained any of the lessons that he taught them during the rehearsal, I'm sure that they became an infinitely better ensemble.
At any rate, it's thoroughly enjoyable, although the sound is unfortunately mono, and the picture quality could use a digital remastering. The Classical Video Rarity transfer is a good DVD-R recording, and probably loses little in quality from the laserdisc. One forgets just how much of an advance, picture-wise, DVDs were over laserdiscs (let alone over VHS).
The film is of note because it fills the "gap years" (filmed 1980, c.1981) between the final Unitel productions and the Telemondial era. It comprises a rehearsal with the European Youth Orchestra, followed by a performance in Salzburg.
The rehearsal, in the Philharmonie, is fascinating in the same way that Karajan's Clouzot films are. Because the conductor is working with an orchestra that isn't quite top-flight, he has to attend to many particulars. One gets a real sense of Karajan's training method. At one point, he actually taps on the stand, like a metronome, to keep the players in tempo (an interesting method, and it works). He also employs an intriguing technique, described in Osborne's "Conversations with Von Karajan" book, of asking the players to hold a fermata for many, many moments, to teach them to sustain a tone. Even the casual listener can discern the weakness of their playing before this instruction, and their increase in power afterward.
One forgets just how gorgeous Anne-Sophie Mutter was in her youth. One of the loveliest young women I've ever seen. She looks resplendent during the Salzburg performance, dressed in a white gown with a silk shawl. In some ways, I find her performance in this video even more compelling than in the Telemondial film of the concerto, because while there, she has perfected the work, and makes it look easy, here, she requires a little more...effort, for lack of a better word.
Interestingly, in this film, when she plays the theme from the third movement, she makes it sound rather more like a folk dance than she does in the DG recording, or in the Telemondial film.
The orchestra is...well, what can one say? It's not the Berlin Philharmonic, but they do a reasonable job. Comparisons are difficult because of the deficiencies in sound, and I'm sure that at least part of the reason for the lack of strength in the tutti is due simply to the limitations of the mono recording.
The camera work is mixed. The shots of Karajan and Mutter are wonderful, and in fact, they remind me more of Siegfried Lauterwasser's famous photographs of Karajan than do any other videos of the conductor (earlier or later). The orchestral filming is disappointing, though -- sweeping, meaningless middle-distance shots, for the most part. The Telemondial films rather spoil one for this more basic kind of concert filming.
Another point of interest is seeing a concert in the mighty Festspielhaus. One of the treats of the Telemondial films is getting to view both the Philharmonie and the Musikverein, but sadly, none were filmed in Karajan's third great temple of music, the Festspielhaus (except for the Jessye Norman video, if it exists). A couple of the Unitel films were shot there, but I would have loved to have seen a few Telemondial concerts recorded on this magnificent stage.
What an extraordinary act of generosity on Karajan's part to have worked with these young people, especially at a time when he had shed all of his ties to other orchestras and institutions, and was concentrating solely on the Berlin and Vienna orchestras. During the rehearsal, and during the performance, he never once patronized the players, or let them off easy, or gave them meaningless praise, but treated them like serious musicians, required them to improve their work, and devoted just as much attention to their performance as he did to any of the famous orchestras he led.
If these young performers retained any of the lessons that he taught them during the rehearsal, I'm sure that they became an infinitely better ensemble.