Post by David on Oct 15, 2008 16:57:38 GMT 1
Very interesting that this thread should have progressed through the precise 20th anniversary date of the 6 October 1988 London concert.
Apart from the fact that this was Karajan’s final appearance in London, it also included the last of his 143 concert performances of the Brahms 1st Symphony. His first performance of the work had occurred 54 years previously in Aachen. For more details see -
www.karajan.co.uk/brahms.html
This therefore was a truly momentous and memorable event for those fortunate enough to have been present, including, as previously mentioned in the thread, John, Lee and myself.
Richard Osborne in his Conversations with Karajan states that “…….Karajan the survivor, the man stricken with illness who none the less appeared against all the odds to conduct a musically towering, spiritually searching account of Brahms’s First Symphony, as he did in London, to great and deep-felt acclaim, in the autumn of 1988“.
The exact release date for the two Testament discs is not yet specified on their web site, although Linda has noted that MDT have quoted December. However I have found that the two booklets (by Richard Osborne) are even now available on the Testament site - please see below for the links.
Richard Osborne describes the uncertainty surrounding the start of the concert in detail and all of this reminded me that my immediate initial thought on hearing the tannoy announcement was that the Maestro was indisposed. I’m fairly sure that this would have been everyone’s initial reaction until the announcement had been completed, when it was revealed that the problem would be the delayed start, much to very great relief all round.
John and Lee have mentioned their hopes that our virtuosic applause will be retained on the recordings and of course I agree entirely. However it is not necessary to wait for the CDs to hear our performance, as the audience’s response to Karajan‘s initial entrance onto the platform that evening can be heard on Linda's site; there‘s a link in the final entry on the Concerts in Great Britain page -
www.karajan.co.uk/concerts.html
The opening words “And now at last the moment we’ve all been waiting for so keenly ……” by the BBC announcer were very relevant and I find that the tension, anticipation and electric atmosphere in the hall are all very apparent, even in this short clip. I find that listening to it with eyes closed is actually quite moving ….
Anyway, here are the links to the Testament booklets -
www.testament.co.uk/media/notes/SBT1430note.pdf
www.testament.co.uk/media/notes/SBT1431note.pdf
Apart from the fact that this was Karajan’s final appearance in London, it also included the last of his 143 concert performances of the Brahms 1st Symphony. His first performance of the work had occurred 54 years previously in Aachen. For more details see -
www.karajan.co.uk/brahms.html
This therefore was a truly momentous and memorable event for those fortunate enough to have been present, including, as previously mentioned in the thread, John, Lee and myself.
Richard Osborne in his Conversations with Karajan states that “…….Karajan the survivor, the man stricken with illness who none the less appeared against all the odds to conduct a musically towering, spiritually searching account of Brahms’s First Symphony, as he did in London, to great and deep-felt acclaim, in the autumn of 1988“.
The exact release date for the two Testament discs is not yet specified on their web site, although Linda has noted that MDT have quoted December. However I have found that the two booklets (by Richard Osborne) are even now available on the Testament site - please see below for the links.
Richard Osborne describes the uncertainty surrounding the start of the concert in detail and all of this reminded me that my immediate initial thought on hearing the tannoy announcement was that the Maestro was indisposed. I’m fairly sure that this would have been everyone’s initial reaction until the announcement had been completed, when it was revealed that the problem would be the delayed start, much to very great relief all round.
John and Lee have mentioned their hopes that our virtuosic applause will be retained on the recordings and of course I agree entirely. However it is not necessary to wait for the CDs to hear our performance, as the audience’s response to Karajan‘s initial entrance onto the platform that evening can be heard on Linda's site; there‘s a link in the final entry on the Concerts in Great Britain page -
www.karajan.co.uk/concerts.html
The opening words “And now at last the moment we’ve all been waiting for so keenly ……” by the BBC announcer were very relevant and I find that the tension, anticipation and electric atmosphere in the hall are all very apparent, even in this short clip. I find that listening to it with eyes closed is actually quite moving ….
Anyway, here are the links to the Testament booklets -
www.testament.co.uk/media/notes/SBT1430note.pdf
www.testament.co.uk/media/notes/SBT1431note.pdf
