Deutsche Grammophon

[~Linda~]

Matthias Röder, the new Managing Director of the Eliette and Herbert von Karajan Institute has suggested to Deutsche Grammophon that I be added to their press list for all Karajan publications and activities.

To begin, here is the link to the promotional video for the recently released Karajan boxed set "Karajan 1960s"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQEWrTsk4o



Linda

[jackyskis]

very good promo and set looks impressive; I'm guessing I would need to take out a mortgage to own it though.

[charlesb]

The current Amazon.co.uk price is £153.67. Less than £2 a disc is not bad (although not as good as the "complete" EMI boxes, also still available from Amazon).

However, if you are a long time Karajan follower, you probably have most of the recordings already.

I wonder why DGG missed out the 60's opera recordings from the set?

[Deleted]

I never read this anywhere but wasn't the size of the BPO bigger in the 60s? I think if the Liszts were made in the 70s, they would be quite different.

[glmoneo]

I purchased the 1960s set and have pre-ordered the 1970s set. They exclude opera recordings, however. A question that is nagging at me: Karajan did not become exclusive to DG until the late 1970s until his death. He stopped recording for EMI around the beginning of the 1980s. Other than the 'Ring' and the La Scala operas, am I correct that Karajan's opera recordings through the 1970s were exclusively with EMI? Can one of the members list the opera recordings Karajan made with DG? Much obliged.

[charlesb]

Hello Gimoneo,

Welcome to the forum.

Karajan's audio opera recordings for what is now Universal music were as follows:

DGG

1965 Leoncavallo I Pagliacci
1965 Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana
1966 Wagner Die Walkure
1967 Wagner Das Rheingold
1968 Wagner Siegfried
1969 Wagner Gotterdammerung
1979 Puccini Tosca
1979/80 Wagner Parsifal
1980 Mozart Die Zauberflote
1981 Puccini Turandot
1982 Bizet Carmen
1982 R. Strauss Der Rosenkavalier
1985 Mozart Don Giovanni
1989 Verdi Un Ballo In Maschera

DGG have also released some live Karajan CDs. The following were never recorded by him in the studio:

1960 Pizzetti Assassino Nelle Cattedrale
1963 Wagner Tannhauser
1963 Monteverdi L'Incoronazione Di Poppea
1964 R. Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten

Philips

1980 Verdi Falstaff

Falstaff was released on the Philips label because DGG had just released the Giulini recording. The Karajan recording was probably recorded by his usual DGG team, although there is nothing in the LP documentation to confirm this.

Decca

1959 Verdi Aida
1961 Verdi Otello
1963 Bizet Carmen
1962 Puccini Tosca
1970 Mussorgsky Boris Godunov
1972/73 Puccini La Boheme
1974 Puccini Madama Butterfly
1978 Mozart Le Nozze Di Figaro

Karajan's Decca recordings were all recorded before Decca was absorbed by Polygram.

[glmoneo]

Thank you very much! As I thought, his EMI activity -- opera and otherwise -- ended around 1979.

[charlesb]

Karajan's last opera recording for EMI was in 1983, when he completed Der Fliegende Hollander. He started Der Fliegende Hollander in 1981 when he also completed Lohengrin for EMI, which was started in 1975.

His last orchestral recording for EMI was Vivaldi's Four Seasons in January 1984.

[glmoneo]

Charles, why do you think HvK chose EMI over Decca for his opera recordings? The sound on those Deccas -- especially the LPs -- was superb, especially 'Otello' and the two magnificent Puccinis!

[charlesb]

I don't know but I have some guesses.

Firstly, it may not have been his choice. Decca had already recorded many of the Wagner and Verdi operas with Solti and they may not have had the budget to record them with another conductor. Also, Solti had been loyal to Decca, so they may have felt loyal to him.

It was reported at the time it was released that Karajan's Salome was recorded by a Decca recording team and I don't know why it was released by EMI. Perhaps Solti or Decca did not want competition on their label with Solti's 60's recording.

Secondly, Karajan liked working with Michel Glotz, his EMI producer. He insisted that Glotz worked with him at DGG as well.

Thirdly, EMI may have given him more choice about the singers. Decca had some wonderful singers exclusively signed to them but perhaps Karajan preferred Helga Dernesh for Isolde or Jose Carreras for Radames.

Fourthly, maybe EMI were paying him more!

Does anyone else have any ideas, or actually know why Karajan made so many of his 70's opera recordings for EMI?

[glmoneo]

I think your third and fourth reason are the winners...

[Deleted]

There is some explanation regarding EMI in Osborne Chapter 63. The gist of it jives with charles' 4th reason.