DVD Concert 31/12/85

[john]

Many years ago I tried to find out why the Sony DVD of the Berlin New Years Eve concert of 1985 did not include The Strauss piece Spharenklange.
I contacted Sony but received no reply.
Recently I decided to pursue this further and about 5 weeks ago I e-mailed Pia at the Karajan Institute in Salzburg. She replied that she would look into it but I have heard nothing since.
The concert was televised in Austria and included Spharenklange, I have a grainy Video copy on DVD but would prefer better sound & vision if it is available.
If anyone has any further information on this subject please let me know - otherwise it will remain one of lifes' mysteries.

John

[charlesb]

The 31/12/83 and 31/12/85 concerts were both initially released on Laser Disc. Laser Discs had a maximum playing time of an hour. My guess is that Sony missed out Spharenklange to fit the concert onto a single laser disc.

Unfortunately when the concerts were later released on VHS then on DVD, Sony did not bother to restore the missing music. This is bad enough for the 1985 concert but in my opinion even worse for the 1983 New Year's concert, where a marvellous performance of Schubert 8 was removed.

[philharmonie]

The Schubert was definitely not recorded by TV for the Telemondial in 1983, but I agree: it is very unfortunate. The lack of Sphärenklänge length could be justified by the duration of the LD, but Karajan might have disturbed something in the recording, which is why he did not want publication. There are many contradictions at all. For example, HvK still stated during his lifetime that he had completed 45 productions himself. On the other hand Ernst Wild explained in a later documentation that after Karajan's death the material of the Legacy was ultimately put together and all other raw material was destroyed. On occasion, I will ask Mr. Röder in Salzburg to clarify this.