Concert that affected the rest of your life

[charlesb]

The "Violin Channel" Vox Pop asked various musicians "Have you ever played a concert that affected the rest of your life?" Pierre Amoyal said:

“Alban Berg Violin Concerto … with Herbert Von Karajan … and the Berlin Philharmonic.”

It would be interesting to know why Amoyal said this but unfortunately he is not asked to expand his answer.

Source: theviolinchannel.com/vc-vox-pop-concert-affected-for-rest-of-life-qa/

If you haven't heard the Berg performance, it is available from www.rarebroadcasts.wordpress.com/

[lee]

Thanks for this, Charles - a very interesting post. It's a shame that Karajan didn't live long enough to record this work, as I'm sure he would have done eventually with Anne Sophie Mutter. He was due to recorded the Sibelius with her during the year following his death ....

I've been fortunate to have witnessed many great concerts in my lifetime, including three by Karajan and the BPO in their last three visits to London. The last concert with Verklarte Nacht and the Brahms First Symphony is astonishing for not only starting so late (8.30pm - the instruments were held by a French dockers strike), but for the intensity of it all - on the Testament CD of the concert, I have to have a break between the Schoenberg and the Symphony. The other late London Testament CD also has Karajan's best Heldenleben on it, yet the concert which really took my breath away was the one in between featuring two other Brahms symphonies, the Fourth and Second - the sound of the orchestra in the notoriously dry acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall was as transparent as any chamber orchestra, yet had astonishing depth, like a bottomless deep pile carpet ! Perhaps they didn't affect the rest of my life, but rest assured I feel damn privileged to have seen them.

LD

[tjh]

I don’t know if you have heard the live BPO on Testament, from March 1989 with Evgeny Svetlanov in Berlin (including the great Manfred Symphony, with cut). I am amazed how different the orchestra sounds. Perhaps by then the orchestra already changed itself, not only just the effect of a different conductor or record label.

[lee]

Nov 7, 2017 8:43:19 GMT 1 tjh said:

I don’t know if you have heard the live BPO on Testament, from March 1989 with Evgeny Svetlanov in Berlin (including the great Manfred Symphony, with cut). I am amazed how different the orchestra sounds. Perhaps by then the orchestra already changed itself, not only just the effect of a different conductor or record label.

Yes, thank you - I have ! Amazing to think it was the only time Svetlanov conducted the BPO, having studiously refused to conduct any other German orchestra beforehand ! I have to confess that I still recognised the trademark Berlin sound in these performances - although, I do admit it is a different sound to the one they would have produced for Karajan. Indeed, the BPO sounds different again in the Bruckner VIII they taped around the same time for EMI with Lorin Maazel in charge (a recording much praised in some quarters, but one I find rather anonymous). It is quite possible however, that I have been wrong-footed by Svetlanov's "reworking" of the Manfred Symphony mind, with that big cut in the final movement, plus the Stokowskian reworking of the coda with those added tam tam strokes ! Hearing is definitely believing with this one !!

LD

[john]

Hi Lee

I also attended the three London concerts you mentioned and totally agree with your comments.
I remember there was also a situation where the BPO played in their day clothes as the evening wear was held up somewhere, this may have been the Brahms 2nd & 4th in 1987?
Unfortunately this concert was not broadcast but fortunately we do have a very good private recording available.

As for the thread, again there were many concerts that had magical moments for me.
My 2nd Karajan concert was 1977 Festival Hall, the Beethoven 5th finale was breathtaking, again this concert together with the Mahler 6th was not broadcast.
The Ein Heldenlebens from the 76 & 85 Festival Hall concerts always had my heart racing as the finale approached and then the great wall of sound of the crescendo would engulf the hall.
The Brahms 1st from 1988 is still the best I have heard, the Testament release of the London Concerts are superb and we a very fortunate to have them.
For sheer power and beauty of sound my visit to Salzburg and Salome in 1978 was the pinnacle, the auditorium shook during some of the passages and it simply took my breath away.

As for the recordings there are obviously many magical moments, one in particular that stands out for me is the Sony DVD of the ‘live’ concert of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concert No.1 with Kissin, Karajan & the BPO from 1988.
The first time I played this I was totally taken aback by the colossal sound produced by Kissin with the first piano entry after the big opening orchestral theme, this thrills me every time I play it.

Going back to the interesting comments made by Charles regarding the ‘live’ Amoyal Berg Violin Concerto with Karajan, this got me thinking about other concerts where Karajan played Pieces that he did not record in the studio, the Berg Violin Concerto is a prime example however, upon further research I found that there many other pieces including many Operas that fall into this category.
I have therefore listed below purely for interest those concerts that I consider Karajan conducted in concerts but never actually recorded.
section 1 are the Operas which are all available commercially, section 2 are orchestral works which were broadcast and recordings exist with some collectors etc and finally section 3 orchestral and other works which I consider to be unavailable or were not broadcast.
I have taken the non opera concerts from John Hunt’s concert register from 1960 to 1989 only, I realise that prior to this in some of his early concerts Karajan included a number of obscure works especially those he performed with Italian Orchestras.

I realise that there may be some omissions or mistakes, if anyone has any further information or comments on this subject please share them with us.

Section 1

Verdi - La Traviata
Gluck – Orffeo
Wagner – Tannhauser
Strauss – Die Frau Ohne Shatten
Strauss - Elektra
Montiverdi – Poppea
Pizzeti – Murder
Donizetti – Lucia di Lammerrmoor
Stravinsky – Oedipus Rex

Section 2

Penderecki – Polymorphia
Wimberger – Plays
Various Strauss Pieces from the 1987 New Year Concert
Tharichen – Paukenkrieg
Bartok Piano Concerto No.3
Bruckner Mass No.2
Verdi Te Deum
Chopin Piano Concerto No.2
Mozart Piano Concertos 20 & 21
Berg Violin Concerto
Bach Concerto for 4 Pianos
Mozart Concerto for 3 Pianos

Section 3

Haydn – Trumpet Concerto
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Strauss – Festliches Praludium
Stravinsky – Canticum Sacrum
Voss – Variation for Brass & Percussion
Prokoviev – Symphony No.7
Prokoviev – Sinfonia Concertante
Locatelli Concerto Grosso No.10
Henze – Antifoni
Tharichen – Piano Concerto
Fortner – Impromptus
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.27
Bloch – Schlomo
Leitermeyer – Rhapsodische Skizzen
Britten – War Requiem
Bach – Cantata 51
Nono – Incontri
Haydn – Cello Concerto
Bennet – Aubade
Shoenberg – Gurrelieder
Bach – Piano Cocerto in D Minor
Ligeti - Atmospheres
Bach Piano Concerto BWV 1053
Penderecki – de Natura Sonoris
Fortner – Marginalien
Penderecki – Cappriccio


Best regards

John

[charlesb]

Hi John,

Thank you for your list. A few of the items in section 3 of your list are available, I have recordings of the two Penderecki items and the Henze Antifoni.

Before the war, Karajan performed several operas that he never recorded, for instance Richard Strauss's Arabella, Flotow's Martha and Verdi's Rigoletto.

Not all the unrecorded items that Karajan performed in the 1950's were obscure, for instance he conducted Barber's Adagio and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen on his first USA tour in 1955. I know that Linda (who moderates this forum) would love to get hold of one of Karajan's Barber performances (I would too).

The obscure works you mentioned where 1950s radio recordings exist include Ghedini's Viola Concerto, Sutermeister's Requiem, Rosenberg's Concerto for strings, Berger's Sinfonia Parabolica and Von Einem's Piano Concerto. Less obscure works where recordings from the 1950's exist include Bartok's Cantata Profana, Stravinsky's Symphony in 3 Movements and Ives' The Unanswered Question.

[lee]

Thanks for your lists too, John. Permit me to add a couple of additional comments.

In list 3, you mention the Gurreleider. As I'm no doubt you are aware, this was programmed as part of the preparation for performing and recording The Ring Cycle and indeed, a planned recording was also considered for the Schoenberg. However, Karajan insisted upon performing with a slightly slimmed down version of the orchestra, so the publishers vetoed the recording, which is a great shame. I saw Rattle perform this work at the Festival Hall once, either with the CBSO or Philharmonia - actually, I counted 12 French horns onstage, so it could possibly have been both ! Fantastic piece !!

Likewise, Karajan's final recording contracts still had (amongst other works) the Sibelius 3rd Symphony outstanding, as well as Carmina Burana, plus a Haydn mass, possibly The Nelson. A planned recording of Berlioz's Harold in Italy for DG was eventually taken by Maazel due to the Sabine Meyer row and a further one of Elgar's Second Symphony vetoed by the BPO at around the same time for similar reasons. All very tantalising !!

LD

[tjh]

I believe in all of Karajan's ending of Ein Heldenleben, the decrescendo comes right after the final ff.  There are others (e.g. Jansons) who makes a more pronounced mf in the penultimate measure before quieting out.  Karajan also tended to be fairly consistent in Strauss.  In other works it can vary quite more (e.g. Beethoven 8 3rd mvt DVD vs '77),.

Regarding the box, perhaps there will be a DG+Decca+EMI complete set next...