Opera Chic

Muti's Silence For Karajan: Ein Deutsches Requiem In Salzburg

The other night the Salzburg Festival has honored the memory of Herbert Von Karajan -- 2008 is the maestro's centenary -- with Ein deutsches Requiem, conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Today's Corriere della Sera, in a full-page essay about the special concert, explains that Riccardo Muti had asked the audience not to applaud at the end of the performance to show their respect for the departed Austrian maestro.

Corriere calls the performance "enormously moving", dark and tight, accomplished "with supreme technique"; a testament to the mutual admiration between the two men (it was Karajan who asked young Muti, barely thirty years old, to conduct Don Pasquale in Salzburg, something Muti has not forgotten to this day, saying a few days ago in an interview with Il Giornale: "Abbado, Mehta, Ozawa and I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Karajan for all his essential help at the beginning of our careers").

Here is la Battle singing for Herbie in the German Requiem.

Unkle Normy Nukes Karajan: "A Discreditable Life"

Waking up in the morning to Herbert von Karajan on the radio, I have to rub my eyes and check the calendar to make sure that Mao Tse-tung is not alive and the Soviet Union still a world power.

There was a time, defined by dictatorship, to which Karajan provided the musical backdrop.

Il Dottor Lebrecht unloads some new ammo on HVK.

Do You Know Who Else Didn't Like Karajan?

After a mistake in a performance of Die Meistersinger, that Karajan conducted from memory, Der Fuhrer apparently said, "If that man continues to conduct, I shall not come to his opera house again"

Then, does this mean we need to like Herbie more now?

La Repubblica Gives Us Some Herbie <3

Starting tomorrow, Italian newspaper La Repubblica will begin a special homage to late Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, by offering a special set of 6 cds of his work with the Wiener Philharmoniker. For 9.90 euro, with a copy of either La Repubblic or magazine L'espresso, the series will start with a selection from Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor, to celebrate 100 years since the late conductor's birth. Here's the full-page newspaper ad they ran to advertise the promotion.

Where OC, Of All People, Has To Defend Karajan

The Daily Telegraph declares Anschluss on Karajan's recorded legacy:

No one ever nominates Karajan's recording of a work as their favourite, though his version might come in at number three or four.

As much as we don't really join the Kreepy Karajan Kult and as much as we enjoyed Uncle Normy's slam, we have to say in all fairness that Karajan's Salome might very well be the best ever recorded. His Zarathustra, too. In general, his Strauss is not to be messed with, and rates much much higher than coming in at a mere "three or four".

And even though opera is not ALL about the conductor (much, but not all) Herbie's Bohème with Pavarotti and Freni might be the best ever (fighting it out with Kleiber's, ok, ok); and Karajan's Trovatore (with a not unimpressive cast, Callas Di Stefano Panerai Barbieri) is  pretty much the best out there, too.

Lebrecht On Karajan: "100 Years Of Suckage"

Herbert von Karajan was a moral and creative nullity. His myth does not survive the test of time.

Norman Lebrecht wishes Herbert Von Karajan a happy 100th birthday

Now, we admit that the Herbie cult gives us the willies, and his actions during the war are inexcusable, but OC serenely concedes that HVK's Salome is the best she has ever listened to -- his Strauss is generally stellar, and his Trovatore, of all things, gives off a dark, shiny, malevolent beauty that always fascinates OC. His Sibelius is not half bad either, even if not as great as Barbirolli's. And young Karajan's Beethoven symphonies cycle has indeed a majestic beauty (the later sets are just embarrassingly pompous). We also dig a Haffner that HVK conducted in his youth.

But, moral issues aside (again, as a huge Oswald Kabasta fan OC has learned how to separate musical talent from moral flaws) the not so short list of conductors who really run circles around cranky Herbie, with all due respect, makes OC wonder what all the fuss about Karajan's anniversary really is. (Besides, as Uncle Normy points out, that Deutsche Grammophon is trying to make a lazy buck out of it).

Karajan's Century

Say what you want about Karajan the man and the creepy cult of his personality (we know WE do) but the celebrations for his centenary are indeed an important moment of this 2008's musical history.

Here is the program of tomorrow night's konzert in Salzburg, same program as in 1929 for HVK's debut there. Maestro Bolton conducting (not the same thing, OK).

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:Symphony no. 5 e minor op. 64
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano concern no. 23 A major KV 488
Richard Strauss: Don Juan op. 20

Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg

Soloist Lars Vogt, piano
Conductor Ivor Bolton

Perfect repros of Karajan's several Nazi Party membership cards available at the Mozarteum's Gift Shop