Customer Reviews

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 8 & 9 / Rosamunde Overture, d. 485,589,759,787,944

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You know, maybe there is just something to a composers Symphony No. 9. Beethoven, Bruckner and Schubert all had amazing 9th Symphonies, but I digress. This CD is worth the money (which isn't very much) just to hear "The Great" C Major Symphony. I haven't found a better recording of it anywhere. Once again, Karajan turns out a gem.

It is interesting to read the comments about Karajan. Those in the Beethoven section often loose sight that he did record stuff other than Beethoven's symphonies. Or they think he slighted the piano concertos when after all he did make several runs at those including mono recordings from the 50s. Or there will be comments about the sound he gets, too pure, too pretty. "I just can't like it, it sounds too good."

Karajan recorded just about everything from the Baroque Masters to Richard Strauss. He also headed up numerous music festivals and operas. To see what I mean, do a search either here or at Ebay on Karajan and opera. He was one busy productive dude. And he delighted millions both in live performances and all those vinyl gems he left us now bing ported over to cd.

I have these recordings that were issued on vinyl by Angel records in association with the book of the month club from way back when.

Karajan's recordings span from the 1930s to the late 1980s. Kinda like the Duke and all them westerns. He led the best orchestras in Europe (Vienna, Berlin, the Philharmonia to name three) and made records with them year end and year out for over 50 years. He also pushed the technology envelope and took advantage of digital when it first came out and video. Often the arguements about Karajan have to do with which version of such and such is best! "They all sound good, but I like his mono version with the Philharmonia best."

All this activity in conducting and recording over so many years paid major dividends. Like Bohm, I have seldom heard one of Karajan's lps and thought that he laid an egg! The reason why he is soooo popular is that he consistenly put out top notch work. You may find better individual performances but chances are you will not get an ear infection from listening to his recordings.

This inexpensive set is a good way to test the non Beethoven Karajan waters if you have not done so already. Or, you may give his great Schumann or Tchaikovsky Symphony recordings a try.

'Von Karajan's interpretation of Symphony #5 is not the best I've heard, but it is fairly good.

In Symphonies #8 and #9, von Karajan does have a few good moments, but overall his
rendition of these symphonies is horrid to the point of being embarrassingly bad.
When it does not sound like a herd of runaway horses, it is ponderous, belabored,
overly dramatic, and quite frankly boring.

If this were my first hearing of Schubert, I would think he was little more than a
mediocre composer. But Schubert, although greatly underappreciated during his
lifetime, is far from mediocre. Under von Karajan's hand, however, that is how he
sounds. Von Karajan completely missed the spirit of the man, the depth and the beauty of his music, substituting instead his own heavy-handed ego that is at terrible odds with Franz Schubert. Schubert did enjoy experimenting in his music, but overall had a lyrical quality. Von Karajan's direction, however, has the finale of the 8th sounding somewhat like a German drinking song.

I do not know if it was the placement of the microphones or the digital remastering, but the woodwinds are quite faint in relation to the rest of the orchestra, while the percussion section is a bit overwhelming. Additionally, the opening bars of most of the movements of the symphonies are barely audible. Pianissimo is one thing, inaudible is another.

In short, I would never recommend this CD set to anyone (unless I really did not like them). If you're looking for a good interpretation of Franz Schubert, this is not it.

EMI's new "Gemini" series is a breath of fresh air amidst all the smoke being put forth recently by the major classical labels. While Sony is deleting most of their classical budget discs, BMG is raising theirs to mid-price and UNI is convinced that 3CDs are always better than one, EMI decides to start a two-fer line that sells for significantly less than the competition, not to mention their own "Double Forte" series. It might not be as cheap as the old "Seraphim" series, but they could certainly be charging more for quality recordings such as these.

Herbert von Karajan's Schubert Symphony Cycle, made between 1975-78 for EMI with the Berlin Philharmonic, has been available previously on CD in the "Karajan Edition." However, those discs, released as four single titles with two Symphonies each, were twice the price of these new reissues. These performances of Symphonies 5, 6, 8 & 9 plus the Rosamunde Overture are certainly solid, but Karajan was never celebrated as a conductor of Schubert. One wonders if that is why DG had a young Lorin Maazel record the Schubert Symphonies with the Berliners instead of Herbie at the dawn of the stereo age, and that ultimately EMI had him record this Cycle because it was something he hadn't yet done for DG. In any event, I would certainly recommend the Bohm boxed set on DG or the Kertesz on London/Decca (see my review of the latter) ahead of these performances. But considering how cheap these two double discs are, maybe picking up an extra Schubert Cycle is worth it after all.

I am not one of those classical music fans that blesses and loves everything that Karajan does. Some of his recordings are wonderful. Some are, for me, very disappointing. He is not my favorite conductor. But this 2-CD set of Schubert's greatest works is absolutely magnificent. As I said, it features most of the grossly underrated composer's superb works, magnificently performed by an outstanding orchestra and conducted by the Maestro at his superb peak. Not only that, but it is available at a most attractive price. The "Great" ninth symphony is the highlight of this set, but all the selections are outstanding! Karajan whispers to the audience at the proper times and shouts loud and clear when Schubert calls for it. The sound quality, as in all EMI offerings, is magnificent. I can't praise this set of discs enough. It has immediately become one of my favorites. Get this set while it is still available and at a bargain price!

You can never go wrong adding a Karajan recording to a collection. Especially in the Schubert 9 the orchestral playing under Karajan's direction brings a great transparency to the architecture and development to one of my favourite works.

When I saw this CD here at Amazon and noticed such a low price the first thing that came to my mind is how "Such a superb Art", how "Such fine piece of Music ever" composed by one of the "Greatest Masters" ever has such a low price while you can see mediocre people buying things like madonna and beyonce paying more than twice this price by CD. I have all this works separately in imported vinyl but I'm going to buy this one in order of listening in my car during the path to work in the morning. I love the "Symphony number Five" but the best works here are the "Number Eight", "Unfinished Symphony" and the "Great Symphony Number Nine", talking about number eight unfinished symphony I prefer to the Sinopoli's interpretation conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra from Europe It is much more passionate, One intelligent man can't die without listening to this Masterpiece, why Franz Peter Schubert wrote only two perfect movements and stopped as if he had abondoned the symphony suddenly? I don't believe in this faith, I believe he finished this masterpiece but unfortunately the others two movements were lost forever, but these two that survived are perfect as we have known and listened to them for long time. About Symphony Number Nine this interpretation of genius Herbert Von Karajan is in my opinion "definitive" mainly in the first movement, it's incisive and coherent, and strong in a way that only Karajan could do with the help of the most important musical institution of the world "Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra". Great combination "Masterpiece plus best price possible". Perfect.

Amazon is being a litle pedantic to call the Schubert 8th, the Unfinished, his Sym. #7. All four symphonies here are great ones, and Karajan runs through them with a big orchestra and a good deal of impact. But one misses any easiness, charm, or melancholy, all qualities that belong to the real Schubert. This is more Karajan's streamlined modern asesthetic than Schubert's, worthwhile mainly if you love the Berlin Phil's sleek, polished sound and want to hear every piece run through it.

I should say that the competing sets from Abbado with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (DG) and Colin Davis with the Dresden Staatskapelle (RCA) sound timid and dull respectively. I would hold out for the new Harnoncourt--his single performances have been excellent so far--or seek the many great performances that exist out there of each symphony.

Wow, I loved this CD. When I play the Symphony #5, I wind up stopping what task I'm doing and just thrill to this music. I get chills up and down my spine. It's almost as good as when I heard it a Symphony Hall in January.

Schubert: Symphonies 5, 6, 8 & 9; Rosamunde Overture brought about by Herbert von Karajan on this CD, sound plainly uninspired and a bit negligent. He seems to be mocking the German aura, and giving Schubert back to the Austrians.

Is this a charity concert?


Die Wiener Philharmoniker sounds better than the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra here.