HERBERT VON KARAJAN

[chadheltzel]

What inspired conducting. Notice how he looks at his watch at 00:35...

[mokifinoki]

Godwin's Law.  Look it up.

[johnhofi]

why all the fuss ? we americans call what's left of the aborigines here 'native americans', as though anerigo vespucci had preceded them, and we just got through paying for the murder of tens of thousands of innocent iraqis, nor are our israeli friends slouches in the butcher business either...i mean, i'll hand it to you, you guys know how to split hairs...

[bdrman]

I find it amazing that Karajan gets bashed as he does and Furtwangler is practically lionized. The man is shown shaking hands with Goebbels and conducting Beethoven's 9th with the nazi flag in the background. I don't care if you don't like Karajan but quit putting Furtwangler on a pedestal when he was in the thick of the Third Reich.

[TheKarajan2008]

when and where is this taken?

[Varese52]

But Karajan had ben married to someone regarded as a Jew. The party tried to force him to divorce her, but HE REUSED and was "disgraced" by the party. This sort of thing is verified by the fact that he threatened to resign from the Vienna opera if they refused to let Leontyne Price sing there under him. He was an opportunist, but no Nazi in the sense of a "true believer".

[glandprogram]

右手だけで振って、しっかりオーケストラを操縦する。しかもかっ­こいい。

[pinky0926]

Wow, what's with the severe thumbs-down going on in this video? Many of these opinions are fair enough.

The strangest part is that most of these thumbs-down are towards comments in praise of Karajan. It's as if someone monitors this video every day just to poke a stick at his supporters.

[japanesesweet]

I agree with you- -there's some very spurious information here and as soon as someone discredits it they get the severe thumbs down.

HvK was no Mother Teresa and i`m sure he was a ruthless opportunist but neither of those points mark him out as being unique in the classical music world.

[musicus91]

Ich möchte nicht bestreiten, dass karajan ein guter Dirigent war, tatsächlich war er aber vielmehr ein oportunistischer geschäftsmann und

selbstdarsteller. Seine aufnahmen sind in meinen augen ( oder ohren) kalt und steril.

[Theodorakis4]

dann mach's besser oder schweig stille !

[calogria]

@musicus91

Was ist genau kalt und steril an diesem Ausschnitt vom "Heldenleben"??

[MikeDrewYT]

Too bad there's only 0:37 of this. There's got to be more somewhere.

[jacobflaschen]

@MikeDrewYT how do you know karajan didn't just feel like stopping the piece there

[augenrhett]

Wow

[operafan85]

Solti was also kept out of Berlin until Karajan's death.

[coejanna]

Karajan and Bernstein were friends despite professional competitiveness. Solti was also a friend of Karajan's to the end of his life. Where do you guys get your information?.

[japanesesweet]

@operafan85 Rubbish-Solti and Karajan were friends. infact Solti says of Karajan that he was one of the greatest conductors of the 20th Century-

[changjiang001]

@operafan85 But Solti still had a good relationship with Karajan.

[3fGilchrist]

ohhhhhh no cadence!

[japanesesweet]

cssa12-doesn't make any sense what you're saying. If it was the case that HvK kept LB out of Berlin it may've been more to do with rivalry than anything else.

HvK was a great support to James Levine and Semyon Bychkov-both of whom are Jewish.

[philopus81]

There is total rubbish spread around by idiot often british critics like Norman Lebrecht that deny Karajans status as the best conductor of the 20th Century. They call him bland too often only interested in tonal beauty. Anyone with half an ear would dimiss that as ignorant beyond words. You just have to listen to the BPO under Rattle to see how far that have sunk artistically since their golden 60-70s hayday. Very sad

[castorp278]

There are greater (musical) authorities then Norman Lebrecht, much greater, finally he just writes.

[fosfoenolpiruvat]

Maybe one of the best conductors (if not the best) of the XXth centuary playing one of the best composer of the XXth centuary. Great video. Listening to Karajan is always a pleasure.

[hex486]

the 60s and 70s are the best period to view karajan.

[radical111]

Karajan is a legend. He is THE greatest musical mind since Beethoven and Mozart. His sound will NEVER be matched. Happy birthday master!! 1908 to 2008!!

[samdrophy]

This claim is outrageous and utterly bizarre to be honest. Karajan a greater musical mind than the likes of Wagner, Brahms, and Mahler? Karajan was an average conductor, nowhere near the interpretive genius of someone like Wilhelm Furtwängler let alone the great composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.

[jabsomdoc]

ive always thought that karajan was ironically, the better tchaikovsky interpretor, and that mravinsky was the better brahms interpretor.

[Impressionist1]

@samdrophy Heh... and who are You?? God? After fearing Richard Strauss' music with Karajan, there's no other interpretation I would like to hear

[tatters1232006]

MAESTRO,LEGEND GOD

[congrang]

I hate Karajon, but I have to say that his Rechard Strauss is the best.

[hex486]

why hate him?

[congrang]

he made music too commercialized, he might be a great business man, but not a great artiset

[darkprose]

Eh, its late capitalism, the twentieth century -- a man can be both. Karajan's equivalent, for me, in film, is Alfred Hitchcock. There is obviously some place where artistic creativity and supply and demand meet. Certainly Karajan was a star, a self-promoter, but who can deny that he opened up the world of so-called "classical" music to the public, along with Bernstein, Stokowski, and Toscanini? Yes, some of his readings might be bland, but his overall effect for music is undeniable.

[MahlerTitan]

there is some truth to you say. He definitely made records to improve his fortunates and fame. But to dismiss his artistry base on that is just idiotic.

[DMS412]

Becase HVK was a NAZI

[MahlerTitan]

hey, i don't think he cared that much, if it was the communists who were in power, he would've been a communist.

[darkprose]

I think Karajan was a self-promoting opportunist, not a Nazi. A significant difference. We can drop the specter of Nazism and enjoy his legacy relatively guilt-free (at least, politically.)

[japanesesweet]

NO he wasn`t! if he was ideologically that way inclined i don`t know why he had close friends/colleagues/record producers who were jewish/gay/black...all of these people would have not tolerated him.

[GustavMahlerHorn]

In fact many artists did refuse to work with him, like Elizabeth swarzchkopf and perlman, for instance.

[japanesesweet]

for what it matters,Scwartzkopf was a member of the Nazi Party so if she did refuse to work with him (is that true!?)it must`ve been on different grounds.

Perlman refused,but there were others. Rubenstein dined out on stories of refusing to work with HvK...neither Rubenstein or Perlman set foot in Germany so they were just extremely sensitive.fair enough.

None of which demonstrates that HvK was ideologically a Nazi.

[cssa12]

To GustavMahlerHorn and japanesesweet- Also, Leonard Bernstein,(who was of Jewish decent)was kept out of Berlin while Karajan was chief conductor... Karajan wouldn't let Bernstein come to be a guest conductor. Sad but true.....

[bdrman]

He came to Berlin in 1979 and recorded Mahler's Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic.

[cssa12]

Oh...

[japanesesweet]

-but his favoured pianist was Alexis Weissenberg who was jewish...they were also very close friends.

[japanesesweet]

@cssa12 I`m afraid you don`t know what you`re talking about. Bernstein made a very fine live recording of Mahler 9 with the BPO DURING Karajan`s tenure at the BPO.

Clearly,Karajan was no Mother Theresa but that doesn`t mark him out as being remarkable in any way.

[ConradHansen]

@cssa12 Das ist eine Lüge!

Karajan and Bernstein waren Freunde, Berstein besuchte Karajan auch immer, wenn er in Berlin war. Selbstverständlich durfte Berstein die Berliner Philaharmoniker dirigieren,

z.B. enstand die legendäre Aufnahme der Mahlersymphonien in den 70er jahren. Karajan mochte es nur nicht, wenn Berstein ihn zur Bergrüßung immer auf den Mund küssen wollte.

[boom3r1949]

@ConradHansen

well he never seemed like a "touchy feely guy." lol.

[JAMELINOUS]

@cssa12 me gustaria saber mas de eso de karajan no dejaria que bernstein?.

[foerster]

Schwarzkopf refused?? When and where?

And about Perlman he refused. But not Menuhin: a violinist, a artist and not a politician.

[japanesesweet]

very true.

[cobrafarmer]

I love this excerpt: Karajan's intensity, sense of shape, and of course the hair.

[IHaveTheBestHair]

nazi w/bad taste in music

[jxwz]

stupid pervert

[Timmyknocker]

Geweldig gedaan

[lauherbertina]

Karajan e il mito dei miti!!!grande direttore,grande talento,gran fascino!!

[tatters1232006]

KARAJAN IN HIS GLORIOUS ELEMENT

[billyguns2]

One of the greatest conductors in his glorious prime, and one of the last conductors to insist on a taut, full musical line with forward momentum. The orchestras are so lazy today, and ditto the timid conductors who are cowed by them. I am speakins as a condctor, LOL! Thank you for posting this; I wish it were longer. More, please!

[stickwagger]

Yes, the power of the conducting is without the over - technical "clicks" (e.g. in the bass chords) taught by many who claim that the modern style comes from Monteux. One only has to see Monteux to realise that this is false. I agree with the comment about lazy orchestras. An exception in my own recent experience would be the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

[yeahbyme]

YES, MORE !! I love this piece and it's not posted anywhere. Karajan is soooo romantic !

[juanpeople]

its amazing....esto con solo verlo demuesrta la genialidad de karajan...i loved....its a genius conductor....

[ximenovaldes]

we want more we want more but thank you

[ekerilaz]

Thank you! More please?!