Karajan/VPO: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 (r. 1984) - DG 415 348-1 (DDD)

$

30

ITEM DESCRIPTION:

This handsome and quite rare LP from Deutsche Grammophon (415 348-1, West German pressing, DDD stereo) features Herbert von Karajan’s final recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor Op. 36, recorded in the rich acoustics of the Musikvereinssaal, Vienna in September 1984 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on glorious form.

Karajan re-made the last three Tchaikovsky Symphonies in digital sound not long after DG adopted the new medium. Though there are reasons for preferring his earlier recordings – dating back to the 1950s with the Philharmonia Orchestra or even his later mid-1970s Berlin Philharmonic versions (for the yellow label), his final recorded statements on these great scores remain of great merit and Karajan brings a lifetimes’s wisdom and experience to works that were cornerstones of his immense repertoire – the sound is truly outstanding.

Wrote the veteran critic Edward Greenfield in his review for the October 1985 issue of The Gramophone: “This is the most successful of the three Tchaikovsky symphony recordings that Karajan has made with the Vienna Philharmonic in conjunction with Telemondial video projects. The sound is less conventionally balanced than in Karajan's last Berlin recording for DG, issued in 1978, but particularly with the weight of bass that CD provides, and the extra clarity that the digital system brings, making cloudy textures reasonably transparent, the warmly reverberant recording is on balance easier on the ear than the relatively fiercesounding earlier one. DG want to emphasize that though this new recording has been made in conjunction with a video project, the audio has not been treated simply as an adjunct. Certainly in Symphony No. 4 more than in Nos. 5 and 6, there is positive gain from a freer, more spontaneoussounding performance. As before the playing here of the Vienna Philharmonic cannot match that of the Berlin Philharmonic in Karajan's previous versions for DG, in knife-edged precision. The Berlin performances are both purer and more refined, but the moulding of phrase characteristic of Karajan in Tchaikovsky is here more natural and persuasive with the Vienna orchestra, even when in the second group of the first movement he is a shade more expansive. So the Vienna clarinet edges into that section with more of a tenuto than his Berlin counterpart, delightfully so, while by contrast the Vienna oboe, much edgier of tone than the Berlin one, plays the opening melody ot the second movement Andantino more freshly with less obtrusive tenutos. In the Scherzo the Vienna woodwind is less brilliant and precise than the Berlin, but perhaps the biggest advantage this time comes in the extra excitement, the sense of adrenalin flowing, in the finale, again not quite so crisply disciplined.

“This is a symphony which has always put Karajan on his mettle, and with the provisos I have given this new recording should please all his admirers. But it certainly does not displace my affection for the recent Jansons/Oslo Philharmonic version from Chandos, where not only is the recording fuller, richer and clearer, the freshness and electricity in a totally unmannered reading could not be more convincing. In principle it may seem impossible that Oslo wind-playing, for example, could match and outshine that of the great Vienna Philharmonic, but hearing is believing.”

Incidentally, the striking cover design was created by Dieter Schleifenbaum, Hamburg. Liner notes on the reverse side of the jacket are provided in German, English, and Italian (by Thomas Kohlase), as well as in French (by André Lischké).

CONDITION:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

The condition of the jacket is VERY GOOD. There is slight edgwear and some creasing along the top edge, but that is all. There are no seamsplits, owners’ markings, bends, or other defects, and the album remains solid, bright, glossy, and striking in appearance – overall, this rates as a very good collector's copy.

The condition of the LP itself is near-MINT and the playback is superb – overall, a beautiful collector’s copy.