Sym 8/Ovts [Original recording remastered]

Many critics and listeners fawn over Karajan's final Bruckner 8th with the Vienna Philharmonic. Some fans claim it to be the greatest Bruckner 8th on record! There are many dissenters of course who hate Karajan with a passion and completely dismiss that famous record as a showcase of a Teutonic egomaniac who plows through a majestic, spiritual symphony without the necessary insight to reveal it's mystical qualities. The dissenters point to Furtwangler, Guilini and the really die-hard will have no conductor other than cult favorite Sergiu Celibidache.

What about my thoughts? Having listened to that Karajan Bruckner 8th several times over the years, I simply haven't fallen in love with it. The sound quality is not the finest digital around, the acoustic can be a bit harsh and that interpretation itself can be rather blatant. Too emphatic while smearing out some of the spiritual elements. Karajan was old and getting closer to death but strangely what should have been a valedictory revelation... for me, it simply was not.

But being a fan of Karajan, I wanted to hear his earlier versions. The DG account from the famous 1970s cycle I haven't heard. Perhaps when DG finds it in their corporate hearts to remaster it, I'll give it a listen. So for me it was an easy choice to venture forth towards this EMI recording from the late 1950s and I'm glad I did. Rest assured that the sound is stereo and well done stereo at that. Warm, spacious and with the necessary ambience to capture such a colossal symphonic journey.

The forced blatancy that I heard in the DG Vienna performance is missing and instead we get a natural sweep, an arc that few conductors can pull off in music as expansive as this. Still, Karajan is not lacking in power, all the massive sonorities and grandiose climaxes you've come to expect from the Berlin Philharmonic are in order yet they sound fully in keeping with the overall mood instead of just jumping out at you. The slow movement is especially inspired, with a slower tempo than the DG Vienna account. This really makes this EMI record stand out for me and once again confirms Karajan as one of the greatest Brucker interpreters.

EMI loves to rehash it's extensive catalog and it can get confusing, so let me sort it out for you. This Karajan Collection version is the same Bruckner 8th EMI released before in the Karajan Edition. It had a bluish cover, just check my reviews. I posted the same review for both of these records. This Karajan Collection version has the same remastering as the earlier Karajan Edition release to the best of my knowledge but the couplings are different. Here we have overtures by Weber, Nicolai, Mendelssohnn and Wagner whereas the earlier Karajan edition had the Brahms Tragic Overture and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler symphony, a rarity for Karajan and a very good account I might add.

Different couplings aside, this purchase is for the Bruckner 8th and I found this record to be a more humane and spiritual experience than the famous recording with the Vienna Philharmonic.

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On the question of Bruckner 8ths:

This is Karajan's first (studio recorded) outing with the 8th, and it is spectacular:

Karajan/BPO, 1958:

I. Allegro moderato [17'05"]
II. Scherzo & Trio [16'04"]
III. Adagio [27'31"]
IV. Finale [26'17"]

True Brucknerians will know...

Also reissued w/different cover and additional material: Bruckner: Symphonie No. 8; Wagner: Lohengrin & Parsifal Preludes .
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In 1957, if Karajan had recorded this Bruckner Eighth with RCA, it would have been preserved in gorgeous Living Stereo. Unfortunately, EMI gave him limited, boxy sonics that severely cramp the breadth of Bruckner's monumental sound world. The new remastering in the "Karajan Collection" may be a notch better than the one heard in "the Karajan Edition," but the differences aren't major.

Despsite the muffled climaxes and narrow soundstage, this is a great reading, like the bettr known ones on DG, the first contained in the box set of complete symphonies, the second a valedictory performance with the Vienna Phil. from 1988, a year before Karajan died. Acclaimed as that recording is, this one is more sensitive and deeply felt. Karajan's handling of the episodic finale is patient and without bombast, knitting the segments together better than the composer himself could.

The fillers from the Seventies are in much better sound, although it's a little jarring to move from Bruckner to the lightness of Mendelssohn. In all, this reissue rivals Furtwangler's famous wartime reading of the Bruckner Eighth from Vienna and reinforces Karajan's claim to be the foremost conductor of a generation.

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