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There are many things that can be said about Herbert von Karajan, but not that he was not a dedicated musician. Beethoven's symphonies were always the workhorse of his concerts; he conducted them in concert hundreds of times, and he recorded them in full four times. Under his direction, every orchestra played in a extraordinary way. And when he had "his" orchestra at his disposal, i.e. The Berliner Philharmoniker, the result could only be exceptional. Live, on the luckiest evenings, listeners could participate in unforgettable evenings. Our CD offers two: that of November 3, 1957, in Tokyo, with a Fifth Symphony recorded by Japanese television technicians with an astonishing sound quality, and that of April 8, 1961, in London, with an Eighth Symphony of exceptional elegance and depth. Further discussion of Karajan is in many respects superfluous. He was the greatest of all. No one more than he has been able to make Beethoven's symphonies so immediate, direct, grandiose and exciting. Great symphonic music owes him a debt that will never be forgotten.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)