BEETHOVEN Symphony No.5 LP

VPC85003   Vinyl Passion

Original Recordings Remastered Herbert von Karajan belonged to the last generation of conductors for whom mastery of Ludwig Van Beethoven's music in general and the nine symphonies in particular was a prerequisite for admission into the pantheon of so-called "great" conductors by a high-minded musical public. Here we have his superb March 1962 staging of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was the principal conductor for 35 years. Later in his life Karajan would tell young conductors to "Throw away your first hundred Fifths!" which holds some truth considering he himself managed around 90 performances of the work in his lifetime. Yehudi Menuhin said of Karajan: "He worked his interpretations to a fine tilth, aiming at the minimum of sentimentality and the minimum of exaggeration. A recording does not bear hearing more than a few times if you can predict, not the note, but the interpreter's private twist or change or eccentricity. Karajan wanted a recording that could be heard repeatedly."