Search - The Art of Karl Bohm on DVD

Come and See Karl Bohm Rehearse with an Orchestra

BLee | HK | 05/26/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A 63/65 B/W production.This is interesting mainly because it contains a rehearsal session where Karl Bohm rehearsed with the orchestra: we see how he actually shaped and prepared the orchestra. His demands, his response and his style are all here. Upon seeing this, one is tempted to ask if it was pretty much the same thing for Bruno and Toscanini when they first settled in US. This DVD certainly brings memories back to those who had taken part in an orchestra before.
Bohm is a conductor with a lot of style. This time, he is not with Vienna Philharmonic nor Berlin Philharmonic but Toronto Symphony. With a great conductor, just like Bruno or Toscanini, we don't bother too much about the orchestra itself--it's just like a piano or an instrument to him. Don't, however, be misled by me, for the orchestra itself especially under the baton of Karl Bohm was in fact quite good. You will never have guessed that it'a an orchestra from Canada! Included in this DVD are three arias sang by Jon Vickers, a world famous tenor with a voice and style particularly well suited to German lieders. He sang from a stage at least 2 meters behind and above the members of the orchestra. Such a powerful voice! The recorded sound is OK and the whole running time is 117 min. Highly recommended to Karl Bohm's fans."

Excellent content, but mediocre mono sound from the 1960s

Alan Majeska | Bad Axe, MI, USA | 08/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really enjoy the content of VAI's DVD "The art of Karl Bohm", but am giving it 4 (not 5) stars because of the mediocre mono sound from 1963, and (slightly better) 1965. Of course, I'm spoiled by excellent stereo analog and digital recordings from the late 1950s to the present, and TV sound, especially in the '60s, was well below that of recorded stereo sound.

The picture quality - black and white - is OK, but well below the best available today. Karl Bohm (1894-1981) is an imposing presence throughout the film, and his rehearsal methods are very interesting: actually, the most interesting part of this DVD to me. I wish this DVD showed more of Bohm rehearsing the other 3 movements of Beethoven 7, or other works in addition to mt. I shown here. I am impressed by Bohm's good command of English, and he clearly lets the CBC Festival orchestra members know what he wants in short, concise sentences. The concert sequence of Beethoven 7 is fine, although there is some distortion/congestion in the tape in III, which may turn off some listeners. Then again, this was 1963, 42 years ago as I write this, and it's mono TV - not studio stereo sound. It is commendable the CBC broadcast this to their viewers: Classical music for a general TV audience.

The 1965 concert from Bohm/Toronto Symphony, with tenor Jon Vickers, has somewhat better sound than the 1963 Beethoven. Here Bohm is on his FORTE with repertoire: Mozart's HAFFNER Symphony, excerpts from Beethoven's FIDELIO, including the famous LEONORE OVERTURE 3, and Wagner excerpts from WALKURE, with Vickers, and closing with the Prelude to DIE MEISTERSINGER. Bohm recorded all of these works for DG commercially in the late 1960s/70s: the Mozart HAFFNER in both Berlin and Vienna (DG CD); FIDELIO with the Dresden State Orchestra (1969, DG CD); DIE WALKURE in Bayreuth (1967, Philips CD) and DIE MEISTERSINGER Prelude with the Vienna Philharmonic (DG).

It is interesting to watch Karl Bohm at work, and he gets the Toronto Symphony to sound like the Vienna Philharmonic in the 1965 concert. This film is of interest not only to the general listener, but to conducting students: here is a master at work."