Search - Herbert Von Karajan His Legacy for Home Video: Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 on DVD

In the end, von Karajan

Robert A. Alps | Evanston, IL United States | 05/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Herbert von Karajan was intensely interested in documenting his interpretations on video. He formed the company Telemondial which was responsible for producing this performance of the Bruckner 8th near the end of Karajan's life. Karajan had conducted the Bruckner 8th very early in his career and returned to it and other Bruckner symphonies many times. This is a well measured performance with an outstanding orchestra and should be very satisfying to most listeners. As has been previously noted, the video focuses on Karajan. Some viewers may be put off by Karajan's habit (mostly later in life) of conducting with his eyes closed.

By way of comparison, there is a Bruckner 8th with Boulez that is visually magnificent, recorded in a large beautiful church with an audience. The musical performance is every bit as wonderful as Karajan's, so I would say that Boulez should not be passed up.

Karajan also made a video of Bruckner Symphony 9 with Telemondial and both the 8th and 9th had been videotaped years earlier by Unitel and released on VHS and Laser Disc under the DG label. The entire Unitel video catalog is starting to be released in 2005, so these earlier recordings should show up in the near future.

Sony also has videos that have not been released on DVD of the Brucker 6th, 7th, and 8th with Celibidache and the Munich Symphony Orchestra."

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

R. Houck | USA | 05/04/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I AM FAR FROM A PERFECTIONIST WHEN IT COMES TO THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF DVD'S. HOWEVER, I FOUND THE CAMERA WORK SO ANNOYING ON THIS ONE THAT I DID NOT ENJOY WATCHING IT.

THIS DVD NEVER SHOWED MORE THAN 1/3 OF THE ORCHESTRA AT ANY ONE TIME AND NEVER SHOWED EITHER THE CONCERT HALL OR THE AUDIENCE. ALMOST ALL THE CAMERA ANGLES WERE CLOSEUPS. A TYPICAL SHOT WOULD SHOW HVK AND A ROW OF FOUR VIOLINISTS. HVK WAS CLEARLY IN FOCUS, AS WAS 1ST VIOLINIST. HOWEVER, VIOLINISTS 2,3 & 4 WERE PROGRESSIVELY FUZZIER. SAME WITH SHOWING FOUR TRUMPETS, BASSOONS, ETC. PLAYER IN FOREGROUND IN FOCUS, PLAYERS IN BACKGROUND BADLY OUT OF FOCUS. SO, A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF THE FOOTAGE WAS OUT OF FOCUS.

THE PERFORMANCE ITSELF SEEMED EXCELLENT. SOUND QUALITY - LISTENED TO PART OF DVD WITH HEADPHONES. SOME OF THE 4TH MOVEMENT HAD BAD DISTORTION.

GOING TO ORDER THE BOULEZ VERSION OF THE BRUCKNER 8TH.





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Best Bruckner 8 -- No Sweat!

Mr John Haueisen | WORTHINGTON, OHIO United States | 06/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I was moved by Zubin Mehta's passionate performance of the Bruckner Eighth, (Israel Philharmonic), I didn't know what a huge, full sound could be.

Mehta was dripping wet from his enthusiastic gyrations, even before the Adagio movement was finished. By the symphony's end, he was exhilarated, but exhausted. I thought it couldn't get any better than all this passion. BUT,---I had not seen and heard Herbert von Karajan's treatment.

Von Karajan is totally involved with the music, but he never even breaks a sweat. Von Karajan had decades of performing Bruckner's Eight--even underground during the last days of the WWII bombing of Berlin, where von Karajan's orchestra served double-duty as musicians for half the day, and firemen putting out bomb-generated fires during the rest of their time.

He has the supreme confidence of a master, who knows the music, knows how he wants to hear it, and knows that his orchestra is up to the task.

I truly appreciate Zubin Mehta's passion and sweat, but Herbert von Karajan far surpasses all other performances in overpowering sound and passion without needing to break a sweat. This is THE performance of Bruckner's Eighth."

Excellent performance and sound, video leaves much to be des

Robert A. Alps | 07/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This performance rivals the Boulez as far as the performance goes. It may even surpass it. Sound is wonderful as well. However, most people don't buy a music video just for the music. With this in mind I have to say the filming of this video is nothing to write home about. Others have commented on this so I won't go into detail here.

The Boulez video of Bruckner's 8th is the way to go if you want visual beauty to go along with his wonderful performance. Do keep in mind though that Karajan's performance with the Wiener Philharmoniker is about as good as it gets. And since Karajan's video costs alot less it should be seriously considered, even if you end up turning the TV off and just listen to the music. Yes. It is that good."