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From: greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.audio,net.music.classical
Subject: Re: CD tidbits
Message-ID: <193@olivej.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Jul-84 16:59:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: olivej.193
Posted: Tue Jul 24 16:59:56 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Jul-84 20:30:48 EDT
References: <2626@allegra.UUCP>
Organization: Olivetti ATC, Cupertino, Ca
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The new Karajan Beethoven cycle is not just a rumor.  There was
a full report on the plans for it in the June issue of the
German "Fono Forum" magazine.  Karajan is wild about digital
recording and the CD as a reproducing medium and is therefore
anxious to have as many of his interpretations as possible 
available in this form.

As far as upcoming opera releases from Karajan, the best
way to guess is to look at the Salzburg festival schedule
and find out which productions he is conducting.  As of the
last several years, nearly all of his operatic recordings
have been based either on Salzburg productions or on
film productions.  The "Turandot" is from a film which 
was actually being done in China (the soundtrack was, of
course, done in Berlin).  The upcoming "Rosenkavalier"
is based on last year's Salzburg production (repeated
this year also).  Likewise, his "Carmen" and "Flying
Dutchman" (not yet released) recordings were also based
on Salzburg productions.  This enables him to make optimum
use of rehearsal time and preparation.

I have to say, personally, that I'm not too happy with
his operatic recordings over the last 5 years or so, the
major exception being the "Pelleas et Melisande" which
I find a superb interpretation in every regard.  In
general I find that he chooses voices too light for the
particular parts, trying to achieve delicacy and avoid
operatic bombast, and then proceeds to drown these voices
in deluges of orchestral sound.  The recordings don't show
this up as badly as the live broadcasts from Salzburg,
since the singers are more shrewdly miked and have time
for rest between strenuous sections.  From a vocal 
standpoint, however, the live performances where heavy
roles like Aida and Elisabetta (Don Carlos) can be
heard wearing holes in the once lovely voice of Mirella
Freni can be hard to take.  In fact, there does not seem
to be a single singer who has been associated with him
and his productions for any extended period of time during
the past 15 years who has not noticeably suffered a
vocal decline, well beyond what would be expected from a
singer in the same time period.  The list of those who
have suffered includes Helge Dernesch, Jose Carreras,
Katia Ricciarelli, among many others.


	- Greg Paley