購買日期：March/21/2008
購買來源：博客來
價位：超低價位
英國留聲機雜誌評論摘要：
Following Karajan's death, we may expect a flood of reissues from his enormous gramophone legacy. Here now are two of his complete Beethoven cycles, including the first, made with the Philharmonia Orchestra between 1953 and 1956 and produced by Walter Legge, with the balance engineer Douglas Larter. All were made in the Kingsway Hall except the Ninth: as there was no Philharmonia Chorus then, Karajan took the orchestra to the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, and used the Vienna Singverein.
The names Philharmonia, Karajan and Legge made this an historic recording enterprise, but to these personalities must be added the fact that the LP record was then fairly new, stereo was just happening and, as Karl Schumann's accompanying note reminds us, Karajan's Beethoven, energetic, strongly rhythmical and deeply concerned with beauty of sound, was the antithesis of Furtwangler's, who died while this cycle was still incomplete. Of course, Toscanini had already instituted a highly precise, and some would say soulless, interpretative approach to Beethoven. The young Karajan was an admirer of Toscanini. He learnt from him that Beethoven's titanic strength could emerge equally well from performances that were accurate and objective but being an Austrian he shunned Toscanini's rigidity and ferocity.
These Philharmonia performances represent Karajan's first attempt to formulate his own Beethoven style—it was to be a lifetime's search. They are still magnificent—brimming with youthful vitality but full, too, of those characteristic shafts of light turned on to Beethoven's scoring, as for example in the joyful account of the Pastoral Symphony in which the finale, taken slower than in the first Berlin cycle of 1962, achieves an extraordinary spirituality. In No. 4, too, the playing of the Philharmonia strings in the Adagio and of the prindpal clarinet in the same movement is a reminder of the standard to which Karajan had so quickly raised this new orchestra.
The performances of Nos. 3, 5 and 7 all have outstanding virtues. If one stresses the rhythmic vitality, especially in the finale of No. 7, and the fast tempos which came as something of a shock at the time but now seem merely to have anticipated by 30 years what we take on the chin from the 'authentic' school of conductors, that should not detract from our pleasure in Karajan's lyrical and flowing treatment of the slow movements. As for the recording quality, it is quite remarkable, with a range and balance that are enhanced by CD.
If one wishes to make a spot-check on how Karajan's Beethoven developed, or changed, in a decade, the Allegretto of No. 7 provides a classic example. The pulse of the music is quicker than in the Philharmonia performance the legato smoother, the tone-colour more sharply defined. There is no doubt, in my opinion, that this 1962 Berlin Philharmonic cycle is one of the greatest Beethoven series ever committed to disc, both as orchestral performance and conductor's interpretation, and also as recording. Although there are sublime individual passages in the 1982–5 cycle, it is not as consistently fine as the 1962 (and this earlier cycle had the advantage of being recorded in the Jesus-Christus Kirche).
Nor can one evade the fact that, fine as the Philharmonia of the 1950s was, the Berlin Philharmonic of 1962 was its superior in every department. The refinements of its playing are too numerous to set out in detail, but how anyone could listen to these performances and then say that Karajan was 'bland' is beyond my comprehension. The brass playing throughout, and particularly in the Eroica funeral march, is just wonderful. The pizzicato at the start of the Eroica finale has to be heard to be believed—precise, yes but how meaningful too. The playing of No. 4, too, has all the grace and beauty of the Philharmonia performance, and then some.
The crown of both cycles is the Ninth, with the quartet of soloists carefully chosen each time and the same choir in both. (My preference is for the 1955 quartet, mainly because the male singers are better.) But the Berlin performance has a certainty that comes to a conductor only rarely, and did not come again to Karajan in the 1980s (listed above). Both boxes are well presented. The DG set has a long and perceptive article by RO which is required reading. The EMI set also contains performances of the Coriolan and Egmont overtures.'（Gramophone 1/1990）
儘管1962年DG柏林愛樂版似乎略勝一籌，但這套歷史文獻味道濃厚的貝多芬全集，還是每位貝多芬迷或卡爺粉絲絕對不可錯過的寶藏。
EMI公司誠意十足，此次重發經ART最新技術重新混音。
3/27追加 中國古典音樂資訊網署名里奇先生的文稿一篇：
2008年是指揮帝王卡拉揚一百歲誕辰，這位奧地利指揮大師在1989年過世至今將近20年，但他縱橫樂壇前後達半世紀之久，對當代樂壇影響之深，音樂史上罕有他人能夠相比。
這套錄音收錄了從1989年再版後，許久未在市面上重現的卡拉揚第一套貝多芬錄音，這套錄音完成於1951-1955年間，全是單音錄音，樂團是愛樂管弦樂團，當時該團中網羅許多優秀的歐洲樂手，包括英國圓號神童鄧尼斯·布萊恩。卡拉揚指揮這套錄音當時才40多歲，當時愛樂管弦樂團成立不到幾年，但是在卡拉揚的訓練下，他們迅速成為歐洲戰後的頂尖樂團。這套錄音另有一個重要的歷史意義，在進行這套全集的過程中，柏林愛樂的首席指揮福特萬格勒在1954年11月30日過世，這代表一個以後浪漫主義風格詮釋出強烈戲劇效果的貝多芬交響曲時代的結束，而卡拉揚就代表嶄新詮釋風格的來臨。
福特萬格勒以高度人文素養灌注在貝多芬詮釋中，讓貝多芬交響曲充滿了深奧哲學思維和詩意，也讓平實而具親和力的其他德國詮釋風格成為弱勢，這包括了卡拉揚的老師紹克和溫加特納等人所教導他的美學傳統，同時包括理查·史特勞斯這一派較溫和的貝多芬詮釋美學，也一併被排除在主流德式貝多芬美學之外。這些人的傳統加上托斯卡尼尼的影響，讓年輕時的卡拉揚極力想在這對立的學派之間找到折衷，那是融和了托斯卡尼尼極度精確和南德指揮學派（包括維也納）較溫和的樂風。
這套卡拉揚在1950年代初期所灌錄的第一套貝多芬交響曲全集，訴說他在綜合諸家學派後的第一份心得。在卡拉揚的手下，在1945年才由原名愛樂絃樂四重奏的團體擴建成的愛樂樂團，短短幾年內就脫胎換骨成為小提琴家西蓋蒂稱道的：“卡拉揚讓大家見識到交響樂團也可以用絃樂四重奏的精准度來演奏”的交響樂團。這套錄音因此也見證卡拉揚做為一位樂團訓練者的驚人天份和技術。
購買來源：博客來
價位：超低價位
英國留聲機雜誌評論摘要：
Following Karajan's death, we may expect a flood of reissues from his enormous gramophone legacy. Here now are two of his complete Beethoven cycles, including the first, made with the Philharmonia Orchestra between 1953 and 1956 and produced by Walter Legge, with the balance engineer Douglas Larter. All were made in the Kingsway Hall except the Ninth: as there was no Philharmonia Chorus then, Karajan took the orchestra to the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, and used the Vienna Singverein.
The names Philharmonia, Karajan and Legge made this an historic recording enterprise, but to these personalities must be added the fact that the LP record was then fairly new, stereo was just happening and, as Karl Schumann's accompanying note reminds us, Karajan's Beethoven, energetic, strongly rhythmical and deeply concerned with beauty of sound, was the antithesis of Furtwangler's, who died while this cycle was still incomplete. Of course, Toscanini had already instituted a highly precise, and some would say soulless, interpretative approach to Beethoven. The young Karajan was an admirer of Toscanini. He learnt from him that Beethoven's titanic strength could emerge equally well from performances that were accurate and objective but being an Austrian he shunned Toscanini's rigidity and ferocity.
These Philharmonia performances represent Karajan's first attempt to formulate his own Beethoven style—it was to be a lifetime's search. They are still magnificent—brimming with youthful vitality but full, too, of those characteristic shafts of light turned on to Beethoven's scoring, as for example in the joyful account of the Pastoral Symphony in which the finale, taken slower than in the first Berlin cycle of 1962, achieves an extraordinary spirituality. In No. 4, too, the playing of the Philharmonia strings in the Adagio and of the prindpal clarinet in the same movement is a reminder of the standard to which Karajan had so quickly raised this new orchestra.
The performances of Nos. 3, 5 and 7 all have outstanding virtues. If one stresses the rhythmic vitality, especially in the finale of No. 7, and the fast tempos which came as something of a shock at the time but now seem merely to have anticipated by 30 years what we take on the chin from the 'authentic' school of conductors, that should not detract from our pleasure in Karajan's lyrical and flowing treatment of the slow movements. As for the recording quality, it is quite remarkable, with a range and balance that are enhanced by CD.
If one wishes to make a spot-check on how Karajan's Beethoven developed, or changed, in a decade, the Allegretto of No. 7 provides a classic example. The pulse of the music is quicker than in the Philharmonia performance the legato smoother, the tone-colour more sharply defined. There is no doubt, in my opinion, that this 1962 Berlin Philharmonic cycle is one of the greatest Beethoven series ever committed to disc, both as orchestral performance and conductor's interpretation, and also as recording. Although there are sublime individual passages in the 1982–5 cycle, it is not as consistently fine as the 1962 (and this earlier cycle had the advantage of being recorded in the Jesus-Christus Kirche).
Nor can one evade the fact that, fine as the Philharmonia of the 1950s was, the Berlin Philharmonic of 1962 was its superior in every department. The refinements of its playing are too numerous to set out in detail, but how anyone could listen to these performances and then say that Karajan was 'bland' is beyond my comprehension. The brass playing throughout, and particularly in the Eroica funeral march, is just wonderful. The pizzicato at the start of the Eroica finale has to be heard to be believed—precise, yes but how meaningful too. The playing of No. 4, too, has all the grace and beauty of the Philharmonia performance, and then some.
The crown of both cycles is the Ninth, with the quartet of soloists carefully chosen each time and the same choir in both. (My preference is for the 1955 quartet, mainly because the male singers are better.) But the Berlin performance has a certainty that comes to a conductor only rarely, and did not come again to Karajan in the 1980s (listed above). Both boxes are well presented. The DG set has a long and perceptive article by RO which is required reading. The EMI set also contains performances of the Coriolan and Egmont overtures.'（Gramophone 1/1990）
儘管1962年DG柏林愛樂版似乎略勝一籌，但這套歷史文獻味道濃厚的貝多芬全集，還是每位貝多芬迷或卡爺粉絲絕對不可錯過的寶藏。
EMI公司誠意十足，此次重發經ART最新技術重新混音。
3/27追加 中國古典音樂資訊網署名里奇先生的文稿一篇：
2008年是指揮帝王卡拉揚一百歲誕辰，這位奧地利指揮大師在1989年過世至今將近20年，但他縱橫樂壇前後達半世紀之久，對當代樂壇影響之深，音樂史上罕有他人能夠相比。
這套錄音收錄了從1989年再版後，許久未在市面上重現的卡拉揚第一套貝多芬錄音，這套錄音完成於1951-1955年間，全是單音錄音，樂團是愛樂管弦樂團，當時該團中網羅許多優秀的歐洲樂手，包括英國圓號神童鄧尼斯·布萊恩。卡拉揚指揮這套錄音當時才40多歲，當時愛樂管弦樂團成立不到幾年，但是在卡拉揚的訓練下，他們迅速成為歐洲戰後的頂尖樂團。這套錄音另有一個重要的歷史意義，在進行這套全集的過程中，柏林愛樂的首席指揮福特萬格勒在1954年11月30日過世，這代表一個以後浪漫主義風格詮釋出強烈戲劇效果的貝多芬交響曲時代的結束，而卡拉揚就代表嶄新詮釋風格的來臨。
福特萬格勒以高度人文素養灌注在貝多芬詮釋中，讓貝多芬交響曲充滿了深奧哲學思維和詩意，也讓平實而具親和力的其他德國詮釋風格成為弱勢，這包括了卡拉揚的老師紹克和溫加特納等人所教導他的美學傳統，同時包括理查·史特勞斯這一派較溫和的貝多芬詮釋美學，也一併被排除在主流德式貝多芬美學之外。這些人的傳統加上托斯卡尼尼的影響，讓年輕時的卡拉揚極力想在這對立的學派之間找到折衷，那是融和了托斯卡尼尼極度精確和南德指揮學派（包括維也納）較溫和的樂風。
這套卡拉揚在1950年代初期所灌錄的第一套貝多芬交響曲全集，訴說他在綜合諸家學派後的第一份心得。在卡拉揚的手下，在1945年才由原名愛樂絃樂四重奏的團體擴建成的愛樂樂團，短短幾年內就脫胎換骨成為小提琴家西蓋蒂稱道的：“卡拉揚讓大家見識到交響樂團也可以用絃樂四重奏的精准度來演奏”的交響樂團。這套錄音因此也見證卡拉揚做為一位樂團訓練者的驚人天份和技術。
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