CD: Herbert von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic: Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (1963)

The other day I had Classic Arts Showcase on and had gone into another room on some errand when I heard a performance by a soprano. It was a most beguiling voice. I dropped whatever it was I was doing and headed back towards the TV to find that the soprano soloist in question was Gundula Janowitz (The clip was from Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos). I had really forgotten how much I enjoyed her singing and wound up spending a few minutes digging up her clips on YouTube to add to my favorites list.

Yes, it's really come to this.

Then again, maybe we always knew the power of that voice. Remember when Tim Robbins, playing a prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption, played a recording of a duet from Le Nozze di Figaro featuring Gundula Janowitz and brought the prison to a standstill as his fellow inmates listened in wonder?

I'm not in prison, even if public transportation and office seem a close enough approximation on some days. But I've been thinking a lot about how easy it is to overlook a perspective, an experience, or even a person in today's frantic pace. The extreme example of that is Joshua Bell's famous gig at the Metro (A blot on the area's reputation, or a commentary on the quiet desperation of our lives?).

It's something of a theme this week. The other day I ran across this young woman's valiant defense of opera against demographic attrition (I would take issue with her definition of "old-timer," though).

The mention of demographics and old-timers of any sort brings me to the subject of the conductor Herbert von Karajan, who, if he were still on this Earth, would have turned 100 years old on April 5th. I realize that for many reasons the man still excites controversy, and I've been tip-toeing about the issue for some months now and finally decided to face it.

If you are in a celebratory mood, Olsson's certainly has been keeping the Karajan home fires burning. We've not only stocked Karajan Gold, which is a two-for-one set, but also the DVD Karajan: A Film by Robert Dornhelm.

But my suggestion would be to consider the boxed set of Beethoven symphonies that Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, recorded in 1963 and reissued last year. It's his definitive interpretation of the Beethoven symphonies, not that he stopped with one recording, but this is the one to choose. And yes, the aforementioned Ms. Janowitz performs in -- what else? -- Symphony No. 9. Freude!

If the recording of Beethoven's nine symphonies is like a multicourse dinner, the Karajan Gold CD is a bit more in the mode of a box of European chocolates. The one is a demanding but pleasurable experience, and the second is a sampler, more sweet than savory. It consists of 1980s recordings by Karajan and the BPO, and it's definitely in classical hit parade mode: The Moldau from Ma vlast, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and of course the Meditation from Thais.

But the Beethoven set, all five discs of it, is enticing in its own way.