“Rare Documents” of Herbert von Karajan

courtesy of Naxos of America

Towards the end of this past November, the Italian-based record label Urania Records (not to be confused with the American Urania label, which is now a property of Warner Communications) released a two-CD album of recordings of Herbert von Karajan entitled Rare Documents. Each of the two CDs couples an extended multi-movement composition with a shorter single-movement offering. Three of the four compositions were recorded in Rome in December of 1953, while the second of the shorter pieces, “Antifone” by Hans Werner Henze, was recorded in Berlin ten years later.

Between 1938 and 1989 Karajan was responsible for some one thousand studio recordings. His “comfort zone” was very much in the domain of familiar repertoire. Rather than explore territory that was too adventurous, he tended to cultivate the diversity of interpretations of a well-known composition through multiple recording sessions. On the other hand the four pieces in this collection were recorded only once; and, because Karajan was not happy with the sound quality, they were never released in his lifetime. Indeed, the works are so unfamiliar that only one of them previously had a place in my collection. This was William Walton’s first symphony in B-flat minor, which is the first selection in the Walton Conducts Walton album produced by The Walton Edition.

Karajan’s Walton recording was made in Rome on December 5, 1953 at a session which also included recording “Musica da Concerto,” composed for viola and string orchestra by Giorgio Federica Ghedini. Walton’s symphony was composed between 1931 and 1934; and, given the amount of time that Karajan spent with the Philharmonia Orchestra during the decade that followed World War II, it is easy to imagine that he would have become aware of at least some of Walton’s work. Ghedini, on the other hand, was not very well known outside his native Italy; and, in all probability, Karajan’s session with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma led to the world premiere recording of Ghedini’s concerto.

Similarly, the subsequent Rome session on December 21 was probably the world premiere recording of the setting of the Requiem text by the Swiss composer Heinrich Sutermeister. The vocal work was primarily choral with solos for both soprano and bass. The soprano on this recording is Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and I do not think I have encountered her singing pitches as high as those Sutermeister required in any other recording that she made. The bass part, which tends to be more forgiving, was sung by Giorgio Tadeo, whom I had not previously encountered.

The Henze recording is likely to be the most eyebrow-raising. “Antifone” was composed in 1960. There is a prodigious eclecticism in the diversity of approaches to composition that Henze took, and “Antifone” may be taken as representative of the thornier side of his styles. It is hard to imagine Karajan working with edges sharper than those he had encountered in Igor Stravinsky, but he definitely gave Henze a fair shake. Given how seldom Henze’s music is encountered these days, Karajan’s interpretation of “Antifone” definitely makes this album “worth the price of admission,” as P. T. Barnum might have put it.