Word: karajans
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Much of the credit for that success belonged to Austrian Conductor Herbert von Karajan, 43. In some ways, Karajan was an innovator too. He rearranged the seating positions of the orchestra to suit himself, regardless of frowns and the fact that Richard Wagner himself had laid down what those positions should be. As a conductor who pays more attention to the orchestra than to the stage, he kept the singers uncomfortably on edge. They fretted that he might neglect to give them their cues, especially as he sometimes conducts with his eyes closed. "If I didn't know...
...despite some podium idiosyncrasies, Karajan is one of the most richly talented younger conductors in Europe today. He gave Tristan long and careful preparation, he showed full respect for the sacred score, and he wound up with a performance of freshness and precision. When it was over, Bayreuth's applause rolled...
Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (the Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan conducting; Columbia, 2 sides LP). Bartok's best work attains one of the marks of a classic: varying interpretations. Karajan distorts the slow movement; in another performance Rafael Kubelik, conducting the Chicago Symphony (Mercury, 1 side LP), is overly fussy with the dynamics. The first recording by Harold Byrns and the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony (Capitol) is still the best. All recordings are good...
Mozart: The Magic Flute (Wilma Lipp and Irmgard Seefried, sopranos; Anton Dermota, tenor; Erich Kunz, baritone; Ludwig Weber, bass; chorus of the Society of Friends of Music, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan conducting; Columbia, 6 sides LP). The kind of crack performance, with its own unique Gemütlichkeit, that makes music lovers trek to Salzburg every summer. A new Marriage of Figaro, with the same orchestra and conductor and some of the same cast, offers more of the same happy spirit. Both recordings: excellent...
From now on, for the remainder of the three-week season, Bayreuth will be pure Wagner, with a good many newcomers among the performers. Unlike Furtwängler, neither of the Wagner conductors, Hans Knappertsbusch and Herbert von Karajan, has ever held the festival podium before. Among the new singers: Met Soprano Astrid Varnay (Brünhilde) and U.S. Bass-Baritone George London (Amfortas in Parsifal), who has been a postwar star of the Vienna State Opera (TIME...