Conversations with Karajan PDF
Preview Conversations with Karajan
cmd* UM Wl CW/ 1 4 Z4Z^ Herbert von Karajan's conducting life ran from 1929 to 1989—sixty years at the pin- nacleofEuropeanmusic.Whenhediedhe was onthe front page ofthe world's news- papers, and most called him "the general musicdirectorofEurope." Itwasanunparalleledcareer. Hisrecords had soldwell over ahundred million cop- ies when he died. The CD videos to be released in 1990 will make further music history. He had worked with and influ- enced almost all the major singers and musiciansofhistime.Atonepointheheld simultaneous posts in Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Salzburg and London. He is the only conductor to have mastered modern reproduction technology, so that his records and videos are truly his own. One outofeveryfourclassicalrecordssoldisby Herbert von Karajan—he has affected the musical understanding of more people than any conductorthat everlived. The conversations in this book took placeoveraperiodoftwelveyears,thelast one a month before Von Karajan's death. What emerges is far from the popular image ofthejetsetting tycoon. We meet a manwithapassionformusicalperfection, introspective, patient, kind, often amus- ing, always brilliant. A man one would havelovedto meet. Richard Osborne's connoisseurship makes him ask unusual, subtle, informed questions. His writing and broadcasting have broughthim to the forefront in Brit- ain, andthis is the extraordinarycase ofan interviewer and a subject who are on the same plane. (continuedon backflap) BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY nlinftj'nj*wN w No longer the propesty tho Boston Publte L&rary. Sale of this material benefited the Library. Conversations with Von Karajan :•'- Conversations with Von "Karajan Richard Osborne A Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book 1 1817 Harper & Row, Publishers, New York GrandRapids, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco London, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto This book was originally published in Great Britain in 1989 by Oxford University Press under the title Conversations with Karajan. It is here reprinted by arrangement with Ox- ford University Press. conversationswith von karajan. Copyright © 1989 by Richard Osborne. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States ofAmerica. No part ofthis book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of briefquotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, NewYork, N.Y. 10022. FIRSTU.S. EDITION LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGCARDNUMBER 89-45797 ISBNO-06-039107-3 98765432 90 91 92 93 94 RRD 10 1 Contents List ofIllustrations vii Preface ix VON KARAJAN: PROFILE OF A MUSICIAN i CONVERSATIONS WITH VON KARAJAN 33 1 The Formative Years 35 2 The Italian Connection 68 3 Berlin Philharmonic 80 4 On Conducting 93 5 Sibelius, Richard Strauss, and the Second Viennese School 107 6 Gramophone and Film: The Recorded Legacy 126 7 Afterwords 137 8 Epilogue 147 Von Karajan and Opera Production 149 Index 153
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