• Tracks

These recordings exemplify Karajan's mastery of the expansive forms and forces of late Romanticism. Two Bruckner symphonies recorded in 1970 and 1971 show just how much the orchestra's musical signature had changed since the recordings of the 1950s. The pitch had historically always been a little higher in Berlin, but under Karajan's leadership the orchestra lightened it's palette, finding a balance in the medium high range that was absolutely foreign to the Germanic tradition. In Berlin, Karajan was drawing straight lines, unbending verticals, clear designs, smooth slopes - building his orchestra up layer by layer, developing the sound he was after, aided by the supreme legato playing of his string section. In addition, any soloistic leanings had been eliminated: the Philharmonic now played as a single instrument, and when the recordings of the 1970s were released more than one music-lover compared it to an organ. Absolute harmony was achieved in the above-mentioned Bruckner symphonies Nos. 4 and 7, the sheer perfection of whose sound is almost unearthly. Newly remastered in 192kHz/24-bit from original tapes by Circé Studio