For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas.
Rehearsal for Mozart, Symphony No.33 in B flat major, K.319
Mozart, Symphony No.39 in E flat major, K. 543
Filmed mainly in Vienna’s splendid “Musikvereinssaal,” the Mozart symphonies conducted by Karl Böhm are all interpreted by one of the world’s foremost orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, whose principal conductors have included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and, of course, Karl Böhm. “Thanks to Bruno Walter’s exemplary performances, particularly of Mozart’s works, I grabbed on to Mozart and fell in love with him so much that I had only one wish: to conduct Mozart, Mozart, Mozart.” (Karl Böhm) This symphony is the first segment of the famous symphonic triptych composed by Mozart in the summer of 1788. Although we do not know exactly why Mozart wrote these three symphonic masterpieces at that time, it is assumed that they were intended for a series of concerts in Vienna. Despite his waning popularity in Vienna and his desperate financial situation, Mozart succeeded in forgetting his daily concerns and created a masterpiece of good spirits and self-confidence. The stately introduction leads into a graceful, urbane theme that seems to flow without effort. But a highlight of this work is the Trio of the Minuet, a pastoral Ländler for woodwinds that contrasts strikingly with the pounding energy of the Minuet. Karl Böhm was universally acclaimed for his Mozart interpretations. Though Wagner was one of Böhm’s first loves, his friendship with Richard Strauss led to a deep knowledge and appreciation of Mozart. In his autobiography, Böhm wrote that “Richard Strauss revealed to me the ultimate secrets of this, in my opinion, greatest of all musical geniuses, Mozart.” Böhm’s discovery of these secrets transformed his Mozart interpretations into unforgettable events.
Mozart, Symphony No.33 in B flat major, K. 319
Filmed mainly in Vienna’s splendid “Musikvereinssaal,” the Mozart symphonies conducted by Karl Böhm are all interpreted by one of the world’s foremost orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, whose principal conductors have included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and, of course, Karl Böhm. “Thanks to Bruno Walter’s exemplary performances, particularly of Mozart’s works, I grabbed on to Mozart and fell in love with him so much that I had only one wish: to conduct Mozart, Mozart, Mozart.” (Karl Böhm) This cheerful and sunny work is a model of Mozartean grace and unity. Written in a more subdued style than its preceding work, the “Paris” Symphony, it reflects the chamber-music atmosphere and lightness of the earlier Austrian symphonies. It is interesting to note that the development section in the first movement is built on the same theme as the finale of the “Jupiter” Symphony K. 551, Mozart’s last. Karl Böhm was universally acclaimed for his Mozart interpretations. Though Wagner was one of Böhm’s first loves, his friendship with Richard Strauss led to a deep knowledge and appreciation of Mozart. In his autobiography, Böhm wrote that “Richard Strauss revealed to me the ultimate secrets of this, in my opinion, greatest of all musical geniuses, Mozart.” Böhm’s discovery of these secrets transformed his Mozart interpretations into unforgettable events.
Bach, Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in d minor, BWV 903
One of the greatest champions of Johann Sebastian Bach in the 20th century was Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter became synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich in a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Richter – he was born in Thuringia and studied in Dresden and Leipzig – absorbed the Bach tradition at its source, in the cities where the composer had lived and worked. Although he saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to s his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. Richter’s own style of keyboard playing also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music.
Bach, Toccata in G minor, BWV 915
For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Richter was born on October 15, 1926 in Plauen, Thuringia, the Bach family’s native region. After his years as a choirboy at Dresden’s Kreuzkirche (“I sang in virtually all the cantatas and passions”), he studied in Leipzig with the St. Thomas cantors Günther Ramin and Karl Straube and was appointed organist at the Thomaskirche in 1949. He moved to Munich in 1951 and founded his choral and orchestral ensembles shortly thereafter. Karl Richter absorbed the Bach tradition from the source, in the cities where the composer had lived and worked. Although he saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music, which eschewed exaggerated dynamics and rubato. In later years, Richter’s approach was itself ironically labeled “romantic” and old-fashioned by a new generation of Bach scholars, who applied even stricter criteria to what they considered “authentic” Baroque performance practice. One of the major causes of dissent was the use of genuine or reconstructed period instruments. Richter commented on this in 1976: “Who says that Bach wouldn’t have used modern instruments if he had had them? It might be informative and revealing to play Bach on historical instruments, but for me, it’s only a modish phenomenon that will fade away.”
Bach, Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 827
For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Richter was born on October 15, 1926 in Plauen, Thuringia, the Bach family’s native region. After his years as a choirboy at Dresden’s Kreuzkirche (“I sang in virtually all the cantatas and passions”), he studied in Leipzig with the St. Thomas cantors Günther Ramin and Karl Straube and was appointed organist at the Thomaskirche in 1949. He moved to Munich in 1951 and founded his choral and orchestral ensembles shortly thereafter. Karl Richter absorbed the Bach tradition from the source, in the cities where the composer had lived and worked. Although he saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music, which eschewed exaggerated dynamics and rubato. In later years, Richter’s approach was itself ironically labeled “romantic” and old-fashioned by a new generation of Bach scholars, who applied even stricter criteria to what they considered “authentic” Baroque performance practice. One of the major causes of dissent was the use of genuine or reconstructed period instruments. Richter commented on this in 1976: “Who says that Bach wouldn’t have used modern instruments if he had had them? It might be informative and revealing to play Bach on historical instruments, but for me, it’s only a modish phenomenon that will fade away.”
Bach, Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Richter was born on October 15, 1926 in Plauen, Thuringia, the Bach family’s native region. After his years as a choirboy at Dresden’s Kreuzkirche (“I sang in virtually all the cantatas and passions”), he studied in Leipzig with the St. Thomas cantors Günther Ramin and Karl Straube and was appointed organist at the Thomaskirche in 1949. He moved to Munich in 1951 and founded his choral and orchestral ensembles shortly thereafter. Karl Richter absorbed the Bach tradition from the source, in the cities where the composer had lived and worked. Although he saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music, which eschewed exaggerated dynamics and rubato. In later years, Richter’s approach was itself ironically labeled “romantic” and old-fashioned by a new generation of Bach scholars, who applied even stricter criteria to what they considered “authentic” Baroque performance practice. One of the major causes of dissent was the use of genuine or reconstructed period instruments. Richter commented on this in 1976: “Who says that Bach wouldn’t have used modern instruments if he had had them? It might be informative and revealing to play Bach on historical instruments, but for me, it’s only a modish phenomenon that will fade away.”
Bach, Pastorale in F major, BWV 590
For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Richter was born on October 15, 1926 in Plauen, Thuringia, the Bach family’s native region. After his years as a choirboy at Dresden’s Kreuzkirche (“I sang in virtually all the cantatas and passions”), he studied in Leipzig with the St. Thomas cantors Günther Ramin and Karl Straube and was appointed organist at the Thomaskirche in 1949. He moved to Munich in 1951 and founded his choral and orchestral ensembles shortly thereafter. Karl Richter absorbed the Bach tradition from the source, in the cities where the composer had lived and worked. Although he saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music, which eschewed exaggerated dynamics and rubato. In later years, Richter’s approach was itself ironically labeled “romantic” and old-fashioned by a new generation of Bach scholars, who applied even stricter criteria to what they considered “authentic” Baroque performance practice. One of the major causes of dissent was the use of genuine or reconstructed period instruments. Richter commented on this in 1976: “Who says that Bach wouldn’t have used modern instruments if he had had them? It might be informative and revealing to play Bach on historical instruments, but for me, it’s only a modish phenomenon that will fade away.”
Bach, Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565
For Johann Sebastian Bach, February 15, 1981 was no doubt one of the darkest days of his afterlife: on this day he lost one of his greatest champions in the 20th century, Karl Richter. Over the course of his long career as conductor, organist and harpsichordist, Richter had become synonymous with Bach. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra. He helped trigger the Bach revival in the 1950s. He was the spirit behind the Ansbach Bach Festival. He turned his adopted city of Munich into a Bach center. And he recorded all the major choral and orchestral works of Bach, including more than 100 cantatas. Richter was born on October 15, 1926 in Plauen, Thuringia, the Bach family’s native region. After his years as a choirboy at Dresden’s Kreuzkirche (“I sang in virtually all the cantatas and passions”), he studied in Leipzig with the St. Thomas cantors Günther Ramin and Karl Straube and was appointed organist at the Thomaskirche in 1949. He moved to Munich in 1951 and founded his choral and orchestral ensembles shortly thereafter. Karl Richter absorbed the Bach tradition from the source, in the cities where the composer had lived and worked. Although he saw several dramatic shifts in Baroque performance practice during his lifetime, he remained true to his own style, which was considered revolutionary in the 1950s and 60s. This was a “de-romanticized” Bach which featured a reduced body of performers more in keeping with the composer’s original forces. Richter’s style also accented a cool, brisk, almost abstract attitude toward the music, which eschewed exaggerated dynamics and rubato. In later years, Richter’s approach was itself ironically labeled “romantic” and old-fashioned by a new generation of Bach scholars, who applied even stricter criteria to what they considered “authentic” Baroque performance practice. One of the major causes of dissent was the use of genuine or reconstructed period instruments. Richter commented on this in 1976: “Who says that Bach wouldn’t have used modern instruments if he had had them? It might be informative and revealing to play Bach on historical instruments, but for me, it’s only a modish phenomenon that will fade away.”