When Herbert von Karajan conducted Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival in 1987 featuring an outstanding cast of singers, the fantastic Wiener Philharmoniker and staged by Michael Hampe, it became a legendary performance of the highest artistic level. This dream of artistic collaboration made it one of the best opera performances, which now is available for the first time on Blu-ray.
Masur conducts Strauss
It’s hard to overstate the esteem in which Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra were held in Europe in the 1990s. As well as playing a pivotal role in the return of democracy and the reunification of Germany, they performed the German symphonic repertoire with unrivalled splendour and authority. This concert captures them on tour Frankfurt in 1992, in a programme of Richard Strauss at his most exuberant (Till Eulenspiegel) and his darkest (Metamorphosen). The Leipzig orchestra’s historic relationship with Strauss had never seemed more vital, and it gives a special emotional charge to Júlia Várady’s luminous performance of the Vier Letzte Lieder.
Don Giovanni
In 1987, Herbert von Karajan conducted a historic production of Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival featuring an artistic team considered to this day to be one of best to have ever brought the opera to life: Samuel Ramey, Benny Goodman, Gösta Winbergh, Paata Burchuladze, Julia Varady, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Alexander Malta, and Kathleen Battle. The virtuosic soloists are supported by one of the greatest artistic partnerships of the 20th century: maestro Karajan and the Wiener Philharmoniker!