I take my hat off to a man who is not a professional musician but has learned a score like that of the Requiem in only ten days”, wrote Herbert von Karajan to Henri Georges Clouzot in 1967. When Karajan began recording on film in the mid 1960s, one of the men he turned to for artistic assistance was the noted film director Clouzot, the creator of classic “films noirs” such as “Quai des Orfèvres” and “Wages of Fear” (Le salaire de la peur). Between 1965 and 1967, Clouzot directed five works for Karajan, whereby he displayed a marked talent for underlining the conductor’s “star” aspect. Dvorák’s Ninth Symphony was produced in 1966. The performance is preceded by a filmed rehearsal which offers valuable insights into Karajan’s art of conducting and into his interpretation of Dvorák’s “great intimacy with nature, which his music expresses in every tune and which is also a kind of folklore” (Herbert von Karajan).
Mozart, Rehearsal Violin Concerto No.5 in A major, K. 219
Herbert von Karajan in conversation with Yehudi Menuhin & Rehearsal.
Beethoven, Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67
In the early 1960s, Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) became fascinated by the movie director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who had directed “Quai des orfèvres” and “Mystère Picasso.” He suggested that Clouzot work with him on a “visual interpretation” of musical masterworks. Their fruitful collaboration included Schumann’s Fourth Symphony (1965), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (1966), Mozart’s Fifth Concerto (1966), Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony (1966) and Verdi’s Requiem (1967). The chemistry between the two men was unparalleled: the score becomes a script, the musical phrases are translated into cuts where the musicians are treated as “actors” of music. The director creates an extraordinarily captivating climate, reproducing in images all the nuances and strength of the work. Tracked by Clouzot’s camera, Karajan’s concentration is equally fascinating. Never had a conductor been filmed with as much strength and passion. In this recording of Beethoven’s monumental Fifth Symphony, Karajan is also shown discussing “The Art of Conducting,” explaining the conductor’s role and the manner of obtaining from the performers “the colors, volumes, dynamics, all the essential elements” to achieve a total interpretation.
Dvorák, Rehearsal Symphony No.9 in E minor, op.95 “From the New World”
Beethoven, Rehearsal Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67
Mozart, Violin Concerto No.5 in A major, K. 219
Mozart, who was also an accomplished violinist, wrote all of his five violin concertos in Salzburg in 1775, apparently for his own personal use. Their style can best be described as cosmopolitan and reflects the many musical currents he had been exposed to while on his travels in Italy and elsewhere. Aristocratic, suave, witty, wonderfully melodious, they are dazzling gems that conceal an inner core of challenging material that can be truly mastered only by the very best violinists, such as Yehudi Menuhin. Menuhin was not only a peerless violinist, but also an ambassador of music who contributed with his art to the understanding among nations: Yehudi Menuhin, who as born in 1916 to Jewish immigrants in New York, began giving concerts and making recordings in his earliest youth. For seven decades he traveled around the globe for the sake of music – as violinist, teacher and, increasingly, as conductor. The committed humanist and cosmopolitan Menuhin was one of the first foreign soloists to appear in Germany after 1945. In 1957 he founded his own music festival in Gstaad. He obtained many awards for his musical achievements and died in Berlin at the age of 82 while on a tour of Germany.
Rehearsal for Schubert, Symphony No.7 in C major, D.944
In the throes of his mortal illness, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) heroically succeeded in putting to paper his splendid last symphony, whose “divine lengths” are truly unique. Composed in 1825/26, Schubert’s largest symphonic work was first discovered after his death by Robert Schumann and first performed one year later, in 1839, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. In marked contrast to the equally beloved “Unfinished” Symphony, Schubert devises a labyrinth of harmonies in a piece full of artless directness and joyful dance-like rhythms. Echoes of the visionary secrets of Romanticism surface from the depths of the work, only to be washed away by the inexorable current of the melodies. Never did Schubert write with such a lavish and impetuous hand than in his Ninth Symphony: “…it bears the eternal seed of youth within it.” (Robert Schumann) Karl Böhm rehearses the Wiener Symphoniker in this recording made in the mid 1960s.
Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
After four years of symphonic silence, Beethoven presented Vienna with his Seventh Symphony in 1813. The first performance of this work was a spectacular event. The long awaited Seventh was completed in May 1812 when the Austrian capital was recovering from the French occupation. The defeat of Napoleon’s armies made the concert an occasion for celebration, and this historical event helped ensure the work’s enormous popularity and the composer’s lasting fame. The Seventh Symphony is essentially rhythmic, rather then thematic, to such a degree that Wagner called it “an apotheosis of the dance”. it is one of the best examples of how Beethoven used simple harmonies and filled them with energetic, repetitive rhythms, which never become monotonous because of the fresh harmonic progressions that accompany them. Karl Böhm rehearses the Wiener Symphoniker in this recording made in the mid 1960s.
Rehearsal for Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
After four years of symphonic silence, Beethoven presented Vienna with his Seventh Symphony in 1813. The first performance of this work was a spectacular event. The long awaited Seventh was completed in May 1812 when the Austrian capital was recovering from the French occupation. The defeat of Napoleon’s armies made the concert an occasion for celebration, and this historical event helped ensure the work’s enormous popularity and the composer’s lasting fame. The Seventh Symphony is essentially rhythmic, rather then thematic, to such a degree that Wagner called it “an apotheosis of the dance”. it is one of the best examples of how Beethoven used simple harmonies and filled them with energetic, repetitive rhythms, which never become monotonous because of the fresh harmonic progressions that accompany them. Karl Böhm rehearses the Wiener Symphoniker in this recording made in the mid 1960s.
Schubert, Symphony No.7 in C major, D. 944
In the throes of his mortal illness, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) heroically succeeded in putting to paper his splendid last symphony, whose “divine lengths” are truly unique. Composed in 1825/26, Schubert’s largest symphonic work was first discovered after his death by Robert Schumann and first performed one year later, in 1839, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. In marked contrast to the equally beloved “Unfinished” Symphony, Schubert devises a labyrinth of harmonies in a piece full of artless directness and joyful dance-like rhythms. Echoes of the visionary secrets of Romanticism surface from the depths of the work, only to be washed away by the inexorable current of the melodies. Never did Schubert write with such a lavish and impetuous hand than in his Ninth Symphony: “…it bears the eternal seed of youth within it.” (Robert Schumann) Karl Böhm conducts the Wiener Symphoniker in this recording made in the mid 1960s.