Karajan vs. Bernstein – Battle of Giants

Bernstein vs. Karajan: a musical Yalta. They were on top of the world of classical music, reflecting also the political conflicts of their time: the grandson of a rabbi against a member of Hitler’s national-socialist party, America against Europe, modernists against traditionalists. These two conductors mostly distinguished themselves by renovating the music industry, television and opera. They were icons of the 1970s who created a special sort of glamour in classical music and at the same time contributed to its democratization.