Karajan/BPO: Brahms Symphony Cycle (1963/64) - DG SKL 133/139 (7LP box, sealed)

$

315

ITEM DESCRIPTION:

A still-sealed copy of Karajan’s 1963/64 Brahms cycle on Deutsche Grammophon (7LP box set: SKL 133/139, German pressing, tulip label*, stereo, booklet included, heavy oversize cloth box).

 

* Note: Although still-sealed, this is most certainly the tulip label, based on the weight of the box. I have a second copy (not sealed) in my own collection and the weight is the same. My guess is that this is a pressing from perhaps 1965.

 

This is now, after the passage of nearly 50 years, something of a collector's copy. Though it constitutes one of the most widely sold Brahms Symphony cycles on LP, this @ 50-year-old copy remains sealed and unplayed.

 

This cycle constitutes a true landmark in both the Brahms and Karajan discographies, and was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque.

 

it was the only one of Karajan’s 3 Brahms cycles in Berlin to be recorded at Jesus-Christus-Kirche, and the richly glowing sound reflects this. And it should also be noted that this set was the first issue for all of the performances preserved therein, including those of the Haydn Variations, the Violin Concerto and the German Requiem, all three also recorded at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin.

 

A small note: When making "best offer" offers, please keep in mind that it will cost @ $75.00 USD to ship the set outside of Europe (it will be sent by certified airmail).

 

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Of DG’s re-issue of the First and Second Symphonies the veteran critic Richard Osborne wrote in his review for the June 1982 issue of The Gramophone:

 

“Karajan's shaping of the C minor Symphony is closer to Sanderling's (RCA GL2519I, 7/80) than Loughran's (CfP CFP40096, 3/75) or Klemperer's (HMV SXLP30217, 12/76), His reading of the first movement is full-bodied, spacious in lyric transition; heroic where Klemperer is stoic, playing down, some would argue, the music's specifically tragic import. The performance of the Andante is more inward, more careful of Brahms's dynamic markings, than the 1978 remake (DG 2531 131, 5/79). The oboe solo, as Lothar Koch wonderfully phrases it, is an ample song of late summer where Klemperer's reading is more plaintive. The DG recording is less reverberant than the Sanderling/RCA, the orchestral sound less idiosyncratic (no East German horns), with fewer agogic modifications than Sanderling, often thrillingly, indulges. Sir Adrian Boult's celebrated performance offered a middle road (HMV ASD2871, 4/73—nla; now only available as part of a box set-5LS5009, 6/75): a performance which gave generous rein to the music's lyricism and power yet which never lost sight of its tragic tension or its equanimity, its hard-won sense of proportion. If it were to reappear on HMV Concert Classics it would have my vote. Meanwhile, I would opt for Klemperer or the thrillingly incisive Loughran (textually authentic in the wind fanfares at bar 267 of the finale, and including the first movement repeat), reserving Karajan's version as a riper-sounding alternative, beguilingly shaped on the orchestra.

 

The Second Symphony is more obviously a song of summer, and though I greatly admire Loughran here, too (CfP CFP40219, 11/75), there is little doubt that Karajan's 1964 Berlin performance is one of the finest the symphony has ever received. (1 have passing doubts about Boult's finale—HMV SXLP30529, 12/8I—though TH rightly praised the reissue and there is a famous fill-up: Janet Baker in the Alto' Rhapsody.) Collectors must also bear in mind Karajan's splendidly played Philharmonia version of 1957 (HMV SXLP30529, 5/81) which has the Unfinished Symphony as a not inconsiderable bonus in a performance every bit as direct and musicianly as the Brahms—the Philharmonia providing a degree of sensible detachment which will suit a certain' English taste. Nonetheless, the Berlin version has an added warmth and stereo presence. If any post-war version is more eloquently played than this (take the famous violin re-entry at fig. A of the first movement, for instance) I have not yet heard it.”

 

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And of an ealier re-issue fo the complete cycle, the esteemed critic Robert Layton wrote in his review for the July 1974 issue of The Gramophone:

 

“The last twelve months or more have brought a particularly rich crop of Brahms symphonies: Decca gave us the Kertesz set (SXLH6610-3, 10/73) at a highly competitive price for a limited period (J5.95) even though it has since gone up (,C9-08). CBS have reissued Szell's imposing set at even less (77356, 10/73: price 1J4.72) and as they are of roughly the same vintage as Karajan's set, DG should not be surprised if the record buyer looks askance at the price of the present box. £8 is a lot to ask for a set that has done such sterling—or rather DM service for so many years. In addition DG themselves have put on to the market Claudio Abbado's boxed set of the symphonies at £755 (2720 061, 6/73). Nor should the claims of other recent versions be overlooked: I am thinking of the cycles by Sanderling on RCA and our own Sir Adrian Boult on HMV as well as the Haitink, shortly to be completed on Philips. Finally, the KJemperer set, available both boxed (HMV SLS804, 5/61) and separately is a strong contender: the performances are classical and the recordings no less vivid than these; indeed perhaps more so. Moreover it is much cheaper, costing £550.

 

“All the same these are performances of considerable stature with the exception, I think, of the Third Symphony which is no more successful than it was on Decca (SDD284, 9/72) with the Vienna Philharmonic.

 

“The First Symphony is particularly powerful and shows Karajan's tremendous grip. It is as fine as any version now before the public. The Second is no less impressive in its way: I have written elsewhere of the warmth and radiance this reading possesses, its beautifully-shaped phrasing and sumptuous orchestral tone, as well as Karajan's capacity to take one by surprise. On rehearing it on this occasion I became occasionally aware of one or two selfconscious touches, and there are moments when one feels one is being invited to admire Karajan's masterly control and the beauty of the Berlin orchestra's playing rather than the music itself. I am thinking of the way, for instance, in which he handles the appearance of the second subject in the first movement. Be that as it may, these were fleeting thoughts and the performance as a whole seems to me as masterly as any in the catalogue. No. 3 is simply not taut enough: its opening is flaccid and lacking in dramatic fire. Here I much prefer Haitink's (I think) under-rated account with the Concertgebouw (Philips 6500 155, 3/71) or the no less eloquent Sanderling (RCA SB6877, 11/73). In fact the Sanderling set, excepting the Second Symphony, is the one to which I would turn for pleasure, for the performances seem to me the warmest in feeling and the most keenly characterised: they are in addition most splendidly played. In the Fourth Symphony, Sanderling positively glows, but here too Karajan is on his best form and his is a marvellous performance, tautly held together and yet warm and spontaneous. Many good judges admire Klemperer's magisterial account of this Symphony rather more than I do, (HMV ASD2708, 2/72) and it is undoubtedly a performance to reckon with. Karajan does seem to me to have the edge on most of his rivals here.

 

“The recordings are now some ten years old and must yield on points to, say, the Kertesz on Decca or the Boult on HMV. Nonetheless they still sound very vivid and at the same time spacious: the internal balance is admirably musical and the overall sound image is agreeably lifelike. The set, then, can be warmly recommended on artistic grounds and is still highly competitive even though some fine individual versions, not to mention complete cycles have come along since.”

 

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Included then are the following works of Brahms:

 

Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68 – rec. 11 October 1963

 

Symphony No. 2 in D Major Op. 73 – rec. 10 October 1963

 

Symphony No. 3 in F Major Op. 90 – rec. 28 September 1964

 

Symphony No. 4 in E minor Op. 98 – rec. 12 October 1963

 

Variations on a Theme by Haydn Op. 56a – rec. 13 February 1964

 

Violin Conceto in D Major Op. 77 – rec. 4 May 1964

> with Christian Ferras (violin)

 

Ein Deutsches Requiem Op. 45 – rec. 16 May 1964

> with Gundula Janowitz (soprano), Eberhard Waechter (baritone), and the Wiener Singverein

 

The executive producer for these sessions was Elsa Schiller, the recording supervisor Otto Gerdes, and the engineer Günter Hermanns.

 

Included is a handsome 20-page full-size booklet, with several essays on the music:

 

Hans Mersmann: “Johannes Brahms und sein Werk”

Friedrich Herzfeld: “Das symphonische Werk von Johannes Brahms”

Ursual von Raudhaupt: “Johannes Brahms un der berühmte Geiger Joseph Joachim”

Siegfried Kross: “Ein Deutsches Requiem”

Heinz Becker: “Das orchestrale Klangbild bei Johannes Brahms”

Karl Brebe: “Die Berliner Philharmoniker · Herbert von Karajan”

 

The booklet is also replete with lovely black and white portraits of the artists, rare archival photos of Brahms, and vocal texts for Brahms’s German Requiem (all texts in German only).

 

Finally, there is a full-size, 4-page title/track listing of all the works included. This, unlike the booklet, is provided in German, English, French, and Italian. This is a quite nice addition as it also provides first performance information for each composition.

 

CONDITION:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

 

The condition of the heavy cloth box is near-MINT. Although this copy is truly sealed, the box has still undergone slight wear at corners through the plastic cover. There are no seamsplits, corners breaks, owners' markings, bends, or other defects and the whole remains extremely solid, bright, glossy, and highly attractive – overall, this is a fine collector's copy.

 

The condition of the 20-page full-size booklet is MINT. It has never been handled.

 

The condition of the 7 LPs is MINT throughout – these are still-sealed, unplayed, pristine collector’s copies.

 

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