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Deutsche Grammophon's DVD releases for Karajan Year continue with an absorbing collection of assorted orchestral performances from the Unitel catalogue.
'Karajan in Concert', spread over 2DVDs, includes classic Berlin Philharmonic performances from the 1970s of works by Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Rossini, Wagner and Weber. However, backhanded compliment though it seems, the real selling-point is the bonus item; namely Czech director Vojtech Jasny's film 'Impressions of Herbert von Karajan'.
Originally broadcast in 1978 to mark the conductors' 70th birthday, this 60-minute TV film - also made for Unitel - is an early 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary offering a series of glimpses of both the public and private side of Karajan. This is not a 'this is your life' kind of film but a montage of loosely connected scenes revolving around Karajan's schedule in the winter months of 1977. We visit the house in Anif where Karajan is preparing the set designs for his forthcming film of Wagner's 'Das Rheingold' before he takes off in his private jet to Berlin to rehearse the Philharmonic in Mahler's Fifth. A young Sejii Ozawa is in quiet attendance both for the orchestral rehearsal and for piano rehearsal with tenor David Rendell.
What emerges from the rehearsal footage, and from the film as a whole as we get to know something of his working methods and general way of life, is that Karajan was essentially a practical man. Rehearsals are brisk, businesslike affairs where phrasing and dynamics have priority. But instead of airy-fairy verbalising, Karajan achieves his results by down-to-earth application -even suggesting where the timpanist places the sticks on the rim of the instrument for textual clarity. Similarly, when rehearsing Rendell and later where we glimpse a conducting masterclass with a youth orchestra, Karajan is concerned with 'joining up the dots' so that each note connects to form a phrase - which is then free of the barline.
As Karajan is being driven back to the airport he stresses the importance of thorough preparation before the actual work begins, citing the famous example of his surgeon father who always took a 25-minute walk to contemplate his next operation. Karajan the practician continues as we see him at the controls of his plane, performing a flawless take-off over the mountains to St.Moritz.
Arguably the 'at home ' footage conforms to the 'family man' image used by many a film-star or politician and yet Karajan the private man comes across as surprisingly simple, even basic. Karajan does not eat his favourite pasta at the end of a long table, nor does he need a helicopter ride to get from one wing of the house to the other a'la David Beckham. Instead he sits with his wife and daughters on the kitchen bench - even though a butler is paradoxically on hand to serve the meal itself!
Those looking for the kind of ego clashes famously preserved in other arts documentaries like the famous 'Making of West Side Story' will be disappointed here: Especially those who thought Jasny's film would confirm preconceived notions of Karajan as a cold, unfeeling individual. In fact, he's a bit of a scamp at times and is not afraid to laugh at himself: When record producer Michel Glotz alludes to Mantovani during a playback session of Mahler's Sixth, Karajan cackles away like a naughty schoolboy. Director Humphrey Burton also gets his leg pulled when Karajan pretends not to understand his German during rehearsals for a TV relay of Beethoven's Ninth.
Yes, there are aspects of the kind of 'Artist as Hero' films made popular in Europe during the post-war era and some might find Jasny's inclusion of leaping horses, moonlit forests and winter tableux a bit irritating. But then this is Karajan country, and his love of nature was genuine enough. A single tracking shot of him walking by himself along a snowy path captures the essence of a man who was essentially a solitary figure - and maybe even a lonely one.
Perhaps the definitive Karajan documentary remains to be seen - although the forthcoming Robert Dornhelm film may be the answer here - but Jasny's beautifully photographed film should not be dismissed, offering as it does an insight into the conductor while he was still at the peak of his powers.
The actual 'in concert' films are well-worth having too. A 1975 performance of Rossini's 'William Tell' has never been available on video before while Karajan's collaboration with Alexis Weissenberg in Rachmaninov's second piano concerto yields one of the most stylish and penetrating interpretations of the work ever recorded. Although Karajan frequently clashed with pianists - Arrau, Pogolorich and Zimerman among the casualties - his accord with Weissenberg is deeply felt in this, the only Karajan recording on any medium of a work by Rachmaninov.
Two Beethoven Overtures 'Corolian' and 'Egmont' are powerful codas to Karajan's Unitel cycle of the symphonies while it's good to have sound and vision versions of his famous performances of Debussy's 'La Mer', 'Prelude' and the Suite No.2 from Ravel's 'Daphis et Chloe' - infinately more vital and atmospheric than his 1980s re-runs for Telemondial.
With stunning renditions of Wagner's 'Tannhauser' Overture and Weber's 'Der Freischutz' for good measure, this is an excellent all-round compendium of Karajan favourites for both his many admirers and the general classical enthusiast.
Robert kenchington.
