# Karajan's sound style according to those who played for him



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

There are a number of conductors who generate very disparate opinions on this site, perhaps none more so than Herbert von Karajan. There are some who love his style and others who can't stand it. What did the Berlin players think of him? While I can't generalize, Sarah Willis (4th horn in Berlin) does a series of videos entitled 'Horn Hangout' and her most recent one featured 3 of the other Berlin horn players who, between them, have over 100 years of experience with the orchestra, and all played under Karajan. So what do they (Fergus McWilliam, Klaus Wallendorf and Stefan de Leval Jezierski) have to say about Karajan's sound style?

Willis: Can you even say that there was a Karajan sound?
Everybody: Definitely!
Jezierski: Smooth, silky, opulent, big ... it was an incredible sound, unfortunately it's not politically correct any more.
McWilliam: (talking about having recently heard an HvK recording) OMG, how out of date!

There is much more so to see the entire video...


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

There was definitely a unique sound. At times it was awe inspiring, and at other times it was inappropriate . You could say the same about Ormandy, Stokie, Szell, and probably about Furtwangler and Toscanini. At least they weren't a blah Generic sound, like Mariss Jansons


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> and at other times it was inappropriate


Don Carlo spring to mind immediately.
The last Beethoven Symphonies recording as well.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Pugg said:


> Don Carlo spring to mind immediately.
> The last Beethoven Symphonies recording as well.


I certainly wouldn't argue that for the Don Carlo. Here the recording is a bit of a problem. The late Beethoven symphonies are pretty well played (but not with the exception of no 3 as good as earlier versions) but not terribly well recorded. For a rounded picture of what players actually thought of him go to "Karajan Magic and Myth" which has interviews by players who played under HvK in his younger days. Then the Karajan sound was considered revolutionary!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Becca said:


> There are a number of conductors who generate very disparate opinions on this site, perhaps none more so than Herbert von Karajan. There are some who love his style and others who can't stand it. What did the Berlin players think of him? While I can't generalize, Sarah Willis (4th horn in Berlin) does a series of videos entitled 'Horn Hangout' and her most recent one featured 3 of the other Berlin horn players who, between them, have over 100 years of experience with the orchestra, and all played under Karajan. So what do they (Fergus McWilliam, Klaus Wallendorf and Stefan de Leval Jezierski) have to say about Karajan's sound style?
> 
> *Willis: Can you even say that there was a Karajan sound?
> Everybody: Definitely!
> ...


If you hear the whole conversation the horn players say they actually liked the big sound Karajan produced from the orchestra yet one of them says you have to "go with the flow" as fashions change. He says he's sure the opulent sound will come back but at the moment it's not PC. One of the guys also says that Karajan's 1963 cycle was timeless in that it was a very lean sound. Interesting it was slated by some critics for that - it was too fast, they said, compared to Klemperer, et al. Fashions indeed change and critics go with the flow!


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I wouldn't say that about Jansons at all !! The Oslo Philharmonic , which hadn't been one of the world's most prominent orchestras until he took over, sounded wonderful under him, as the many recordings he made with it show .
I think a conductor should strive to get the kind of sound which is appropriate to the music . Of course, not everyone agrees on what the right sound for any particular composer or era is !
Stravinsky's Sacre should not sound like a Richard Strauss tone poem ; The Rite should sound, wild, primitive and raucous while R. Strauss should sound warm, sumptuous and radiant .
A Mozart or Haydn symphony should not have the same texture as a Brahms symphony ; one should sound crisp and transparent, not thick and muddy and a Brahms symphony should not sound thin and 
wan .
The rough, raucous and vibrato ridden should of a Russian brass section is just right for Russian
music but a trial for the ear in the music of Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss , which requires a burnished , golden sound . For this, you want the Vienna or Berlin Philharmonic brass .
And so forth .


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