Karajan: 100 Best Karajan

There has always been a school of thought that claims the orchestra doesn't really need a conductor & that his/her influence is only minimal. For me Herbert Von Karajan has always been the one conductor who completely disproves that theory. For good or ill his influence upon an orchestra is always clearly felt & his own particular style is indelibly stamped upon every recording of his work.Karajans style of lightening quick, abrupt & forceful interpretation seems to divide music lovers straight down the middle, you either love him or hate him,. Occasionally his temperament jarrs & doesn't work well with a piece but this is rare & all too often the excitement & pace he injects lifts even the most mundane or often repeated piece to a state of breathless expectation that is hard not to enjoy.This 6 CD collection is really a sampler for a complete collection release from EMI but in truth it is in itself complete & quite magnificent. The engineering quality is superb considering the age of many of the recordings. The selection chosen,( the '100' of the title), range from the instantly recognizable to the not so often heard & each & every one is worth it's inclusion. As a whole these 100 tracks serve to not only showcase Karajan's abilities to great effect but are a superb collection of some truly great orchestral pieces in their own right.Well packaged & at a price that means less than 5p a piece this is ridiculously good value for money. If you are a fan of the man already then perhaps the complete collections may be worth considering but if you are new to him & want to give it a try or just want a comprehensive collection of orchestral classics then quite frankly it is almost impossible to find anything to fault in this collection.

Karajan have since the late 60`s been a favourite of mine.I gew up with him and Geutche grammofon. The material here could have been a little more subtile chosen, by giving us a little more than snippets. They did well here with the Mozart reportoare.The sound is good but you don`t feel Karajans power as when he uses the whip or the feather on the orchestra.And the packaging is a disaster! 6 cd`s in what used to hold 2 cd`s.We would probably spend the double cost to have it housed in paper sleeves in a carboard box with a proper booklet.

Thank you EMI for this 6 CD release of 100 great works conducted by Herbert Von Karajan. He was indeed a master of his art. Principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for more than 35 yrs, he was considered one of the greatest conductors of all time. He was also the most prolific and top selling classical music recording artist of all time.His recordings stand out for their tempo and refinement.This 6 cd collection is a must have for all and is affordable too. Listening to these has been an unimaginable pleasure and one that I would like to share with others:- I gladly recommend.

I'm not a Karajan fan but this box contains pointers to many of his best recordings, many of them for EMI with the Philarmonia Orchestra in its glory days.Sound quality is fantastic throughout. The best way to introduce Karajan for newcomers, rather than the abundant recordings he made for DG, many of them not exceedingly good.Recommended.

Having a set of the Karajan Beethoven Symphonies on vinyl I looked forward to receiving this. As a boxed set with mp3 it is excellent for headphone listening whilst out walking. I find I can appreciate von Karajan's style of conducting so much more now.