Archive Hour

BBC Radio 4

Saturday 22 March 2008, 20:00-21:00

Wunderkind!

Mark Lawson celebrates the centenary of the great conductor Herbert von Karajan, under whose direction the Berlin Philharmonic became a sleek and sophisticated machine producing consistently brilliant performances. Yet Karajan could also be a tyrant, and even his biographer admits that he could be a high-handed bully. He also enjoyed life in the fast lane, with a predilection for fast cars and aircraft which he loved to control with the same supreme skill that he brought to the concert platform.

And, for the die-hards:

http://www.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/specials_detail.phtml?folgenid=395845

  Thanks, Pim.

The Archive Hour: Wunderkind! has been featured as one of 'Today's Choices' in the Radio Times page for 22 March.

I've started a period of revision before the broadcast by browsing through Herbert von Karajan - A Life in Music,  published by Pimlico in 1999.   Richard Osborne's biography is an astute study of European music and politics throughout the last century.   And such a cast of musical titans!

I also warmed to the unexpected element of humour, particularly Karajan's chaotic European tour with the Philharmonia in the early 1950s.   The autocrat was quite oblivious to the bureaucratic nightmare which befell the young tour manager; she hadn't been out of England before.   His focus was clearly set on his accession in Berlin and Walter Legge ruled out any discussion on travel details.  In Austria, the Viennese authorities and the Russians in the Linz zone were decidedly hostile.

"After an earlier visit, Karajan had made an official complaint to the Linz municipal authority about the sound of a distant train whistle being audible in the concert hall.    Amused by the preposterousness of the complaint, an anonymous writer had penned a diverting essay on the subject under the headline 'Die Symphonie mit dem Pfiff.'   The article concluded with a spoof advertisement for the forthcoming concert:

                                            Performers

     The London Philharmonia, Herbert von Karajan, and as Solo Whistle-
     Blower on the locomotive an anonymous 'Fuhrer'   (Locomotive-Fuhrer,
     you understand!"     

I caught most of the programme (and just recorded it off iPlayer to listen to again * ). I enjoyed hearing the American author squirm when challenged about Karajan's politics.

I've now decided that Karajan's involvement with the Nazi party can be ignored when I'm listening to my Deutsche Grammophons (and a few of his Columbias and HMVs too)


* http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archivehour/pip/fb9e9/

Only one more post, and I've made 1000.  Can't resist.

Thanks, Pim.

I have realised my last question was meaningless.  Never mind, I've reached triple figures.