Puccini and Prokofiev – Volume 10 of “Karajan Digital Library”

“‘Tosca’ has always fascinated me. Goethe once said: ‘I would be able to commit all crimes in my life if I did not have the possibility to express them.’ Sometimes you must conduct it, otherwise one day you may kill someone! I am fascinated by every single bar.”

This is above all a Puccini set. With the exception of the Callas “Butterfly”, Volume 10 of Deutsche Grammophon’s “Karajan Digital Library” contains every complete recording of Puccini operas Karajan has produced – the second “Butterfly” with Freni and Pavarotti, the legendary “Bohème” featuring the same dream team, the two “Toscas” with Leontyne Price and Katia Ricciarelli and the miraculous “Turandot”. The second item is Prokofiev. Karajan conducts the witty “Classical” symphony and the Fifth, one of his most highly admired recordings in the Russian repertoire.
Read more here.

—  P.R. Jenkins