From Pachelbel to Orff – “Karajan Digital Library” Vol. 11

“I once spent a whole rehearsal on the Barcarolle from ‘Les contes d’ Hoffmann’ which is to me one of the most tragic things in opera; it is not joyful; a man goes from life to death.”
Herbert von Karajan

Volume 11 of Deutsche Grammophon’s “Karajan Digital Library” really is a ragbag of all sorts of music – popular and demanding, baroque and modern. Due to the alphabetical order of the edition, it contains Offenbach’s “Gaîté Parisienne”, five of his overtures and the famous “Barcarolle”. Two other classical music hits are in it, Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” and Pachelbel’s “Canon and Gigue”. A rarity is Carl Orff’s last major work, the enigmatic “De temporum fine comoedia”, which Karajan first performed in 1973. No “Carmina Burana”. Despite some obscure cd publications, Karajan never recorded it. Honestly.

Read more here.

—  P.R. Jenkins