Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra - Einleitung - Karajan 

I have a performance of Beethoven’s fifth conducted by him with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra and choir 1964 truly an amazing performance, still have it on vinyl.

Er war ein Genie… und das war sein letztes Auftreten mit dem großen Orchester. Seine beginnende Demenz war ihm anzusehen und sicher, das Orchester hätte das auch alleine spielen können🎶 Aber das war die Reminiszenz an den überragenden Dirigent und er hatte es sich mehr als verdient. 🎶👏❤️🌹

@@bubblestwo2 In1963, I acquired the newly released BPO/Karajan 8 LP boxed set. Once a treasured possession, now a treasured memory.

​@@christaschiek4786mir ist nicht bekannt, dass Karajan an Demenz erkrankt gewesen wäre. Ich habe einige Biographien zu ihm gelesen (auch die sehr umfangreiche von Richard Osborne), habe sicher nicht jeden Punkt aus seinem Leben noch hundertprozentig parat, aber davon von einer Demenzerkrankung oder kognitiven Einbußen habe ich im Zusammenhang mit ihm noch nie gehört. Er war bis zum Ende seines Lebens noch aktiv - er hat teils sogar neue Stücke einstudiert wie den Maskenball von Verdi - und klar im Kopf (was man in Interviews von 1988 ein Jahr vor seinem Tod beispielsweise noch sehr gut sehen kann). Er war körperlich sehr geschwächt, hatte unwahrscheinliche Schmerzen und Herzprobleme (er ist ja an einem Herzinfarkt gestorben), aber geistig war er noch für sein Alter voll auf der Höhe. Er hat am Tag seines Todes noch mit dem Sony Chef über neue Pläne gesprochen. Eine Demenz hatte er nach meinem Kenntnisstand nicht. Es würde mich deswegen sehr wundern, wenn Sie mir etwas anderes berichten könnten, aber ich lasse mich für den unwahrscheinlichen Fall gerne eines Besseren belehren.

Ja, einer der sehr vielen größten. Aller Zeiten? So bei Adam und Eva angefangen oder sogar vorher?

same here

@khawaja1951, I totally agree. Howeve, I think, that the rest of this piece is not fullfilling those high expectations, that this really monumental beginning has created.

@@vesakaitera2831 I totally agree with you here sir.

I love the sound of kettle drums in the morning.

and simplest

You haven't seen anything sir, Von Karajan at this time was in decadence. You needed to see Karajan at the 60's or 70's to see his real potential. The orchestra was like no other in the world. Today Berlin is nothing!

@@IvanHernandez-gx4rt How could you claim that Berlin is nothing today? That's just a very random and untrue statement which you didn't even care to justify in any way. Why are there people like you who seem to get fun out of criticizing everything. Your statement is outright ridiculous and no person of any importance in the musical world would agree with you. The Berlin Philharmonics are still considered one of the best orchestras in the world alongside the Wiener Philharmonics.

@@IvanHernandez-gx4rt I agree, to see him in his prime had to be the ultimate experience.

@@LoGStein I, too would like to have watched this conductor in the 60's and 70's. It would have been totally awesome to see him in the prime of his life. You say,"The Berlin Philharmonics are still considered one of the best orchestras in the world." In the 60's and 70's it WAS THE VERY BEST IN THE WORLD. Not one of the best!

@@JaneGiesbrecht I personally am from Berlin, and I would personally say, that they are the best orchestra to the day. But as much as this is debatable, it is also debatable wether the Berlin Philharmonics were the best back in the day. The reason why many considered them to be is that Karajan was very influential in the European classical music industry, he could basically do and say whatever he wanted and people would agree with it. When comparing old recordings with new ones I really don't see that the orchestra got any worse. It doesn't sound the same, obviously, but not worse I believe.

He was in great pain by then, terribly bad back.

Parece um robô, inteligente, serio e frio.

It is a powerful piece. I played it in 9th grade for a great director. Love it.

@@JohnRodriguesPhotographerHave you ever played it for an Elvis impersonator before they walk out on stage for their concert?

I see once more the words 'scared' and 'crushed'; this time regarding music, but oft with reference to the cosmos. Not that I'm criticizing. It's just that, alas, where others perceive something terrible, I'm able to see only breathtaking beauty. Perhaps I'm a relic of the past, overtaken by new meanings of old vocabulary.

And the opening music for “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

@@Rogerw1nz, this first part of the tone poem was played, when the Moon flight programs started in the Finnish TV in the sixties. First it was only blackness and then the Moon emerged to the center of the screen, when the last chords of this piece were heard. It created the feeling, that we would now witness a truely historical moment. This piece was selcted probably, because it was so dramatic and enough short. I assume, that some other countries migh have used this same piece in those occasions in their TV.

Just your illusion, just music illusion.

@@lenofranciscodanner533And your point if not the obvious?

Bio buy SYPP,

No es la gran cosa!!!!!! Hay otros conductores que hicieron mejor interpretación de esta obra. Realmete Karajan nunca tuvo éxito con esta Obra Su mejor interpretación exitosa de esta obra fue con La Filarmonica de Vienna y nunca con la Filarmónica de Berlín☹️

@@beto1515mmmümmm

@@beto1515 Que comentário insoportable.

@@beto1515nuh uh

Good wording! In my humble opinion, it is a master-skill to combine great musicians in am orchestra. This skill can't be replaced by software or even A. I.

@@ernstslegend And now for pianists there is Simply Piano.

Same haha!

Bobmarley

ya...los músicos no hacen nada, están de adorno. Dummkopf.

plus karajan is half a century older than dudamel at this point...

I'm not a fan of Karajan who is overrated in Beethoven symphonies. However in Strauss and especially this piece, no one can compete him. He recorded at least 4 times "Zarathustra" and his best version is the 1974 with the Berlin Philharmonic. This one comes close. Karajan has got some kind of magic to make sound the brass section so good and powerful... But why don't we have the complete concert?

TheRunner75 Karajan obtained it perfect balace in the sound, in the time, and the power of this masterpiece, and become an Strauss co-author. God save you, master!!!!

I don't think so, Dudamel marks changes better 1:36 ....

Queen Al Agreed. Karajan is of course magnificent but somehow I think Dudamel did this one even better.

You should go to Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC sometime in the fall. Nearly 90,000 GAMECOCK fans screaming at the top of their lungs. All waving towels. First you see C, then A, then R, then O, LINA flags, the SC state flag, then our mascot Cocky arrives, then the players run thru the ice fog. By then the stadium is shaking. "If the Willy B ain't shakin', we ain't playing". The noise has registered as high 164dB and has registered as a 3.6 earthquake

@@michellenastasis8718 Sounds amazing. College football is a mystery culture to me....😉

The version in 2001 was performed by the same orchestra and conductor as you see here on this video, except about 20 years earlier (so some musicians have probably changed).

Someone had to refer to Ric Flair!

Kubrick's use of this music in 2001 A Space Odyssey, is one of the best in all of cinema.

Die Einleitung zu "Also sprach Zarathustra" wird auch zur Einführung von Chess'-Meeting in Dortmund benutzt.

@@IshoDominatesLuciferAndGoetia Karajan was a very sensitive guy, especially when the expression of music was the concern and it shows when he was interviewed about it. He was also though a very imposing figure, it shows ignorance to only be able to see one side of such a complex.

@@IshoDominatesLuciferAndGoetia I took your meaning to be entirely negative, that the nature of an artist is sensitive and that this is not sensitivity and therefore not art. You must be more clear with your meanings because the use of two statements leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Its like this: A stove is for cooking. The stove is hot. The second clause gives no indication as to the nature of the property it states in relation to the first, whether its good or bad. I had to infer because what you say generally concerns a negative nature that it was a negative nature, thus the negative reaction back. So please be more clear for people like me. I actually still don't know where you stand and would like an explanation of that as well, although with more depth please.

@@IshoDominatesLuciferAndGoetia Well you must understand that in making it so simple that you have created a verifiable enigma for someone like me. To think I still have no clue about what you mean and you continue to tease me with shadows, like: "he summoned darkness" and "It was negative".

@@IshoDominatesLuciferAndGoetia Seems you can't justify yourself so I will in the end take it that you're ignorant of what you originally claimed. Thank you.

Roland Hersan long live Germany

Richard strauss only and originally