What are you Listening to Right Now? Febus XXII

I think you'll find the Bohm and the Karajan (I know both) quite similar in terms of style and forces used... if you can tell them apart, you've got a fine ear. Their style is very typical of how Mozart was interpreted post-War, thru the 80's; large forces, heavy instrumentation, with a thick, velvety texture. Now don't get me wrong, they are fine interpretations in their own right, but nothing like Mozart envisaged. During this era, there was an idea that you could interpret Mozart and Mahler in a similar vein... well, to a degree you can do that with most Romantic composers such as Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann, but when you go back to the Classical era of Mozart & Haydn, who played on older instruments with a smaller orchestra (remember Haydn's Orch was in the pay of the Esterhazy household and even they couldn't have afforded the Berliner!) the sound, how they understood it would have been much lighter, without several heavy layers of varnish?

Gardiner was among the pioneers of what came to be termed 'HIP' or 'Historically Informed Performance' in an attempt to re-create that sound. In many ways he has now been superseded, but his Requiem remains a cornerstone recording and one I'd love you to hear, when considering different versions of a piece you evidently love?

however, there tends to be a 'best avoid' in these things, and here we have it:

Karajan thought it would be a good idea to release an album of Baroque bon-bons (ie music from 1650-1730) using the Berliner forces.. and frankly, it's ridiculous...

Karajan was a first-rate conductor and anything you buy of his, will have something to say about the piece in question, but the common view held is that he was at his very best when it comes to the Germanic late romantics... his interpretations of Bruckner, Richard Strauss, early Schoenberg and the Mahler he did are all absolutely top drawer.. in fact, it is such a terrible shame he only recorded 4 Mahler symphonies (4,5,6 & 9), of which, the last three are amongst the very best.

His 1964 Beethoven Symphonies and his 70's Brahms are also extremely good, but after that, there tend to be more satisfying interpretations out in a crowded marketplace than those achieved by Karajan at the height of his powers in the 60's and 70's...