This may be the best of Karajan’s recorded German Requiems, though that’s not saying much given that the others are nowhere near the competition. Choral intonation is variable, the orchestral playing substandard, and the engineering mediocre, even for 1947. So why has this been considered a gramophone classic for the past half-century, especially in Britain? Maybe it’s the level of intensity, a relative rarity for the conductor. Or perhaps it’s the soloists. Hans Hotter is his usual excellent self, and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, aside from a quavery opening to “Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit”, is in good form, the vulnerability in the voice fitting the text–and here she’s free of her later mannerisms. But there are better versions available in stereo, prime among them the classic Klemperer, also on EMI and also with Schwarzkopf–and, despite a disappointing soprano, there’s Kubelik on Audite. Nothing on those gems is comparable to the uninflected wind solos of Karajan’s final movement, the choral barking at fortes, or the muddy sound, all of which make this a specialty item for Karajan fans. A classic? I think not.
