Herbert von Karajan’s Beethoven Seventh circa 1959 contains many of the same performance characteristics familiar from his later remakes (three in all) with the Berlin Philharmonic–namely, fast tempos, smoothed-out articulation, and an overall homogenous sound texture. The first movement especially lives this aesthetic, with pureed orchestral sonorities and excessively legato rhythms. This rhythmic gloss is especially damaging in the supposed “dances” of the Allegretto and Presto, while the finale suffers from inverted balances (the horn’s mini-fanfares are all but inaudible). It’s an odd type of Beethoven, but it’s a style that Karajan would maintain with consistency over the years right up until his final Deutsche Grammophon recording in 1984. At least with the Vienna Philharmonic you occasionally can hear some distinctive timbres (i.e., reedy oboe sound), but the orchestra’s ensemble precision at the time was markedly inferior to that of its Berlin counterpart (Vienna would go on to make superlative recordings under Kubelik and Bernstein). So, if you want Karajan in this music, you’re better off with his DG efforts.
On evidence of the coupled “London” Symphony, Karajan appears to be a much more sympathetic interpreter of Haydn. There’s greater rhythmic presence (especially in the outer movements) as well as more defined orchestral coloring (listen to the beautifully rendered woodwind and string interplay in the Andante). The Vienna Philharmonic sounds on better footing this time around as Karajan puts the orchestra through its paces in a highly charged finale. As with the Beethoven, there is a later Berlin version on DG. So, despite Decca’s labeling, this release is not exactly a “Legend”, but no doubt will serve as fodder for insatiable Karajan-philes. The remastered sound reveals quite impressive dynamic range for the period.
