In his comprehensive biography of Karajan (Chatto and Windus: 1998) Richard Osborne tells us that‚ after this performance of the Verdi at Salzburg in 1949‚ ‘Karajan was carried shoulder­high to lunch by a bevy of admirers’. I don’t find anything here to qualify him for quite such an enthusiastic demonstration. On an indulgent day one might praise the concentration of the reading‚ admire the conductor’s control over his Viennese forces and wonder at the sheer power of much of the solo singing‚ but truth to tell‚ at something like 86 minutes‚ this is one of the slowest performances on disc‚ reverential‚ often ponderous‚ mostly lacking – except in the ‘Dies Irae’ and ‘Sanctus’ – the Italianate energy predicated by the score. The ‘Ingemisco’ and ‘Oro supplex’ are unacceptably slow‚ which encourages Helge Rosvaenge‚ still in strong but also rather effortful voice‚ and the youthful Boris Christoff to make a meal of these solos. Christoff imposes his very personal style on all his music to magnetic effect. Rosvaenge is effusive to a fault. Margarete Klose is the grand and sensitive mezzo to be faulted only for her quaint Italian. Hilde Zadek is much the most gratifying of the soloists‚ putting her warm‚ flexible voice entirely at the service of the music‚ and singing the Andante of the ‘Libera me’ with quiet reverence and ethereal tone. The recording is just about tolerable‚ though the choral climaxes tend to distort. Karajan’s later recordings on DG are not much more satisfactory. Much more recommendable‚ indeed one of the best performances of the work tout court‚ is the video version available on DG (072 142­3GH) where‚ with Italian forces‚ Karajan catches the essential drama of the piece. Preiser’s note is only about the work‚ not a word about the provenance of the recording. The Tchaikovsky is an abrupt reading. RO comments in his book: ‘…it is certainly possible to be repelled by a rather dangerous mix of deeply felt emotion and an iron‚ but essentially unspontaneous control.’ Enough said. There’s nothing here to compare with Furtwängler’s searing 1938 recording (BIDD‚ 7/94). So this issue is only for Karajan addicts. Again‚ one wonders why this old material has to be issued with bad presentation at full price.