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Haydn: The Creation / Herbert von Karajan | 
 enlarge | Artist: Herbert Von Karajan
Creators: Dietrich Fischer-dieskau, Walter Berry, Franz Joseph Haydn, Herbert Von Karajan, Josef Nebois, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gundula Janowitz, Fritz Wunderlich, Werner Krenn
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Category: Music
List Price: $23.98
Buy New: $15.48
You Save: $8.50 (35%)
New (38) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $15.48
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 39882
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 449761
UPC: 028944976120
EAN: 0028944976120
ASIN: B000001GXN
Release Date: January 27, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Part 1.: "Die Vorstellung des Chaos" | | • | Part 1.: "Im Anfange schuf Gott Himmel und Erde"/ "Und der Geist Gottes schwabte auf der Flaeche der | | • | Part 1.: "Nun schwanden vor dem heiligen Strahle"/ "Verzweiflung, Wut und Schrecken" | | • | Part 1.: "Und Gott machte das Firmament" | | • | Part 1.: "Mit Staunen sieht das Wunderwerk"/ "Und laut ertoent aus Kehlen" | | • | Part 1.: "Und Gott sprach: Es sammle sich das Wasser" | | • | Part 1.: "Rollend in schaeumenden Wellen" | | • | Part 1.: "Unt Gott sprach: Es bringe dei Erde Gras hervor" | | • | Part 1.: "Nun beut die Flur das Frische Gruen" | | • | Part 1.: "Und die himmlischen Heerscharen verkuendigten" | | • | Part 1.:"Stimmt an die Saiten" | | • | Part 1.: "Und Gott sprach: "Es sei'n Lichter an der Feste des Himmels" | | • | Part 1.: "In vollem Glanze steiget jetzt" | | • | Part 1.: "Die Himmel erzaehlen die Ehre Gottes"/ "Dem kommenden Tage es der Tag" | | • | Part 2.: "Und Gott sprach: Es bringe das Wasser in der Fuelle hervor" | | • | Part 2.: "Auf strakem Fittiche schwinget sich der Adler stolz" | | • | Part 2.: "Und Gott schuf grosse Walfische" | | • | Part 2.: "Und die Engel ruehrten ihr' unsterblichen Harfen" | | • | Part 2.: "In holder Anmut stehn" | | • | Part 2.: "Der Herr ist gross in seiner Macht" |
Disc 2
| • | Part 2.: "Und Gott sprach: Es bringe die Erde hervor lebende Geschoepfe" | | • | Part 2.: "Gleich oeffnet sich der Erde Schoss" | | • | Part 2.: "Nun scheint in vollem Glanze der Himmel" | | • | Part 2.: "Und Gott schuf den Menschen" | | • | Part 2.: "Mit Wuerd' und Hoheit angetan" | | • | Part 2.: "Und Gott sah jedes Ding" | | • | Part 2.: "Vollendet ist das grosse Werk" | | • | Part 2.: "Aus Rosenwolken bricht" | | • | Part 2.: "Von deiner Guet', o Herr und Gott"/ "Gesegnet sei des Herren Macht" | | • | Part 2.: "Nun ist die erste Pflicht erfuellt" | | • | Part 2.: "Holde Gattin, dir zur Seite" | | • | Part 2.: "O gluecklich Paar, ung gluecklich immerfort" | | • | Part 2.: "Singt dem Herren alle Stimmen!" |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
This classic performance of Haydn's greatest choral masterpiece was beloved tenor Fritz Wunderlich's last recording. He sings all of the arias, but he died before finishing the recitatives, which are here taken by Werner Krenn. The recording is, in addition, one of Herbert von Karajan's finest, vastly better than his later digital remake. His interpretation is straightforward and impressively large in scale, but never pompous or sanctimonious (which was Karajan's big problem in music of a religious character). The truth is, Haydn's consistently fresh and unpretentious invention acts as a positive anesthetic against bombast, and the composer himself once said that thinking of the Creator always made him irresistibly cheerful. With The Creation, Haydn returned the favor. --David Hurwitz
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| Customer Reviews:
Best June 26, 2007
Sam (New Jersey)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a performance to die for. The pace of the music is what sets this appart. Every movement is set at just the right tempo so you can completely enjoy this cast of stars.
All the stars of the 20th century March 23, 2006
Elise Taylor (upstate New York)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This recording brings all the finest voices of the twentieth century together with one of the finest conductors and orchestras.The sound quality is quite good, however, the overall intonation is quite sharp--a problem we used to have to deal with with LPS. That might also have made the tempi a bit faster than they were at the original performances. Aside from the pitch, the recording serves to remind us of the highest caliber of music making, just one step away from the German romanticist performers of the 19th century.
Fritz Wunderlich's Last Recording: Karajan's Greatest "Creation" November 22, 2005
Rudy Avila (Lennox, Ca United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
This stunning recording from Deutsche Grammophone is Karajan's greatest recording of Haydn's Creation (of the two he recorded). In his prime as a conductor, he is musically potent and does not succumb to his usual overly grandiose manner. The singers are doing a heck of a job in their solos and ensembles. Of particular interest is the renowned 40's and 50's German tenor Fritz Wunderlich as the angel Gabriel and as Adam. He is singing in his last studio recording before his tragic death of cancer. Soprano Gundula Janowitz sing with ravishing voice, lyrical and lush, the voice of an angel. Baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau is in his element. He totally fits the baritone part of the archangel Uriel- a big, dramatic but noble and beatiful, God-like voice. Dieskau is in his glorious prime and pulls out all the stops. Mezzo soprano star Christa Ludwig sings the role of Raphael, normally a part given to another tenor. But her dark lower register is enough to make her worthy of the role. Walter Barry is also featured in this recording and his baritone voice is also ingenious. The orchestra is colorful, bringing out all the mystery and religiousity without being overt. The opening Prelude, "Chaos" evokes the Big-Bang and the subsequent formation of suns, stars and planets!! The choruses are magnificent and well-trained. Each of these singes are German, or Austrian, and therefore know how to sing with native pride. For other superb recordings of Haydn's Creation, check out the recording with conductor Antal Dorati and starring the radiant soprano Lucia Popp and incredible baritone Kurt Moll.
Karajan live or Karajan studio? October 9, 2005
Santa Fe listener
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
Since no one has compared this studio recording from 1966 (patchwork being added up to 1969) with Karajan's live performance from Salzburg the year before, I thought I'd fill in the gap. This review is posted twice, both here and under the live recording, also on DG.
Sound: Both sets re in excellent sound, although only the studio one is in stereo. The Austrian Radio transcript from Salzburg in 1965 is clear, warm, and detailed mono. The orchestra is set further back than in the studio version, but the soloists often sound closer. In both cases the chorus was the large Vienna Singverein , and their enunciation is muddied compared to smaller choirs. No preference in this regard between live and studio. I did find the original pressing of the studio version a bit too bright and less open than the live broadcast, but that may have been corrected in the new "Originals" reissue.
Soloists: Gundula Janowitz is the ethereal soprano on both recordings and sings almost identically, although in the live recording she opens out to reach the audience, while in the studio she adds a bit more intimacy and nuance. (This is also true of the orchestra.) Fritz Wunderlich performs all the tenor arias and major ensembles in both versions( he died suddenly from a fall in Sept. 1966 before finishing all the recitatives, which are filled in for the studio recording by Werner Krenn). Wunderlich uses his plangent voice with more nuance in the studio, singing out more in the live performance, and I prefer that. The bass is Walter Berry in the studio recording, preferable to Kim Borg in the live one, although not by a huge margin. However, in the baritone role of Adam, the live Hermann Prey is ocnsierably more lyircal and natural than Fishcer-Dieskau in the studio. Christa Ludwig on the studio version sings only one solo in the last chorus. The fact that the live soloists rank ahead of the studio may be a tipping point for some--it was for me.
Conducting: Karajan specialized in this work, as witness his three recordings (I don't own his digital reading from 1982, generlaly acknowledged as inferior), and he could be uncannily similar from year to year (for example, in both these performances the first big Adam and Eve duet takes 10 min., 1 sec., despite the year separating the two). Karajan took a classical approach to Haydn, preferring proportion and balance over excitement, control over spontaneity. In the style he chose, nobody since has excelled these recordings, but there is another way, as shown by Bernstein's two versions, particularly the unmatched drama of the first one from New York on Sony.
In the end, both Karajan readings are so close to each other, even down to sound and soloists, that there isn't much to choose. One might expect the live performance to be more exciting, but in fact that's a split decision as well--quite often Karajan finds more drama and momentum in the studio recording. I pick the live performance mostly to hear Wunderlich in better form and to have Prey in place of Fishcer-Dieskau.
 Wunderlich stars in this performance. August 19, 2005
RENS (Dover, NH USA)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
I offer a slightly dissenting voice: I do not think that this performance is a 5-star winner. Yes, Wunderlich sings the arias exquisitely well. I find that Fisher-Dieskau has already become mannered in his singing. Yes, this is far better than Von Karajan's later digital version. No, this is not THE recording to have. At last not in my book (as a music historian and teacher). There are more than thirty complete recordings of "The Creation." Much good can be said of many, perhaps most of them. I recommend the following as the best of the lot:
John Eliot Gardiner's performance of the German version on "period" instruments -- superb in every regard, even if his soloists are lesser known.
Eugen Jochum's 1966 stereo recording with the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra and Chorus -- beautifully nuanced, deeply spiritual, and quite a bargain as a Philips Duo. Also the German version.
Rafael Kubelik's recording, also with the Bavarian musicians, on Orfeo. Warmth and clarity, strength and tenderness. Again the German version.
The original English version either by Christopher Hogwood or Robert Shaw, two very different yet equally effective performances.
Whichever version you choose, Haydn will lead you into the depths of Creation at every level of the word's meaning.
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