In these priceless documents from the late 1970s, filmed in the Bruckner shrines of Vienna and St Florian, Herbert von Karajan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Bruckner's Eighth - the symphony he revered above all others - and Ninth, as well as the towering Te Deum. "Massive, glowing, and infused with cosmic power" (conductor/scholar Denis Stevens on Karajan's Bruckner Eighth filmed with the Vienna Philharmonic).

The performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony by "Emperor" Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker on October 21, 1979 was broadcast live nationwide from the venue on NHK. was broadcast on FM. This recording is the first digital recording of NHK, a historic one, and was handed down as a masterpiece of the peak of both Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic. The tremendous concentration invites listeners into an overwhelming impression. This time, the world's first CD release of this famous performance has been realized! At the time of its release, the latest remastering technology that Deutsche Grammophon boasts has been used to improve the sound quality astonishingly, and it has been revived.

This is the second of Herbert von Karajan's three versions of this symphony for Deutsche Grammophon, and it's a very nice one. Karajan always did well by the orchestral portions of this symphony, playing them sort of like proto-Bruckner. In the finale, as in his 1963 recording, he seems to prefer a very light, backward-balanced choral sound that will not appeal to those who believe that Beethoven meant the words to be heard. That reservation aside, this performance can be recommended as typical of Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in top form.

Karajan surmounted this pinnacle of the choral-symphonic repertoire - which Beethoven himself called "the greatest work I have composed" - no fewer than four times in the recording studio, but only once live and on film: in this unique document from the 1979 Salzburg Easter Festival. The atmosphere of Salzburg's Festspielhaus and festival audience adds a special frisson to this conductor's classic interpretation of the Missa solemnis.

Two great recordings of two of the greatest choral works. Karajan and Levin swoops the standards of tempi, phrasing and intens music making. Karajan's finest recording of the Requiem. Levin sets the bar a milestone higher. Remastering of the Requiem is confidentional good. Sound quality of K427 is superb.