Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op.40 (1959) [Japanese SHM-SACD 2014] PS3 ISO++

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Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op.40 (1959) [Japanese SHM-SACD 2014] PS3 ISO++

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Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker - Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op.40 (1959) [Japan 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 45:43 minutes | Scans NOT included | 1,3 GB
or DSD64 2.0 (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Scans NOT included | 1,19 GB
or FLAC (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Scans NOT included | 1017 MB
Japanese SHM-SACD / This version uses the DSD master made by Emil Berliner Studios, Germany in 2014

Say what you want about the egomaniacal Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, he was far & away the best postwar interpreter of German composer Richard Strauss’ megalomaniacal Ein Heldenleben. In this 1959 Deutsche Grammophon recording with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Karajan approaches the work as a portrait painted in sound of the artist as a young world conqueror. Though Karajan draws playing of tremendous fire & daring out of the Berlin musicians & though Deutsche Grammophon captures the performance in immediate stereo sound, the real hero of this Hero’s Life is Karajan himself. He has the measure of the score, knows when to apply pressure & when to pull back, when to let the brass go & when to reign them in, when to let the harmonies bloom & when to cut them off. But more importantly, Karajan believes in the music. Other postwar conductors could give convincing performances of Ein Heldenleben — one thinks, of course, of Fritz Reiner & the Chicago Symphony’s high-powered 1954 RCA recording — but Karajan isn’t performing the work: he’s living it. The sweep & swagger of the opening theme, the imperious power of the battle music, the expansive monumentality of the closing pages: this isn’t an act for Karajan; this is life itself.