Rating: 
Summary: Beethoven 9/Von Karajan
Review: Absolutely awesome performace. And who cares about the voices of those two singers (that another reviewer was complaining about) - the whole thing is just so exhilarating that none of the flaws matter.Beautifully recorded and shot too.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst Beethoven's 9th that I have ever heard/seen
Review: As negative as this may sound, I must declare that this is the worst recording of Beethoven's 9th symphony that I have ever heard or seen. This performance was recorded in 1983, a few years before Herbert von Karajan died, and around the time when there were tensions between him and the Berlin Philharmonic (the orchestra for this performance). I can only think of one word to describe this performance: "cold" ; the orchestra plays their instruments with no passion whatsoever, and they move like machines, their bows going up and down the strings, up and down, up and down... Even the chorus and the solo singers have looks on their faces like students that are absolutely terrified of their new teacher. Their mouths just open and close, with the correct German words coming out, and the less-than-correct notes coming out as well, but they are not singing Beethoven at all; they are reciting German lyrics to a beat with a few pitches here and there. That is all. There is also the orchestral performance; the drum is out of tune in the last movement (it is tuned to D-sharp instead of D-natural, a half-step higher than neccessary), and even some of the string playing is out of tune; for someone like myself that has perfect pitch, this is incredibly annoying and completely ruins the listening of the music. The camera shots are only ok, although (and this may come as a complete surprise to other viewers here) it is actually the shots of Herbert von Karajan himself that prevented me from throwing this DVD away in the garbage. Seeing this legendary conductor conduct perhaps the greatest symphony ever written is really amazing, even if the outcome was not so great. I somewhat disagree with the singers having "girly" voices; they sound fine to me, but once again, there is a difference between singing music about joy written by Beethoven and chanting German with a beat and some random pitches to it. The two women (Lella Cuberli, soprano, and Helga Muller Molinari, alto) are the only two singers that sound wonderful, and they look just beautiful too - no WONDER Karajan selected them = - ) In any case, do not buy this DVD at all, and don't even consider buying it either. I would reccomend either the 1960's version or the 1970's version (both on Deutsche Grammophon) if you want Karajan. But definately not this one. No.
Rating:
Summary: Very poor audio & video quality
Review: As others have noted in reviews of Sony's Karjan series, the audio & video quality are very poor. This would not even be considered adequate for VHS. Aside from the DVD quality, the camerawork is disappointing also. It is full of closeups of the conductor- and some of instrumentalists. The result is that you never get a sense of the big picture, the whole orchestra. The same could be said of the sound. It focuses on specific instruments, and sounds artificial. The performances are otherwise fairly good, though I find them a bit cold.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Performances -- Monument to the Conductor
Review: At this point, Sony has released all of its von Karajan performances of the Beethoven symphonies on five DVDs. They are all very good performances, created for film (rather than concert performance) in the early 80s. Von Karajan conducts the Berlin Philharmonic, his personal orchestra, and the performance is as much von Karajan as Beethoven. Musically, these are very fine performances, with von Karajan in absolute control of the orchestra which plays very precisely. These are the performance as he wanted to present them -- smooth, well thought-out, and note-perfect. There is probably no right way to put symphonic music onto film -- these productions (made by conductor's own film company) spend most of their time focused on the conductor with cut-away shots to both individual and groups of instrumentalists (also singers in the 9th), usually focusing on the instruments themselves rather than the players. It is fascinating to watch von Karajan -- his authority in the music and with this orchestra are clear thoughout each performance. He conducts without a baton and uses his whole body to conduct, though not in a distracting way (I am thinking of Leonard Bernstein here). The sound and picture on these DVDs are excellent; the sound is truly comparable to a well-recorded CD. The soundtrack is available both in stereo and also an excellent 5.1 Dolby mix. The disks have a set of program notes and a biography of von Karajan.
Rating:
Summary: Quantitative Evaluation
Review: Audio Merits:8/10; Video Merits:9/10;Musical Merits:10/10;Overall Artistic Performance:9/10; Cinematographic Merits:9/10;DVD Extras:9/10; Recording Overall Quality:9/10. Professor's Recommendation:A musicophile should thank to Sony Co. Karajan's Legacy Serie fixed through DVD medium will exhibit a historical value.
Rating:
Summary: A fabulous way to enjoy a classical masterpiece.
Review: Even as a casual listener of classical music, I was moved by this fabulous edition of Beethoven's masterpiece, especially when the full chorus is singing the "Ode to Joy." The 5.1 remix fills the room with sound - if you close your eyes, you feel as if you're in a symphony hall, with the front sound field spread across all three speakers just as the orchestra is arranged on the stage. Some incidental sounds are present when they are made by the orchestra members themselves, but there are no coughs, whispers, or other distractions that can ruin an actual live performance. This DVD is a fantastic way to really immerse oneself in a classical piece. The only negative I can think of on this disc are that the multi-lingual menus are confusing and difficult to navigate, although the supplimentary information is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: Finally I bought this Karajan's last Beethoven's symphony cycle on DVDs and it was really exciting to take a close look at the conductor and orchestra while they were playing. The orchestra and chorus are just excellent - exactly what I expected since I have their 1970s performance on CDs. However, I am still quite disappointed by the 4th movement of the 9th Symphony because of the girly voices of the tenor and baritone, although the soprano and alto are brilliant. Each time when I was watching this one, I had to be away from TV and speakers to avoid listening to tenor and baritone singing. Anyway, it's still worth buying since I cannot expect another DVD from Karajan. My rating for this symphony cycle is 5 stars for Symphonies nos. 1 - 6 & 8, 4 stars for the 7th and 3 stars for the 9th. The sound quality of this DVD is not as good as on CD but it's not a problem when turning the speakers louder.
Rating:
Summary: The fault of SONY........
Review: First of all, i must said that i rate this disc because of the poor dvd quality of SONY, not Kanajan's performance.
After playback of the whole disc, i found that this dvd is totally unacceptable:
1. Audio quality is BAD! I m not saying Kanajan is bad. But the sound quality....it can never made me feel of the orchestra. Very flat.....maybe i usually listen to DG's CD version of 1962 and 1984.
2. What a damn camera angle! I bought this dvd because i want to see live performance of Kanajan, but the film producer seems thinking that he is making the film 'Face-OFF'.....how come a live orchestra performance will take such kind of camera angle? Those sudden shot make me feel very confusing.....as like some previous review here, the film producer seems thinking that he/she even know no.9 more better than Kanajan.......
Anyway, if you want to have Kanajan's no.9 of 1984, pls go buy the DG CD version, this one should never come.....Hoping SONY will re-issue a normal camera version.
Rating: 
Summary: Camera angles and scope ruins it for me
Review: I bought this DVD, of course, because I wanted to see the orchestra and chorus in action for the performance of this important piece. But the number of fixed camera positions, angles, and fields of view is so very limited that I can hardly get a feel for the layout of the group or even the composition of the orchestra. For instance, there are several shots during great choral moments near the end of the 4th movement where you hear what sounds like dozens upon dozens of voices, yet you see like 4 guys on the screen. This happens for every section, and the conductor. Karajan has way too many close-ups of his face, and not enough shots (are there any? I don't recall any!) of him directing the whole group where you actually see many of the musicians! If I wanted to just hear the music, I'd stick with the 8 or so recordings of the piece I already own. I bought the DVD to see the performance, and I'm afraid to say I don't think it delivered. I give it 2 stars, though, and not just one star because it *is* Karajan, afterall :-) I have similar complaints with the Four Seasons DVD. There are way too many shots of Karajan doing who knows what. Seems to be a bit of an egomaniac...I mean, Anne-Sophie Mutter isn't even credited as the violinist on the silk-screen of the disc!
Rating:
Summary: Camera angles and scope ruins it for me
Review: I bought this DVD, of course, because I wanted to see the orchestra and chorus in action for the performance of this important piece. But the number of fixed camera positions, angles, and fields of view is so very limited that I can hardly get a feel for the layout of the group or even the composition of the orchestra. For instance, there are several shots during great choral moments near the end of the 4th movement where you hear what sounds like dozens upon dozens of voices, yet you see like 4 guys on the screen. This happens for every section, and the conductor. Karajan has way too many close-ups of his face, and not enough shots (are there any? I don't recall any!) of him directing the whole group where you actually see many of the musicians! If I wanted to just hear the music, I'd stick with the 8 or so recordings of the piece I already own. I bought the DVD to see the performance, and I'm afraid to say I don't think it delivered. I give it 2 stars, though, and not just one star because it *is* Karajan, afterall :-) I have similar complaints with the Four Seasons DVD. There are way too many shots of Karajan doing who knows what. Seems to be a bit of an egomaniac...I mean, Anne-Sophie Mutter isn't even credited as the violinist on the silk-screen of the disc!
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