Who mourns for
Karl Böhm? Not his musicians who feared him. Not his singers who dreaded him. Only his listeners mourn
Karl Böhm, one of the greatest Mozart/
Strauss conductors of the middle years of the twentieth century. Perhaps the closest
Böhm came to a mutually tolerant musical relationship was with the
Vienna Philharmonic. He had brought them back from the brink of dissolution after the Anschluss had forced emigration of the
Philharmonic's Jewish members. After he had been successfully de-Nazified,
Böhm returned to the
Philharmonic and in early 1949 recorded Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and three waltzes by two Viennese Strausses, Johann and Josef. And, despite the years of war and enforced retirement,
Böhm's March 1949 recordings of Mozart and
Strauss and
Strauss are as gracious, as serene, as powerful, and as affectionate as his superlative later recordings from the '60s and '70s. Despite his complaints and threats in rehearsal, in performance
Böhm was able to galvanize the
Philharmonic into a soulful, virtuoso ensemble whose identification with Mozart and
Strauss and
Strauss is complete and total. The recording of Mozart's Linz Symphony from September 1950 is just as fine as the earlier Jupiter, albeit just a little bit sloppier in the development of the opening Allegro spiritoso. How
Böhm must have roasted the
Philharmonic the next time they met! Preiser's remastering of the antique HMV recordings is faithful and truthful, if at times a bit too honest about surface noise.