Verdi
“No conductor will ever have the last word on Falstaff, and some may feel that Mr. Karajan’s approach is a bit too calculating and saturnine for its own good. Still, for its instrumental beauties and superb cast, the Philips performance should be an enriching experience for everyone who loves this miraculous opera from Verdi’s old age. The New York Times
“Against that is the wonderful observation of detail, the extreme delicacy of this most diaphanous score more subtly purveyed perhaps than by any other conductor, here helped by the often deliberate tempi, and of course by the ultra-refined playing of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The reparding has the immediacy and clarity of the best digital issues.” Gramophone