Karl BA¶hm in Rehearsal and Performance (1970)

Fascinating rehearsal (and response to previous review)

I just want to respond to Mr. Morrison's (otherwise typically superb and perceptive) review -- he may have had a tv/dvd connection issue when he was watching the rehearsal sequence, because the rehearsal *is* in color and in very fine sound (better, in fact, than the concert performance which follows). This is obviously a DVD for real conductor enthusiasts - Bohm's rehearsal technique, as Mr. Morrison states, is detailed, demanding, and rather cranky, but he gets the desired results and his knowledge of the score is amazingly precise and impressive. For fans of conductor rehearsals, this is an essential purchase, I think. July 24, 2008

Interesting But In Not-So-Good Sound

Karl Böhm was, of course, a marvelous conductor of Richard Strauss's music, having worked directly with the composer and having conducted the premières of some of his later operas. He had the reputation of being a perfectionistic martinet in rehearsal and that is certainly borne out in this 47 minute documentary showing him rehearsing the Vienna Philharmonic for a performance of Strauss's tone poem 'Don Juan'. He is really pretty rough on his players who seem to take it all in stride. But it must be said that his instructions to the orchestra do bring about discernible changes in their playing, and for the better. Unfortunately the sound for this black & white documentary is a bit shrill and heard as if through a scrim. This is followed by a 1970 performance of 'Don Juan' in Vienna's Grosser Musikvereinsaal, filmed in color and in considerably better sound. (One wonders, in fact, although the booklet doesn't comment on this, if the rehearsal is from a much earlier period.) One plus is that the performance, broadcast live on Austrian television, is introduced by the urbane doyen of Viennese music commentators, Marcel Prawy.

I can only recommend this DVD, whose raison d'être is after all primarily on the lengthy rehearsal sequence, to those who have a particular interest either in Karl Böhm or in rehearsal technique.

Running time: 74mins (47 documentary, 18 performance, 8 spoken introduction); Format: NTSC 16/9; Sound: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1; Languages: Germans, English, French, Spanish; Region code: All

Scott Morrison July 22, 2008

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