Rok, re Berlin, Karajan and DG:
On balance, undoubtedly, one of the world’s greatest orchestras, conductors and record labels, but you have good reason to be "not so sure anymore". One of the greatest because of their history and remarkable contribution to Classical music in their respective areas.
The Berlin Philharmonic is and always has been a powerhouse orchestra with fantastic musicians both as section players and soloists. Some consider it to be the world’s greatest ordhestra. Its sound was shaped to a great extent by Karajan who was their music director for at least thirty five years. That sound was a reflection of Karajan’s famous ego, vanity and meticulous approach to just about everything he did. He was an absolute perfectionist and very "old school" with a dictatorial way with the musicians in the orchestra. Karajan famously insisted on being photographed showing only his left side which he considered to be his best side. On the many video recordings available one notices how much time the camera is focused in him and not the players; and how much time he spends conducting with his eyes closed. Very little visual connection with the players; not a good thing, generally. It is all about him and his very specific idea of what the sound of the orchestra should be. One of the main criticisms of his conducting style is that this very specific sound he carried over to the music of all composers, not allowing for variation or individuality in the sound. However, it was a sound with a tremendous amount of precision and a very specific beauty of tone; always a sense of perfection. He was incredibly prolific as recording artist and is the biggest selling Classical music artist of all time.
Personally, I like some of his recordings, but many I don’t. I find that his relentless perfectionism give can give the music a kind of cold quality. For instance, his Beethoven symphonies with Berlin are impressive in their beauty of sound especially in the slow legato passages, but I would rather listen to the Kleiber recordings for his warmer and more emotional interpretations.
I am generally not crazy about the sound of DG recordings. Compared to one of my favorite labels Decca/London I find the sound of many DG recordings to be thin and lacking in instrumental tonal body and natural hall ambience. However, some like the Kleiber recordings are quite good. Recent DG’s in particular suffer from mic placement that is too close up. However, its hard to overlook or not be impressed by the tremendous amount of great music on the label and sound that is seldom less than decent; and something that I know you appreciate, generally great looking cover art and text.
