Track Listing

1. No. 1, "The Sea and Sinbad's ship" in E major"
2. No. 2, "The story of Kalender Prince" in B minor
3. No. 3, "The Young Prince and the young Princess" in G major
4. No. 4, "Festival at Baghdad - The Sea" in E major

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87577 in Music
• Released on: 2000-06-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Sheherezade, Terrible 1812
The Sheherezade is awesome...and as the Penguin guide and the first reviewer point out, the violin solos are gorgeous. Karajan conducts with passion and the orchestral color is brilliant. The 1812 Overture though sounds rushed and overpolished. I enjoyed hearing the choral introduction used in this 1812, but it just lacks spirit. The cannon sounds don't quite sound like cannons either. I'm not sure what he used. Buy this CD for the Sheherezade...

A Wonderful Scheherazade
The only reason that I don't give this recording a full 5 stars is the sound. Although, the Original Bit Image Processing that DG has used to restore this performance is quite successful, the recording still fails to have a full sound in the lower sounds like the rolling of the tympani and the pounding of the bass drums. Also, somewhat problematic is the cymbal crashing. They don't ring as fully as on more modern recordings. Having said that, the spirit of the piece is incredible. I must say the violin solos by the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic are among the best I've heard. Such challenging notes are hard to bring off beautifully and in this recording they shine brightly and bring a whole new meaning to the Symphonic Suite. In fact, I understood more fully who Scheherazade was when I heard the violin solos. The conducting on this piece is superb. Jessy Norman once said that Herbert von Karajan creates a magic carpet for a singer. It is true whether there is a singer on that carpet or just a listener. His ability to take you to another place through his conducting is truly amazing. Knowing that von Karajan made numerous recordings of various pieces, I am suprised he never made a digital recording of this piece. Perhaps, it is because he felt there was nothing more to say.

Karajan is simply the standard
Despite being of analog quality, the listening satisfaction of this recording cannot be beat. I gave it 4 stars due to the familiar hiss of the era's analog technology. However, I was so enthused after listening to this recording of Scheherazade that I continued to successively buy three more DDD & SACDs convinced there had to be a comparable recording with all the added audio spatial resolution. The increased fidelity simply showcased orchestral flaws that detracted from listening ease of that first Karajan recording. DG must re-masters this and Resphigi's Pines of Rome that will inevitably be worthy of a 5 star rating. You will not find a better performance. I highly recommend this recording even if you already have a different rendition. Karajan is simply the standard here.