0:00:02 > 0:00:03HE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:00:03 > 0:00:04ORCHESTRA BEGINS TO PLAY
0:00:12 > 0:00:14ORCHESTRA STOPS
0:00:21 > 0:00:23ORCHESTRA RESUMES
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Every concert is, for me... maybe I think
0:00:27 > 0:00:29it's the last performance I do.
0:00:31 > 0:00:32Nein, nein, nein, nein.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41HE MIMICS RHYTHM OF MUSIC
0:00:49 > 0:00:52ORCHESTRA PLAYS DRAMATIC PIECE
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Herbert von Karajan was probably the most successful conductor
0:01:40 > 0:01:43the music world has ever known.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45The most glamorous and powerful too.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50The glitter of his music making sometimes provoked
0:01:50 > 0:01:51jealousy and suspicion.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55But those who worked with him recognised
0:01:55 > 0:01:57a formidable and visionary musician.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Never have I felt such freedom after strenuous periods
0:02:03 > 0:02:07of rehearsals than standing next to Karajan.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Because in the concert, he would follow you to the end of the world.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I don't know what it is about Karajan, he had this
0:02:33 > 0:02:36sort of magic, or this allure. He had something very special.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45He was so devoted to music making that it seemed to
0:02:45 > 0:02:47come out of his pores.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55You did only one thing that he ask you to do,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and you did it always well - he was so happy.
0:02:58 > 0:02:59He will smile for ever.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25There are many myths about the man hailed before
0:03:25 > 0:03:28the Second World War as "The Karajan Miracle."
0:03:28 > 0:03:31A daredevil with 20th century speed in his blood.
0:03:36 > 0:03:43Karajan drove Mercedes Cabrio, with these doors going up like wings.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45A very good driver.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Ja, really fast. Sometimes too fast.
0:03:51 > 0:03:52ENGINE ROARS
0:03:52 > 0:03:57He drove like a racer, and one of the orchestra he asked,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00"You, coming with me."
0:04:00 > 0:04:04And this one, in the evening, he was pale...
0:04:04 > 0:04:09when he sat in his place. And the whole orchestra laughed.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12And to the one who laughed the most, said,
0:04:12 > 0:04:13"You're going with me tomorrow."
0:04:15 > 0:04:19So it was fun and it was very familiar,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22and at the same time, it was a little bit terror.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27Well, strangely enough, I can see him on the rostrum...straightaway.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29He dressed well.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33He was comparatively young, he was very virile.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Dark hair, grey at the sides.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38I suppose, in a way, attractive.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41I really felt it would be quite easy to fall in love with him,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43let's put it that way.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45So slim, so good-looking, so lithe.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Sort of sexy somehow.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49And I used to think,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53"Karajan's coming again, Karajan's coming again",
0:04:53 > 0:04:55not because of Karajan and the fact
0:04:55 > 0:04:58that he was a man, but because of his conducting.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Karajan's magnetism didn't fully explain his success.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08But it certainly helped.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Through patience, a sharp business sense and sheer artistry,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15he scaled the peaks of his profession,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17in the opera houses of Vienna and Milan,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19and on the podium of the Berlin Philharmonic,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21which he made into a Rolls-Royce orchestra.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26He was born in 1908, into an aristocratic family,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29close to the Austrian Alps in Salzburg.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33At the age of 17, after studying science at school,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35he was set to become a concert pianist,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37until his teacher stepped in.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43One day - he knew me very well and followed all my studies -
0:05:43 > 0:05:48and said, "You see, your musical mind and your ear
0:05:48 > 0:05:51"is made such that you will never be content with two hands.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55"You should have ten hands! But better try to conduct."
0:05:56 > 0:06:00As a student, he was fascinated to watch Arturo Toscanini conduct,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03and went on to learn his craft in the German opera houses of
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Ulm and Aachen during the rise of Hitler.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Like thousands of others in Germany keen to further their careers,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13he joined the Nazi Party in his mid-twenties -
0:06:13 > 0:06:16a move that would dog him for much of his life.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21He explained to me, "I want to conduct,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24"I want to make a career in that field."
0:06:24 > 0:06:29And he could not get a Generalmusikdirektor function
0:06:29 > 0:06:31in any of the places without having
0:06:31 > 0:06:36a membership, a passive membership of the Party.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Given the fact that he also surrounded himself
0:06:38 > 0:06:42with a number of Jews in his professional life,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44and the fact that I never in my life
0:06:44 > 0:06:48heard a single anti-Semitic remark from him -
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and I have Jewish antecedents myself, so I would have been
0:06:50 > 0:06:52very sensitive to this -
0:06:52 > 0:06:54I absolutely refute that he was a Nazi.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58As well as being a party member,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01he was sent to occupied countries as an ambassador for German culture.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14This first footage of him conducting comes from Paris in 1941 -
0:07:14 > 0:07:17the prelude to Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19almost an unofficial anthem for the Nazis.
0:07:21 > 0:07:27Goebbels or Hitler sent their international grade artists
0:07:27 > 0:07:30to everywhere where he had the power to send them,
0:07:30 > 0:07:35to show how high cultured Germany is.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38This was their duty, they had to do that.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41After the war they said they just served their art,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43but it was a bit more.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46No, I was more or less restricted to six concerts a year.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50And any other sort of activities?
0:07:50 > 0:07:54- Just simply six concerts and that was it?- I was frozen up.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55HE TRAILS OFF
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Karajan was in work more than he perhaps remembered.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Besides his job in Aachen, he conducted in Berlin itself
0:08:05 > 0:08:09once a fortnight on average for the first half of the war.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Only in the last two years did the work dry up.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Was he a Nazi? In my opinion, definitely not.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Was he an opportunist? I think he was.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21I think he had a single-minded desire to get
0:08:21 > 0:08:22to the top of his profession.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28After the war, eminent German musicians like Wilhelm Furtwangler
0:08:28 > 0:08:32were forbidden to perform in public until they'd been "denazified."
0:08:33 > 0:08:35It applied to Karajan too.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38But he got round the ban by making records,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42thanks to the British EMI producer Walter Legge, who soon brought
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Karajan to work with his brand-new Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50This launched his international career,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and also his lifelong addiction to recording.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57It's a nice point, that it's the British that got Karajan going
0:08:57 > 0:09:00after the war, it was the British, Walter Legge in particular
0:09:00 > 0:09:02and his Philharmonia Orchestra, but also Walter Legge
0:09:02 > 0:09:04working in Vienna with local orchestras.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07They're the people who gave Karajan his start,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11so he has Britain, the "enemy", to thank.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15Exactly. It was... But, I mean, he was worth it.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18And I think he improved the orchestra a lot,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20I think we played very well with him.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23You didn't just sort of play the instrument,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25you really put your heart into it.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39The detail's unbelievable.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51- PIERRETTE:- Right from the first note,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53you've got to have your wits about you.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59It's very fast...very energetic...and very clear.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30It's that sort of virtuosity. It sounds so un-British somehow.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35It's so unexpected, the quality of that, that...attack.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44He certainly introduced something to our orchestral life...
0:10:44 > 0:10:46that...
0:10:46 > 0:10:49well, it may be not missing, but it hadn't been
0:10:49 > 0:10:51discovered with such intensity.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01It still comes as a shock to hear that sort of performance.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09And I didn't really realise until I sat there.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15"Ooph! I don't believe it." You know?
0:11:15 > 0:11:19"Is this what it's all about? Conducting, great conductors?
0:11:19 > 0:11:22"Oh, how absolutely wonderful,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24"I'm going to enjoy this."
0:11:38 > 0:11:41The extraordinary voluptuous sound he managed to achieve.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48Erm...
0:11:49 > 0:11:52The concentration on the lower octave
0:11:52 > 0:11:54just gives it that much more...
0:11:57 > 0:11:59..I don't know, romantic lush.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08It was Karajan's interpretation, nobody else's,
0:12:08 > 0:12:14and his clarity was just...oh, unbelievable.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16I could feel it then...you know?
0:12:16 > 0:12:20I'm sitting there and I'm playing, "Ooh, I've got to give it,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22"I've got to give it, I'm not giving enough,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24"I'm not giving enough." You know?
0:12:24 > 0:12:27You didn't get any reception from him that you were doing it,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29he didn't look at you and smile or anything,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32it's just that you wanted to do it.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34It was the effect he had.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Richard Strauss' tone poem Don Juan featured in his public debut
0:12:41 > 0:12:45with the Philharmonia in 1948, as it had in his
0:12:45 > 0:12:48very first concert 20 years earlier in Salzburg.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52It was a piece with which he could hypnotise and energise his players.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57When he came to the stage, really, here,
0:12:57 > 0:12:58when we sit on the stage
0:12:58 > 0:13:02the heart began to beat - bom-bom-bom-bom-bom, ja?
0:13:02 > 0:13:05It was really special and everybody
0:13:05 > 0:13:08was "Paaah!", like a racing horse.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11After every concert I was sweating, exhausted, and I mean,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14normally you would play, as a professional,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17you would play everything light and no problem,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20but this was like a challenge of playing for your life.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22That's the way he took you.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26This was almost magic.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31He had an absolute unique radiation and nobody knew why.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Somebody who sucks you into his opinion, and you
0:13:34 > 0:13:37just follow, you can't avoid to go this way.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39It's like such a strong personality,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41and this is very emotional, it's not technical.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44He interrupted in a rehearsal and then...
0:13:44 > 0:13:46HE IMPERSONATES KARAJAN MUTTERING
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Nobody understood what he really said, but after the interruption,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53everything went in the way he wanted.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07I think I have played the Beethoven concerto
0:14:07 > 0:14:09about 25 times with him.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Still up to this day, it's difficult for me
0:14:15 > 0:14:19to stand next to a conductor who is not Karajan, because the way
0:14:19 > 0:14:24he was shaping and the way he made a soloist really fly
0:14:24 > 0:14:26and spread the wings was something
0:14:26 > 0:14:28which I've never encountered after that.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41KARAJAN SPEAKS SOFTLY IN GERMAN
0:14:43 > 0:14:46As a young man, Karajan had
0:14:46 > 0:14:47patiently courted the Berlin Philharmonic,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51much to the annoyance of Furtwangler, its chief conductor.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56And when he died in 1954, Karajan stepped neatly into his shoes.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01But in the recording studio, he still worked with his old flames
0:15:01 > 0:15:03at the Philharmonia in Britain.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06- It was a great orchestra, of course. - Oh, yes, of course.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08I remember the first tour in America.
0:15:10 > 0:15:1424 concerts in 28 days in 19 cities - the American tour was
0:15:14 > 0:15:18an ordeal for conductor and players, not least because of
0:15:18 > 0:15:20hostile comments in the press about
0:15:20 > 0:15:22his work under the Nazis, and Karajan had warned
0:15:22 > 0:15:25the Philharmonia players to be on their guard for trouble.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29He gave us a little pep talk, a nice one,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31"Be very careful where you walk."
0:15:31 > 0:15:33He suddenly seemed like a human being again,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35as opposed to a god up there!
0:15:35 > 0:15:38"Be careful of the public, they could attack you."
0:15:38 > 0:15:40The trouble, when it came on the final morning of the tour,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43was from Walter Legge's orchestra itself.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46One of the first violins, a former Spitfire pilot
0:15:46 > 0:15:50called Peter Gibbs, was outraged at the perfunctory way Karajan
0:15:50 > 0:15:54had been acknowledging applause from the audience.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56In grand places, Karajan behaved himself perfectly well,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58took his bows with the audience,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02but in not so important cities he just disappeared,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06went back to the hotel or wherever,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and the orchestra was sort of left...
0:16:09 > 0:16:13on the stage, not knowing whether to get off, or bow, or what to do.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Peter came back to the hotel and said,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18"I'm really going to say something tomorrow morning",
0:16:18 > 0:16:21and I said, "My God! What are we in for?"
0:16:21 > 0:16:25And so Peter, who had, had this burning resentment -
0:16:25 > 0:16:29I suppose, after the war - still in him, thought this would be
0:16:29 > 0:16:34one way of relieving his animosity, and so he stood up
0:16:34 > 0:16:37at the rehearsal and just said, "I think you owe us an apology."
0:16:37 > 0:16:41"Mr von Karajan, I think you should apologise to the orchestra
0:16:41 > 0:16:44"for your extremely bad behaviour on this tour."
0:16:44 > 0:16:46And von Karajan took no notice whatsoever,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48he just went on conducting
0:16:48 > 0:16:50and people at the front started to play,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52people around started to shuffle their feet
0:16:52 > 0:16:55and make sort of agreement noises.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58We had shivers down the back of our spines when we heard that!
0:16:58 > 0:17:03I don't know how many times Peter said, "I would like an apology",
0:17:03 > 0:17:05probably at least three times, I think.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08I just thought "Bravo." Until I thought it over,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11and then I thought to myself, "That wasn't very diplomatic."
0:17:11 > 0:17:14And Karajan said, "I don't want this man at the concert tonight."
0:17:16 > 0:17:21But some of the principal players in the orchestra
0:17:21 > 0:17:25just had a word with Walter and said, "Look, that's not
0:17:25 > 0:17:28"really quite fair, because he was perfectly justified in
0:17:28 > 0:17:32"saying what he did. Maybe tactless, but, er, I think he should play."
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Anyway, that evening, we started the concert,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39got to the interval... and von Karajan didn't come on.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44We all sat down ready to play - no sign of Karajan!
0:17:44 > 0:17:46And we sat there again, ten minutes? I don't know,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49a long time waiting to start the second half.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53As would often happen in his career, Karajan had the orchestra
0:17:53 > 0:17:55at his mercy, and reappeared only when
0:17:55 > 0:17:57the orchestra management had apologised - to him.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02People say he never worked with the Philharmonia again.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04In fact, he did, for five more years.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06By then he was forging his destiny in Europe,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10in particular in Berlin, where the Karajan legend would take root.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Until Karajan got the Berlin job, the Philharmonia was in a sense,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Karajan's Orchestra, and would he have got the Berlin job had he not
0:18:17 > 0:18:20had all that experience working with the Philharmonia
0:18:20 > 0:18:22for the previous five or six years?
0:18:22 > 0:18:26It was a long activity with the Philharmonia.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Of course, then when the call to Berlin came,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33reluctantly I must say, because I liked them very much,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36a great deal of things we had done together,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39but you couldn't share those two things.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53From the early hour in the morning you could feel vibration,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56vibration of expectation, that in the night
0:18:56 > 0:18:58will be the Karajan concert.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02He took half a minute, three-quarters of a minute
0:19:02 > 0:19:05getting himself absolutely ready on his feet.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11Getting his balance, getting his relaxation
0:19:11 > 0:19:14until he felt absolutely ready to start.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19And I thought this was mesmeric, because he did not move
0:19:19 > 0:19:23his feet again until he turned to acknowledge the applause at the end.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28The power of...any movement,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31his closed eyes,
0:19:31 > 0:19:37his...kind of the chin, expression, you know?
0:19:37 > 0:19:44And the left hand, the left hand just doing anything,
0:19:44 > 0:19:45and then...
0:19:45 > 0:19:47HE INHALES DEEPLY
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Just the energy, the energy with such an authority.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Authority like nobody else can have it.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01In order to achieve after a forte a subito piano,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03the only thing he did was this.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10In the movement of his small finger, an entire orchestra
0:20:10 > 0:20:15of 120 players would transform itself
0:20:15 > 0:20:17into a carpet of pianissimo where
0:20:17 > 0:20:22a singer or a violinist could just kind of soar over.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25I said, "Look, you are doing conducting one thing,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27"but at the same time you are already doing
0:20:27 > 0:20:30"something very different, that's near schizophrenic."
0:20:30 > 0:20:33"No, trezophrenic", he said. That's not a word, but he used it.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Yes, "trezophrenic", he said, "Look, I've to give the attack
0:20:37 > 0:20:40"and the next moment I have to dampen the too loud horn,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44"and while I do that conducting I already have to prepare
0:20:44 > 0:20:49"the next tempo change, three measures ahead.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52"So you might say the attack is present,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56"the horn is already past, and the tempo change is the future."
0:20:56 > 0:21:00And he finished by saying, "On this level -
0:21:00 > 0:21:02"on these three levels -
0:21:02 > 0:21:04"every musician, not only the conductor has to work."
0:21:18 > 0:21:22I think one of his great strengths was actually the interpretation,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24I mean, he really did interpret the music.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Every active part of this symphony is VERY active,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35and with the little bridge passages, sometimes they're soft,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38more enchanting, he brings this out.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Listen to this, this G.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50That's what I mean about interpretation,
0:21:50 > 0:21:52he gives the people time to play this tune.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Just by doing that he sets a tempo and the mood.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10This was what I call the real Berlin Philharmonic sound.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Very rich and engaged.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20There are no passengers in this orchestra.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23He often kept his eyes closed, which staggered other conductors,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26but not, apparently, his players.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30He created an orchestra that relied on each other,
0:22:30 > 0:22:31that listened to each other.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35He set them up as a gigantic chamber group.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37And it was certainly not as though
0:22:37 > 0:22:40the performances were pre-planned
0:22:40 > 0:22:43in any way - you could see there was all kinds of room
0:22:43 > 0:22:45for things to happen.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52When the player tried to ask him for some advice or help,
0:22:52 > 0:22:57he went to be furious and told, "Look, play maybe with your knees
0:22:57 > 0:23:03"or with your nose, but please, play musically right."
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Normally, he didn't give downbeats, when he conducted he just
0:23:06 > 0:23:09closed his eyes and his hands turned like this
0:23:09 > 0:23:13and formed some, you know, like,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15as if music is a modelling thing.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17And he did not conduct one, two, three, four.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21But I saw him doing this when he had singers,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24when he conducted opera or - like it happened once to me -
0:23:24 > 0:23:27I fell out of something, suddenly I saw him conducting
0:23:27 > 0:23:29like a Kapellmeister, but the moment
0:23:29 > 0:23:32it was set again, he came back to just doing that.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36His style of conducting, which in a way was rather unprecise,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41particularly when it meant to give a real clear beat,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44a real clear beginning.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49You had no idea where this man was, and what did that lead to?
0:23:49 > 0:23:51You would listen to each other.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55He just advised, "Listen!"
0:23:56 > 0:24:00People thought of Karajan's orchestra as a well-oiled machine.
0:24:00 > 0:24:01But this didn't happen by magic.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11On one occasion, the pizzicato plucking
0:24:11 > 0:24:14of the strings had gone adrift.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17The pizzicatos were all over the place.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19So, Karajan would, you know, lean back,
0:24:19 > 0:24:24and he had this stick in his hand, the baton, and he would say
0:24:24 > 0:24:27"Meiner herren" - that was back in the days were there was no girls,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30where there were no girls in the orchestra -
0:24:30 > 0:24:33"Meiner herren, look at this baton,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37"and now imagine a rain drop is slowly gliding down,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42"and the moment the rain drop frees itself, that's the pizzicato!"
0:24:43 > 0:24:49Back to figure K or whatever - there it was, perfect!
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Karajan stopped the whole orchestra and said to my colleague, "Late."
0:24:55 > 0:24:59And this guy said, "Well, it's the acoustic in this room."
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Karajan cut him off dead and said, "The acoustic in this room?
0:25:02 > 0:25:06"You're 25 metres away from me, the speed of light is such
0:25:06 > 0:25:11"and such a thing, speed of sound is such and such a speed -
0:25:11 > 0:25:14"it can't be late. Besides, Galway's sitting
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"right next to you and he's on the beat, so just play on the beat."
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Sometimes, the apparent perfectionist
0:25:31 > 0:25:33didn't bother with rehearsal at all.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36He asked me in. I sat down on the chair of the first oboe,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40red light, and we recorded Beethoven Third Piano Concerto
0:25:40 > 0:25:42without any break, and a little interruption,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44because I made a mistake,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47a little baton move he made and I didn't catch it totally,
0:25:47 > 0:25:48but it was just a second,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50and then everything was gone, you know?
0:25:50 > 0:25:54- With no rehearsal?- With no rehearsal, of course, no rehearsal.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57And then later I learned that he didn't rehearse the
0:25:57 > 0:26:00main pieces at all, because it was repertoire.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03But with young players,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06standard repertoire was worked on as if it were brand-new.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Yep. On the most difficult things,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20you always have to look into the music.
0:26:22 > 0:26:23Four notes.
0:26:26 > 0:26:27HE HUMS TUNE
0:26:33 > 0:26:40The seaman said, "One hand for the ship and one hand for yourself."
0:26:40 > 0:26:43'So you give me one eye for you, and one eye for the conductor,
0:26:43 > 0:26:45'and the music you have in here then!'
0:26:47 > 0:26:51He's getting them to not be afraid of being in contact
0:26:51 > 0:26:53with him directly.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Now, could you please give me the upbeat, the second note,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05with the same intensity as the first note?
0:27:05 > 0:27:07The first note is perfect now,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10but it must... HE HUMS TUNE
0:27:10 > 0:27:12And pianissimo of course.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Expression is wonderful,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17if you could give me this with less tone, it would be perfect.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30It's a master at work, he's hearing
0:27:30 > 0:27:33infinitesimal differences between one note and another.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45But no accent!
0:27:45 > 0:27:49There was now, there was accent on the new harmony,
0:27:49 > 0:27:50which there should certainly not be.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54HE HUMS TUNE
0:27:56 > 0:28:00He's trying to highlight the incredible unexpected chord.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02'..where you come a little earlier.'
0:28:02 > 0:28:07The unexpected which comes in here, because normally it would...
0:28:07 > 0:28:10HE HUMS TUNE
0:28:10 > 0:28:14You stay in your harmony. Instead comes a completely new thing,
0:28:14 > 0:28:19and it must be taken with care, then it's unexpected.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21How to make the familiar seem fresh.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Ra-ta-ta-ta.
0:28:44 > 0:28:45Now, keep it, keep it!
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Ah...
0:28:51 > 0:28:57I can always see some of you who is out here...
0:28:57 > 0:28:59The little technical things like not rushing through the bow
0:28:59 > 0:29:02and running out of the bow by the end of the long note.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Organise it that it comes right when we are finished,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08and not first give everything. You don't spend the whole cellar
0:29:08 > 0:29:11on the first three days, and you starve!
0:29:11 > 0:29:13No, you wait.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16He knew that young musicians were nervous, he knew how to make us
0:29:16 > 0:29:22welcome, he talked very openly. I remember him saying this
0:29:22 > 0:29:25wonderful phrase. "Oh Simon, the sound of an orchestra is like
0:29:25 > 0:29:28"one of your English gardens,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30"you have to take care of it every day.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33"Not only do you have to water and encourage it,
0:29:33 > 0:29:35"you have to weed it as well."
0:29:35 > 0:29:38I didn't know what he meant then either, but I do now!
0:29:38 > 0:29:41There was a day when Karajan required a rank-and-file violinist
0:29:41 > 0:29:45to stand up in front of the orchestra and play his part solo.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49Nikolaus Harnoncourt, playing cello in the orchestra, saw it happen.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53And this is a thing which every musician in the orchestra
0:29:53 > 0:29:58is afraid of, and the man stood up, played the thing,
0:29:58 > 0:30:04not very good but very, very courageous, and Karajan asked....
0:30:06 > 0:30:08HE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:30:10 > 0:30:13"Do you mean that really?"
0:30:16 > 0:30:21It was total, totally, er, silence in the whole orchestra.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25He liked that silence, and then he said, "Go home"
0:30:25 > 0:30:28to the musician. "Go home."
0:30:28 > 0:30:32And he had to stand up and go out, and then the director came
0:30:32 > 0:30:36and Karajan said, "I don't want to see this man anymore."
0:30:48 > 0:30:52I remember when I was filming the Beethoven Ninth Symphony
0:30:52 > 0:30:55with him, he spent a whole hour rehearsing just the
0:30:55 > 0:30:57opening bars for the double basses of the last movement.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05He's indefatigable, he just goes on and on.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Karajan found other ways to assert his dominance.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19Each day he kept his game plan to himself.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22His players had to be there at his beck and call
0:31:22 > 0:31:25without knowing which music he would rehearse.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28He liked his race horses champing at the bit.
0:31:28 > 0:31:29Danke.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Karajan would never, ever work to a schedule.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35For instance, for an opera,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37all the artists had to be in hotels
0:31:37 > 0:31:40and stay there for ten days or whatever,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and they would be told when to sing at his direction.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46But they would never know when they were going to
0:31:46 > 0:31:48do their aria or the chorus or whatever.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10He had what we call the old intendant virtues.
0:32:11 > 0:32:17Of reliability, being punctual,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21a yes is a yes and a no is a no.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24He decided who played what, last moment,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28this was like a kind of slavery situation, you had to be there.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32I remember even he called us in 1st of January morning
0:32:32 > 0:32:34for a recording session.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36He didn't want to have a holiday.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38And the orchestra would love to have had a holiday.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40So we had to play at ten o'clock in the morning.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42Things were different in the old days with
0:32:42 > 0:32:46Legge and the Philharmonia, it was all highly organised,
0:32:46 > 0:32:51but once he became important enough to be his own producer,
0:32:51 > 0:32:56director and everything else, he insisted on no schedule at all.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Even a superstar like the soprano Jessye Norman,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04rehearsing the Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07was surprised to find Karajan calling all the shots.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15- KARAJAN: We play and you don't sing. - OK.- Just listen.- OK.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26He wanted me to sit and listen to the orchestra to be certain
0:33:26 > 0:33:28that I would be comfortable with the rehearsal,
0:33:28 > 0:33:31but he didn't tell me that ahead of time, so of course I was there
0:33:31 > 0:33:33ahead of time, I'd warmed up and was ready to go
0:33:33 > 0:33:35and all the rest of it,
0:33:35 > 0:33:37then he said "No, I just want you to sit and listen."
0:33:37 > 0:33:39I said, "Well, maestro, I wish you'd told me that,
0:33:39 > 0:33:42"I didn't need to warm up to sit and listen."
0:33:42 > 0:33:46By the next rehearsal, she realised it had been worth it.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Karajan held the orchestra back so that she could sing softly.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59SHE SINGS LIEBESTOD
0:34:09 > 0:34:11Good.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17- Now we...?- Now you begin.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51I knew that he was listening.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54And that's a wonderful thing for a singer,
0:34:54 > 0:34:59to work with a conductor who we know is listening to the voice,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and that the clarinet or the whatever,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06the French horn or whoever, is coming in with the theme -
0:35:06 > 0:35:10that is also very important - that will arise.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17He's going to make sure that the voice is heard the whole time,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19and that is a wonderful thing for a singer,
0:35:19 > 0:35:21just to be able to relax and sing the song.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Karajan was at his greatest in opera.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29MEN SING OPERATIC PIECES
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Wagner and Richard Strauss, certainly,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34but the Italian repertoire too - Verdi and Puccini.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Ja, here, this is the line I like.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Supporting the singer all the time.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07That's Pavarotti when he was young.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Karajan said to Pavarotti,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28"You're singing fantastic, but is it so necessary that you are so big?"
0:36:28 > 0:36:34He was, at this time, he wasn't so big as he was...in the last years!
0:36:37 > 0:36:40They collaborated in recording Madam Butterfly,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43and Karajan planned to use the soundtrack for a film
0:36:43 > 0:36:48by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, with the singers miming their parts.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51But Karajan believed in feasting the eyes as well as the ears.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54He had no faith in the overweight Pavarotti on screen,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57and sent for Placido Domingo instead.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Only two months after the recording, whole chunks had to be redone.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06And I remember arriving at 10 o'clock in the morning,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09and I also remember I was coming from a vacation,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13and I haven't been singing lately, so it's tough to start singing.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17But I don't have any chance, he starts with a piece
0:37:17 > 0:37:22from the very beginning, and 50 minutes later
0:37:22 > 0:37:25we have finished the first act.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27HE SINGS IN ITALIAN
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The red light went on, and by the time I thought we have
0:37:57 > 0:37:59rehearsed, we have recorded already.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04So, paradoxically, a conductor who is often criticised for
0:38:04 > 0:38:07too great an obsession with clinical excellence was actually
0:38:07 > 0:38:09much happier to risk the imperfections
0:38:09 > 0:38:12of effectively a live performance.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15He hated doing re-takes, and preferred to capture the magic
0:38:15 > 0:38:20of the moment, even if his team - led by producer Michel Glotz -
0:38:20 > 0:38:23spotted mistakes, as in the recording
0:38:23 > 0:38:25of Richard Strauss' Domestic Symphony.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33At the top of one page there's about four top Cs in a row
0:38:33 > 0:38:38played by the trumpet, and this is while the rest of the
0:38:38 > 0:38:42orchestra are racing around, and one of the top Cs was badly fluffed.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44I said to Glotz, I said, "You'll have to tell him."
0:38:49 > 0:38:52He said, "YOU can tell him!"
0:38:52 > 0:38:54So Karajan strode in and Glotz said,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56"David here has something to tell you."
0:38:58 > 0:39:02And Karajan said, "David, what is it?"
0:39:02 > 0:39:07And I said, "There's a very bad trumpet fluff
0:39:07 > 0:39:10"at eight bars after K or wherever." And he said,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13"Play it to me, play it to me!"
0:39:13 > 0:39:17And they ran back the tape, and sure enough, there it was,
0:39:17 > 0:39:21and his remark was, "Only a fish would hear that!"
0:39:21 > 0:39:23And it's still there in the recording today.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31We complained sometimes, and I asked Herr von Karajan
0:39:31 > 0:39:35"Could we please repeat this place?
0:39:35 > 0:39:37"I think it was not correct
0:39:37 > 0:39:40"on this part and I would do it again.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43"No, no! Everything is right, I think I know - it's perfect."
0:39:43 > 0:39:45- And is it?- No!
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Karajan always liked to be seen to be in control,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58even when he wasn't, as in one performance of the Mozart Requiem
0:39:58 > 0:40:00when the basset horn came in late.
0:40:02 > 0:40:09After two or three bars the harmony became strange, and he recognised
0:40:09 > 0:40:12that it's impossible to correct it now.
0:40:12 > 0:40:20So what shall he do? I felt with him, what could one do?
0:40:20 > 0:40:26Then he made like that, a short gesture, stop playing,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30then he made a half turn to the audience,
0:40:30 > 0:40:35as if he would say, "I cannot play the Mozart Requiem
0:40:35 > 0:40:39"before a loud audience."
0:40:39 > 0:40:40He makes like that...
0:40:43 > 0:40:48And he shaked, shook his hands so the body shook.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52And then the very angry faces, and then he started again
0:40:52 > 0:40:53and it was beautiful.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57So he gave the guilt to the audience,
0:40:57 > 0:41:03and I think this is ingenious, you cannot rehearse that.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10He was always ready to fly by the seat of his pants -
0:41:10 > 0:41:11in the air as well.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17I remember flying with his wonderful wife
0:41:17 > 0:41:21and the two lovely daughters, and they didn't seem
0:41:21 > 0:41:24to enjoy flying with him so much,
0:41:24 > 0:41:28and I just didn't understand, I was all geared up,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32and actually I got the jump seat between the two pilots,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35it was Karajan on the left and then the co-pilot.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39And after the takeoff, he just loved to
0:41:39 > 0:41:42get to his proper height as fast as he could,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45so then, of course, everybody got sick,
0:41:45 > 0:41:50and as I was convinced, you know, I really liked it a lot,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53I was sitting there and I must have turned green and whatever,
0:41:53 > 0:41:55he had his oxygen mask and he just loved it,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57the rest of us half fainted.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00And I remember crawling out of the plane, everybody was sick
0:42:00 > 0:42:03and I pretended that I just felt fine, and he seemed to be
0:42:03 > 0:42:08very proud of me! But I have to confess,
0:42:08 > 0:42:10I have tricked him, it was horrible.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17Karajan often flew to work in his private jet
0:42:17 > 0:42:20from one of his homes - in Mauerbach, near Vienna,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24St Moritz, St Tropez, or Anif, just outside Salzburg.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28But in Berlin, despite being conductor for life,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30he never had a home.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35He stayed at the Kempinski Hotel, in suite 429, just as
0:42:35 > 0:42:38he'd always used the Savoy in London when he was with the Philharmonia.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43It reinforced the aloof image he was so keen to foster.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48So do you think he had any friends in the orchestra?
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Ah, friends... I don't know.
0:42:54 > 0:42:55Not really friends.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58No, how can you be friends with Herbert von Karajan?
0:42:58 > 0:43:01I mean, it's just impossible.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04He always was on this pedestal.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06He wanted distance.
0:43:07 > 0:43:13For instance, he hated it when people came, bodily, too close to him.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15He must have been very lonely.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18That's what I also heard from people surrounding him.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22Yes, you're quite right,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24I know I have difficulties.
0:43:24 > 0:43:30My two daughters they meet people with a facility and with a charm,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33sometimes I want to learn from them.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37But I have never the same feeling when I was making music,
0:43:37 > 0:43:40then I know I am open.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44He was alone, he had one person in his office in Salzburg that was
0:43:44 > 0:43:46Lore Salzburger and that was it.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49SHE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:43:49 > 0:43:53- 'He telephoned a lot, at any time.' - 'Middle of the night?'
0:43:53 > 0:43:55'Of course, when he was in Japan'
0:43:55 > 0:43:59you think he was thinking
0:43:59 > 0:44:04how late it is in Salzburg? No.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08But it didn't matter. I mean, I was happy to hear him.
0:44:08 > 0:44:15And not that I was in love with him, this is something else. But...
0:44:15 > 0:44:20really it was... I was there for him, that's it.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25Lore Salzburger organised everything apart from the music.
0:44:25 > 0:44:26She was his gate-keeper,
0:44:26 > 0:44:31and saw at first-hand the impact of the Karajan myth.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Even really high personalities,
0:44:34 > 0:44:39I am telling you they had wet hands
0:44:39 > 0:44:44and they sweat before they got to speak with him,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48the moment when they waited, you know, in my office.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53Incredible, those strong blue eyes.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57When they hit you, I'm telling you, you would sweat also.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02That was a barrier of himself which he made.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07He wanted to appear as this untouchable
0:45:07 > 0:45:10and this perfect and this statue
0:45:10 > 0:45:14and that's, from my side,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17what I do not understand.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21During his 34-year reign in Berlin,
0:45:21 > 0:45:25this "untouchable" image was a great success commercially.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27For some, it was a problem artistically.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31But others watched and listened in awe.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32He was no longer quite so ready,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35as he had been in America in the '50s,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38to head off home before the applause had died down.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Now it was the other way round.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43The orchestra left before he did.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46There used to be someone to give him a brush, to brush his hair back
0:45:46 > 0:45:49and there was someone with the overcoat
0:45:49 > 0:45:52and I think there was someone else with a handkerchief as well.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02He was ready to sign autographs as well.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04But when the applause began to subside,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07he quickly went back on stage.
0:46:07 > 0:46:08There was a set routine.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13He'd come on again...
0:46:13 > 0:46:15bow to the audience
0:46:15 > 0:46:19and blow a kiss to the orchestra, which meant they had to go.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27He would wait behind the scenes, listening, I think,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30and then would come on his own to have several bows.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38- It was always the way. - Did the orchestra mind?
0:46:38 > 0:46:41No-one seemed to mind. They just shrugged their shoulders.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Was he a vain man?
0:46:44 > 0:46:46Ja. Ja.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49Yes, he was.
0:46:49 > 0:46:55Sure, absolutely. That, of course, explained why he only wanted
0:46:55 > 0:46:58to be photographed from the left and why he had his own photographer.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01We were all very astonished
0:47:01 > 0:47:05what will be the hair of the next season?
0:47:05 > 0:47:08We have played one year with the hair up
0:47:08 > 0:47:12and just one little part into the face,
0:47:12 > 0:47:18next year the hair with oil directly on the head. What will be next year?
0:47:20 > 0:47:25Away from the spotlight, Karajan immersed himself in his scores.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28He learnt them by heart, and studied other recordings not just of
0:47:28 > 0:47:32the classics, but of pieces by Schoenberg and Webern.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35On the Continent he conducted British music by William Walton,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40And he tackled Delius and Vaughan Williams
0:47:40 > 0:47:43before he ever went to London.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47His downtime, when not in his car, his jet, his boat or the mountains,
0:47:47 > 0:47:51he reserved for his daughters Arabel and Isabel, and his third wife,
0:47:51 > 0:47:54the French model Eliette Mouret.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58She was his representative on Earth, if you like.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02Because the older he became, the more he withdrew from going to parties
0:48:02 > 0:48:06and receptions and hated all that sort of accoutrement of fame,
0:48:06 > 0:48:08and she went along in his place.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12His recording in the late '70s of Debussy's opera
0:48:12 > 0:48:17Pelleas And Melisande was not just ambitious, it was personal.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21I think he saw his wife, Eliette, as Melisande,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24and there's this wonderful moment with Pelleas and Melisande
0:48:24 > 0:48:26when he says, "Je t'aime."
0:48:26 > 0:48:28And she says, "Je t'aime aussi."
0:48:28 > 0:48:31And he...he started crying.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35OPERATIC SINGING IN FRENCH
0:48:48 > 0:48:51That was probably the most expensive opera recording ever made.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55My then boss rang me after we'd had 18 sessions.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58He said, "18 sessions, my God, how long is this going to go on for?"
0:48:58 > 0:49:01And suddenly I saw Karajan standing next to me.
0:49:01 > 0:49:07And he looked at me and mouthed to me the name of my boss and I said, yes.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09He said, "Give me the phone."
0:49:09 > 0:49:12And he said, "Hello, Peter, do you have a problem?"
0:49:12 > 0:49:15And my boss told me later, he was absolutely horrified to have Karajan
0:49:15 > 0:49:18on the other end of the phone.
0:49:18 > 0:49:19And so it went on to 27 sessions.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23OPERATIC SINGING IN FRENCH
0:49:32 > 0:49:35Shortly after their marriage in 1958,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Herbert had taken Eliette to Japan on an orchestral tour.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42The glamorous couple were a gift for the newsreels.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47And it was there, in Japan, that Karajan had a flash of revelation
0:49:47 > 0:49:50about the global potential of classical music.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52It was a life-changing moment.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57Every concert was televised. We have 18 concerts,
0:49:57 > 0:50:03and the estimate is that 25 million people watched these concerts.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07There is no getting around the fact - this is the future.
0:50:07 > 0:50:13And this is our times and today it's maybe 25 million. In three years,
0:50:13 > 0:50:19when we will do the thing from the concert, that will be 200 million.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27This moment of insight became a settled belief,
0:50:27 > 0:50:31revolutionary at the time, in the visual power of music.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37In the mid-60s he pioneered music films, like this one
0:50:37 > 0:50:41showing off his working methods in Schumann's Fourth Symphony.
0:50:49 > 0:50:56One can see that he conducts for the camera.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22'He is so highly professional. Here he explains very clear.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27'He's trying to achieve the start of a crescendo from practically nothing'
0:51:27 > 0:51:31and he says practically everywhere the crescendos were started too loud
0:51:31 > 0:51:36and therefore a good crescendo is not possible.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38It's absolute correct.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53And I remember about ten years earlier when he just murmured
0:51:53 > 0:51:57and it was almost not possible to understand what he was saying.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01But here he does it for the television audience.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Karajan believed that, as conductor, he was the channel for the music.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10He felt he could show this
0:52:10 > 0:52:14by committing more and more performances to film.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17"This is the future," he'd said, and the films were, for him,
0:52:17 > 0:52:19his most important legacy.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22They were shot by his rules.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27Maybe 90% of his video filming is Von Karajan
0:52:27 > 0:52:29and the rest is the orchestra.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Maybe not so extreme, I don't know.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37But I think for him it was very important that he looked beautiful.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40I am the music and the music flows through me
0:52:40 > 0:52:42and that's the way you should see it.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46One camera was exactly behind the first violins.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50The second camera into the second violins but closer on him.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54And another camera was 30 degrees to him
0:52:54 > 0:52:57and the other was over his left shoulder.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59So all four cameras were showing Karajan?
0:52:59 > 0:53:03Ja, just on Maestro, just on Maestro.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07We did nothing on players, it did it later on playback.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10- How much later? - Maybe two, three, half a year later.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12Sometimes a year later.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17The orchestra, too, were part of Karajan's visual aesthetic.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20He made sure his solo players were pleasing to the eye,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24with, as it were, not a hair out of place.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26He asked us to sit like, like soldiers, you know,
0:53:26 > 0:53:30the instruments perfectly in one angle, everybody sitting like this.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33And if you're sitting there for about 20 minutes -
0:53:33 > 0:53:36"OK, a little higher. Second flute a little lower"
0:53:36 > 0:53:39And, "No, please stay, no, a little more in front..."
0:53:39 > 0:53:42- And so on, and... - HE GROANS
0:53:42 > 0:53:46So now recording and then like this.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49It's very funny.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52And when you record and we moved a little bit like this
0:53:52 > 0:53:55because he saw it he said, from the off came the voice of Karajan,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57"Too loud!"
0:53:57 > 0:54:02So he had his picture of what an orchestra or what the music should be
0:54:02 > 0:54:05and his aesthetic idea was the same,
0:54:05 > 0:54:10it was to be very, very smooth with the very smooth brilliant surface,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13with a very, very strong compact expression.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17I don't think Karajan for a minute enjoyed having a first flute
0:54:17 > 0:54:23with a beard and long hair but that's how I was, you know?
0:54:23 > 0:54:26We came straight from the UK and Carnaby Street
0:54:26 > 0:54:28and we did what we did.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41And in the films he wanted one of the flute solos to be played by me
0:54:41 > 0:54:44and to be mimed by Andreas.
0:54:44 > 0:54:49Maybe he didn't like so much the beard for the film.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53But Jimmy Galway was playing in those films.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57Ja, he was doing the recording and I was doing the playback.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03- You had no beard? - No, I had no beard, no.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Yeah, that's Andreas, but it's me playing it.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21In the event, the playbacks were shot in tight close-up,
0:55:21 > 0:55:23so the offending beard would never have been seen,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26least of all by Karajan, who had his eyes shut.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39- Did you think that was strange? - Yes, of course!
0:55:39 > 0:55:44And we were complaining but you couldn't do any anything against.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Karajan didn't stop there.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51These apparent concerts were actually studio recordings,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53with extras drafted in to listen in the gallery.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56He took elaborate steps to ensure the rest of the audience
0:55:56 > 0:55:58didn't move a muscle.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01We say in German "pappkameraden."
0:56:01 > 0:56:05Pappkameraden means only pictures on a...
0:56:08 > 0:56:10But you couldn't see it.
0:56:10 > 0:56:15Maybe if you look to the video and you look only to the background
0:56:15 > 0:56:18then you will see that they don't move at all.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22He had an image of how the orchestra should look.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27You will not see one guy who is bald, but we had plenty
0:56:27 > 0:56:30in the orchestra who were bald. They all had to wear wigs,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33if you can imagine. I thought I was in the wrong orchestra.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35HE LAUGHS
0:56:38 > 0:56:41It's very hard to actually see any players' faces.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43Yeah, well it's a film about Karajan
0:56:43 > 0:56:45and he didn't want to see anybody in there.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49When there's a horn solo you don't see who's playing it,
0:56:49 > 0:56:50you see the horn.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Did that bother the orchestra?
0:56:58 > 0:57:02I think it must have. You know, can you imagine how insulting that is
0:57:02 > 0:57:06to be if you don't have any hair and you arrive to find that
0:57:06 > 0:57:09somebody's chosen a wig for you to wear?
0:57:11 > 0:57:14And then not to be shown as well...
0:57:14 > 0:57:16HE LAUGHS
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Yeah!
0:57:27 > 0:57:31Karajan as conductor, film editor and recording engineer
0:57:31 > 0:57:34took total control of the film-making in 1982,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38when he set up his own company - Telemondial.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42By then he was more relaxed about beards and baldness.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45He invested several million pounds in the venture, such was his
0:57:45 > 0:57:50commitment to project the sound and the sight of music around the world.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53He embarked on 43 new music films,
0:57:53 > 0:57:57managed and directed by his cameraman, Ernst Wild,
0:57:57 > 0:58:01who completed each of them after Karajan's death.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03What we did was really, really perfect.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08Nobody in the next time
0:58:08 > 0:58:11can do it in the same quality.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16The nicest critic about one of my music films came from a man
0:58:16 > 0:58:19who, just by chance, got me on the telephone.
0:58:19 > 0:58:25And he said "Mr von Karajan, yesterday I have never, ever heard
0:58:25 > 0:58:29"so well done the Fifth Symphony."
0:58:29 > 0:58:33I said, "Now, do we talk about the same thing. It was a television."
0:58:33 > 0:58:37He said "Yes, it was on television. I have never heard it so well."
0:58:37 > 0:58:42So it gave me a sort of justification that,
0:58:42 > 0:58:46by seeing, the hearing is enriched.
0:58:47 > 0:58:49In the Berlin Philharmonic,
0:58:49 > 0:58:52one of the double basses kept a close eye on his conductor...
0:58:55 > 0:59:00..though in 24 years he actually spoke to Karajan only once.
0:59:00 > 0:59:03These sketches I drew on the side
0:59:03 > 0:59:06of my double bass during rehearsals.
0:59:06 > 0:59:09This is Maestro Karajan like I knew him -
0:59:09 > 0:59:13he's demanding-looking and expressively conducting.
0:59:13 > 0:59:15It's something I never forget.
0:59:17 > 0:59:20This is six years later.
0:59:20 > 0:59:25That was the day he was looking constantly very sceptical.
0:59:25 > 0:59:27It's really like a father figure.
0:59:27 > 0:59:32His huge orchestral family were not above a few tantrums of their own.
0:59:32 > 0:59:35They had an ego, like, fit to burst.
0:59:35 > 0:59:39We did a Strauss piece. Anyhow, Karajan stopped in the middle
0:59:39 > 0:59:42and he said, "Fourth horn, would you play it like this?"
0:59:42 > 0:59:45And he said, "No, I played it like this for Richard Strauss
0:59:45 > 0:59:49"and I'm not changing it for you." So Karajan looked round and said,
0:59:49 > 0:59:52"Well, that's straight from the horse but I don't know where."
0:59:52 > 0:59:53HE LAUGHS
0:59:55 > 1:00:01When he told a joke that was a moment of highest political game.
1:00:01 > 1:00:04- He was testing your reactions? - Ja.
1:00:04 > 1:00:08And from this he took knowledge about everybody's position
1:00:08 > 1:00:11or everybody's personality.
1:00:11 > 1:00:16Very often he said, "But I told you already this story."
1:00:16 > 1:00:19And the whole orchestra would say, "No, no, no, no."
1:00:19 > 1:00:22Like schoolboys, ja?
1:00:22 > 1:00:26One of his favourite stories was about the West German Chancellor,
1:00:26 > 1:00:30Willy Brandt, who'd seen a woman fall over in the street,
1:00:30 > 1:00:31and helped her up.
1:00:47 > 1:00:49LAUGHTER
1:00:52 > 1:00:56The orchestra, like Karajan himself, had plenty to laugh about.
1:00:56 > 1:01:00Their generous salaries were met from public funds, and topped up
1:01:00 > 1:01:03with the substantial royalties they earned from his records.
1:01:03 > 1:01:07In the best times, he represented 10% of the world market
1:01:07 > 1:01:11in classical music and about 40% of Deutsche Grammophon recordings.
1:01:11 > 1:01:13I mean, this is amazing, this is huge.
1:01:13 > 1:01:18He was doubling the amount of money we earned.
1:01:18 > 1:01:22Without Karajan the orchestra was still the best paid orchestra
1:01:22 > 1:01:27in Europe. With Karajan it was double, easy.
1:01:29 > 1:01:31He looked after his players,
1:01:31 > 1:01:33and gave them a foothold in his home town, Salzburg,
1:01:33 > 1:01:37even though their rivals, the Vienna Philharmonic, always played
1:01:37 > 1:01:40at the summer festival, and thought it was their turf.
1:01:42 > 1:01:45What Karajan did was to set up an annual Easter Festival,
1:01:45 > 1:01:48bringing in the Berlin Philharmonic to give them their first taste
1:01:48 > 1:01:50of playing opera, in his productions.
1:01:53 > 1:01:56The Karajan Miracle continued with the Maestro as conductor,
1:01:56 > 1:01:59impresario and stage director.
1:02:00 > 1:02:05He was sick and tired of being told by stage directors what to do,
1:02:05 > 1:02:08so he thought, "I'll do it myself."
1:02:08 > 1:02:10And it was his own money.
1:02:10 > 1:02:14At one point, long before he died he said,
1:02:14 > 1:02:18"Until now I have put into the Easter Festival 27,000,000 marks,"
1:02:18 > 1:02:20at that time.
1:02:20 > 1:02:22I hear it as he said it.
1:02:22 > 1:02:25It was not because he wanted to be a one-man show,
1:02:25 > 1:02:29it was because he wanted to put his whole feeling for the piece
1:02:29 > 1:02:32into everything, not only into the music.
1:02:32 > 1:02:36SINGING IN GERMAN
1:02:49 > 1:02:53No part of the production escaped his eagle eye,
1:02:53 > 1:02:57least of all the lighting, such was his passion to visualise the music.
1:02:57 > 1:03:00HE SPEAKS GERMAN
1:03:00 > 1:03:04When we start we start right away with the lighting rehearsals,
1:03:04 > 1:03:07which go on through every rehearsal.
1:03:07 > 1:03:11I've never made a rehearsal without a full lighting.
1:03:11 > 1:03:13Or lack of it.
1:03:13 > 1:03:15Of which he was so often accused!
1:03:15 > 1:03:19That was a dark chapter, yes, so to say!
1:03:19 > 1:03:22He lit long, long, long, long times
1:03:22 > 1:03:26and in the end often it was very dark.
1:03:26 > 1:03:30There was the memorable story of Birgit Nilsson turning up at
1:03:30 > 1:03:33the dress rehearsal of Walkure at the Met in New York.
1:03:33 > 1:03:36Birgit Nilsson thought it was too dark,
1:03:36 > 1:03:41put on a miner's helmet with the lamp on it.
1:03:41 > 1:03:43Which Karajan did not think was funny, but everyone else did.
1:03:46 > 1:03:50HE SPEAKS FRENCH
1:03:50 > 1:03:54In the mid '60s, he invented a playback system of stage rehearsals,
1:03:54 > 1:03:57which meant that he could dispense with rehearsal pianists
1:03:57 > 1:03:59who'd given him trouble in the past.
1:04:01 > 1:04:05Instead, he played the full orchestral recording in the theatre
1:04:05 > 1:04:07through speakers,
1:04:07 > 1:04:10leaving the singers free to concentrate on their movements,
1:04:10 > 1:04:13and sing along to the music as much or as little as they wanted.
1:04:13 > 1:04:18Every singer has a small tape recorder and they have time about
1:04:18 > 1:04:21three months or four months to have it under their pillow,
1:04:21 > 1:04:27so they really arrive so full with this music and so prepared
1:04:27 > 1:04:31that you can concentrate only on the stage.
1:04:31 > 1:04:33And it's a complete new way.
1:04:38 > 1:04:43HE SINGS IN GERMAN
1:04:43 > 1:04:45Only he could have got away with it.
1:04:45 > 1:04:48What he needed was a tape of the opera with the same singers
1:04:48 > 1:04:51as he'd be using on his darkened stage.
1:04:52 > 1:04:56So what did he do? He got muggins, the good old recording companies,
1:04:56 > 1:04:59to actually record the opera beforehand,
1:04:59 > 1:05:02so therefore we paid for all the orchestral rehearsals.
1:05:02 > 1:05:04He then, very cleverly,
1:05:04 > 1:05:08used the finished tape for the rehearsals in Salzburg,
1:05:08 > 1:05:11which meant the singers saved their voices and it meant that
1:05:11 > 1:05:15the recording was out in time for the performances, so he could sell it.
1:05:15 > 1:05:18There was a wonderful incident, when Don Giovanni's servant
1:05:18 > 1:05:20invites the peasants to go in to the castle...
1:05:20 > 1:05:24HE SINGS IN GERMAN
1:05:24 > 1:05:25..and so on.
1:05:25 > 1:05:28And that happened and he interrupted and said, "No, no, no.
1:05:28 > 1:05:31"Gentlemen, you're rushing, stay in measure."
1:05:33 > 1:05:36Everybody looked at each other. "OK, once more."
1:05:36 > 1:05:39HE SINGS IN GERMAN
1:05:39 > 1:05:40"No, no, no."
1:05:40 > 1:05:42He was really angered, he said, "No, no, no!
1:05:42 > 1:05:46"I told you! You rush, you rush! Please stay in measure!"
1:05:48 > 1:05:51So in the end I took my heart in my hand and said,
1:05:51 > 1:05:54"Herr von Karajan, that's your tape."
1:05:56 > 1:05:58"So..." he said,
1:05:58 > 1:06:00"OK, let's do it once more."
1:06:00 > 1:06:03HE SINGS IN GERMAN
1:06:03 > 1:06:07"Allora! Why not immediately like this?" He said.
1:06:07 > 1:06:11Mozart's Don Giovanni was one of Karajan's final opera
1:06:11 > 1:06:13ventures in Salzburg.
1:06:13 > 1:06:16The ageing conductor was then only supervising rehearsals
1:06:16 > 1:06:20from the stalls. He'd brought in Michael Hampe as stage director,
1:06:20 > 1:06:24who was impressed by Karajan's commitment to his team.
1:06:24 > 1:06:26Mauro Pagano the stage designer,
1:06:26 > 1:06:31he fell ill and he was lying dying
1:06:31 > 1:06:34in the big Roman Gemelli Hospital.
1:06:36 > 1:06:40And it went on and on and on and we couldn't work it out.
1:06:40 > 1:06:46And the workshops said, "We can't wait any longer, Herr Von Karajan.
1:06:46 > 1:06:49"If you want to have a decoration on stage we have to start
1:06:49 > 1:06:52"and we have to take another designer."
1:06:52 > 1:06:55And Karajan said stubbornly,
1:06:55 > 1:06:59"No, we wait for Mr Pagano."
1:07:00 > 1:07:06And then in fact a little miracle happened. One of the two doctors
1:07:06 > 1:07:11who discovered the HIV virus brought Pagano back to life.
1:07:11 > 1:07:13But Karajan couldn't know that.
1:07:13 > 1:07:18He just said, "No, I want him and we will wait."
1:07:21 > 1:07:23And that I'll never forget.
1:07:27 > 1:07:29How long did he wait?
1:07:29 > 1:07:30Two months.
1:07:32 > 1:07:35With the production approaching, it's a long time.
1:07:35 > 1:07:37Two, three months.
1:07:37 > 1:07:40And it was his money at risk.
1:07:42 > 1:07:45Loyalty, for Karajan, wasn't a one-way street.
1:07:45 > 1:07:48He expected it in return. That was why his relationship
1:07:48 > 1:07:51with the Berlin Philharmonic had gone sour.
1:08:00 > 1:08:03After surgery on his back in the mid-1970s
1:08:03 > 1:08:06he had a long stay in hospital.
1:08:06 > 1:08:10Recordings were cancelled, and the orchestra fretted about their loss
1:08:10 > 1:08:12of income, and their longer term future.
1:08:14 > 1:08:18They pleaded with him to allow them other conductors in his stead.
1:08:18 > 1:08:20He was very angry and he said the famous sentence
1:08:20 > 1:08:22"They just wait for my death."
1:08:22 > 1:08:27And from this moment on, the whole situation turned round.
1:08:30 > 1:08:34The atmosphere, it was slightly Ancient Rome, you know,
1:08:34 > 1:08:38and knives out and, and cabals in corners, you know,
1:08:38 > 1:08:40plotting and things like that.
1:08:44 > 1:08:47The wounded lion then insisted on choosing the new
1:08:47 > 1:08:51principal clarinettist, even though he knew perfectly well it was
1:08:51 > 1:08:52a choice for the orchestra, not him.
1:08:58 > 1:09:02It was simply a fight of power from one side to the other
1:09:02 > 1:09:07and it was induced by Karajan. He wanted to see how far he can go.
1:09:10 > 1:09:15He didn't realise, as so many great men often don't,
1:09:15 > 1:09:17that at some point they become vulnerable.
1:09:20 > 1:09:22Yeah, this one makes me sad.
1:09:22 > 1:09:28We can see his hands are really ill and they're painful,
1:09:28 > 1:09:32to stand there with the help of a support, and how difficult
1:09:32 > 1:09:34is to move during conducting
1:09:34 > 1:09:39and his body really looks tired and his face...
1:09:39 > 1:09:41Once I was furious with the orchestra.
1:09:41 > 1:09:46I said, "Now, for the 36,000th time I tell you, you hold a note when it
1:09:46 > 1:09:52"goes over the bar, and not stop and make a thing. So what can we do?"
1:09:52 > 1:09:54I said to them,
1:09:54 > 1:09:59"Sometimes I would like to take a big cord around you...
1:10:02 > 1:10:06"..20 gallons of fuel and a match."
1:10:08 > 1:10:10And everything was dead...
1:10:10 > 1:10:14And in this silence, someone said,
1:10:14 > 1:10:18"But afterwards, you wouldn't have us anymore!"
1:10:18 > 1:10:22"Well, I've forgotten it, so let's leave it as this!"
1:10:22 > 1:10:28That joke was no joke. It's like a father hitting the children.
1:10:28 > 1:10:31Karajan felt his "children" had been disloyal,
1:10:31 > 1:10:35and showed his anger by depriving them of a projected recording
1:10:35 > 1:10:38of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Anne-Sophie Mutter.
1:10:38 > 1:10:40At three weeks' notice Karajan said,
1:10:40 > 1:10:43"We're not doing it in Berlin, we're doing it in Vienna."
1:10:43 > 1:10:46And so, of course, the Berlin,
1:10:46 > 1:10:48the orchestra must have been very sore at the time
1:10:48 > 1:10:53because that was probably the best recording, best-selling recording,
1:10:53 > 1:10:58of The Four Seasons ever made, and still sells to this day.
1:10:58 > 1:11:01Was the relationship ever repaired with Karajan?
1:11:04 > 1:11:05Not really.
1:11:07 > 1:11:11It was undercover all the time.
1:11:11 > 1:11:15I remember that at his 80th birthday we celebrated on stage,
1:11:15 > 1:11:19and our members of the Orchestra, who were spokesmen of the Orchestra,
1:11:19 > 1:11:22did a miserable job, a really miserable job.
1:11:22 > 1:11:25They stopped the talk, they didn't say anything personal,
1:11:25 > 1:11:28and it was Mr Resel of Vienna Philharmonic
1:11:28 > 1:11:32who spoke a wonderful little speech which was just personal and wonderful
1:11:32 > 1:11:34and Karajan was very upset that we couldn't celebrate.
1:11:48 > 1:11:51For years, the Vienna Philharmonic had played second fiddle.
1:11:51 > 1:11:55Now, in his final music films, he moved them into the limelight.
1:11:58 > 1:12:01He demonstrated that he loved us.
1:12:02 > 1:12:04That he really loved us.
1:12:04 > 1:12:07Did you love him, as an orchestra?
1:12:07 > 1:12:10It was, um...
1:12:10 > 1:12:15We had really great respect.
1:12:15 > 1:12:20He was not maybe a man you would...love.
1:12:22 > 1:12:27But at the end, seeing him suffering,
1:12:27 > 1:12:32focused on the music and nothing else,
1:12:32 > 1:12:36then, yeah, it was then also a kind of love.
1:12:39 > 1:12:43The tenderness he felt in Vienna found no echo in Berlin,
1:12:43 > 1:12:45where Karajan's life contract, designed to give him
1:12:45 > 1:12:49artistic freedom, now felt like a life sentence.
1:12:49 > 1:12:52This affection from the Viennese was in scant supply
1:12:52 > 1:12:57at his final rehearsal with the Berliners in 1989.
1:12:57 > 1:12:59He opened the fingers
1:12:59 > 1:13:03and the baton was dropping down.
1:13:03 > 1:13:09And he hold his hand this way without any movement -
1:13:09 > 1:13:15he didn't tell nothing. And so we went to be shocked about,
1:13:15 > 1:13:18all the orchestra sitting there, expecting maybe something,
1:13:18 > 1:13:24but after an endless time of waiting, maybe 40 seconds,
1:13:24 > 1:13:3150 seconds in total silence, there was still no reaction and so we all
1:13:31 > 1:13:34rose up slowly and went to go home.
1:13:34 > 1:13:36We were sure maybe there is something happen,
1:13:36 > 1:13:41maybe a stroke or a brain stroke or something but it wasn't.
1:13:41 > 1:13:45He just decided this moment to give up.
1:13:45 > 1:13:49Shortly afterwards, Karajan the untouchable wrote to the orchestra.
1:13:49 > 1:13:52"Ich kann nicht mehr." I can't go on.
1:13:52 > 1:13:55And resigned from his lifetime contract.
1:13:57 > 1:13:59But he never actually retired.
1:13:59 > 1:14:02It was the Vienna Philharmonic, not the Berliners,
1:14:02 > 1:14:04who would help him through to the finish.
1:14:04 > 1:14:08In February 1989, he'd taken them on tour to New York.
1:14:08 > 1:14:10He was almost 81 and very frail.
1:14:10 > 1:14:13But it was his career in Hitler's Germany
1:14:13 > 1:14:16half a lifetime before that worried him.
1:14:16 > 1:14:20There was a rumour where there would be some demonstrations outside
1:14:20 > 1:14:22and in the concert hall.
1:14:22 > 1:14:29And in the last rehearsal Karajan said, "I just wanted to tell you,
1:14:29 > 1:14:34"if there happens something in the hall, we keep playing."
1:14:34 > 1:14:37The demonstration, when it came,
1:14:37 > 1:14:39was not the one Karajan had feared.
1:14:39 > 1:14:42Those who were there have never forgotten it.
1:14:42 > 1:14:47It was such an enormous tension in the air.
1:14:47 > 1:14:52He was actually not able to come on stage on his own.
1:14:52 > 1:14:55Only with the Vienna Philharmonic I have seen the speaker
1:14:55 > 1:14:59of the orchestra put down his cello on a chair, he went off stage
1:14:59 > 1:15:02and brought Von Karajan on his arm.
1:15:02 > 1:15:04It was a very touching scene.
1:15:04 > 1:15:07I have never seen this in Berlin, it didn't work here.
1:15:07 > 1:15:09He had to come on his own.
1:15:09 > 1:15:12But then when he entered the stage...
1:15:13 > 1:15:18..all the audience stood up.
1:15:18 > 1:15:22It was at the beginning of the concert, standing ovations.
1:15:42 > 1:15:47It was kind of a devotion.
1:15:47 > 1:15:49A religious feeling.
1:15:50 > 1:15:52Adoration.
1:15:52 > 1:15:57And at the same time kind of nostalgic, like...
1:15:57 > 1:16:04like the end of er of an era, is finish, you know.
1:16:04 > 1:16:11It was, and everybody... It was a strange, strange, strange feeling
1:16:11 > 1:16:12in that day.
1:16:12 > 1:16:17And the way the orchestra was playing for him,
1:16:17 > 1:16:20that Bruckner Symphony, that was really...
1:16:20 > 1:16:25I confess maybe I was also in such an incredible mood myself,
1:16:25 > 1:16:30but I think I witnessed that the public altogether felt the same way.
1:16:44 > 1:16:47TUMULTUOUS APPLAUSE
1:16:59 > 1:17:02They were out of their minds.
1:17:02 > 1:17:03- AUDIENCE MEMBER:- Bravo!
1:17:06 > 1:17:09He came off stage very exhausted, very tired,
1:17:09 > 1:17:12and he was sitting in a chair like this.
1:17:12 > 1:17:14You couldn't say he sat on the chair -
1:17:14 > 1:17:17he was not sitting there.
1:17:17 > 1:17:21He...broke down and he was there, fallen on the side there,
1:17:21 > 1:17:23and he...he...
1:17:24 > 1:17:27..just, he-he couldn't speak.
1:17:28 > 1:17:33But he stammered, in some ways, said to everybody,
1:17:33 > 1:17:35said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you,
1:17:35 > 1:17:38"it was a fantastic concert, thank you, thank you",
1:17:38 > 1:17:40to many colleagues and grabbed their hands,
1:17:40 > 1:17:41what he never did.
1:17:41 > 1:17:45The orchestra all came, greeting him,
1:17:45 > 1:17:48kissing his hand, leaving.
1:17:50 > 1:17:52Amazing.
1:17:55 > 1:17:57- And you never saw that with Berlin? - No.
1:17:59 > 1:18:07That was, eh...that was a picture burning in the soul, just nowadays.
1:18:09 > 1:18:12It still takes me.
1:18:13 > 1:18:14Yeah.
1:18:23 > 1:18:26I had dinner with him three days before he died.
1:18:26 > 1:18:28And he was in a very bad way.
1:18:28 > 1:18:30He took me to the door, which he normally never did,
1:18:30 > 1:18:31um, and said goodbye.
1:18:32 > 1:18:35Even at that point, he was still at work -
1:18:35 > 1:18:39rehearsing a Verdi opera for the 1989 Salzburg Festival
1:18:39 > 1:18:40a few weeks later.
1:18:40 > 1:18:45We were working fine and I tell you, the only signs he gave it to me
1:18:45 > 1:18:51when he told me, you know, he said, "This makes me so tired,
1:18:51 > 1:18:54"this exercise that I'm doing every day."
1:18:58 > 1:19:03MUSIC: Mild Und Leise Wie Er Lachelt by Richard Wagner
1:19:17 > 1:19:18On Sunday...
1:19:19 > 1:19:22..was the ending of Maestro's life.
1:19:24 > 1:19:28Normally, he called at 9 o'clock, normally.
1:19:28 > 1:19:32On a Sunday, normally, at 10 o'clock,
1:19:32 > 1:19:34it was very kind of him.
1:19:34 > 1:19:40And on that day, he called at 7.30 in the morning
1:19:40 > 1:19:44and I thought, "Oh, God, something is happening,
1:19:44 > 1:19:45"something happened."
1:19:46 > 1:19:50And I'll never forget that.
1:19:52 > 1:19:58He said he wanted to thank for everything I have done for him
1:19:58 > 1:20:00and this was terrible.
1:20:03 > 1:20:05Normally, he said what I have to organise,
1:20:05 > 1:20:08or whom I have to call, or what my work was.
1:20:10 > 1:20:13And there, nothing - no order came.
1:20:18 > 1:20:21But Karajan still had business to conclude.
1:20:21 > 1:20:22In the diary that July morning
1:20:22 > 1:20:25was a meeting with his friend, Norio Ohga from Sony,
1:20:25 > 1:20:30whom he'd persuaded to invest millions in Telemondial.
1:20:30 > 1:20:34They met in Karajan's bedroom, overlooking the Untersberg mountain.
1:20:35 > 1:20:38That's where he met his people visiting him,
1:20:38 > 1:20:39he was sitting in his bed
1:20:39 > 1:20:42and they were sitting there discussing
1:20:42 > 1:20:48and during that negotiations, he just got a heart attack.
1:20:48 > 1:20:51He wanted a glass of water, Ohga gave it to him,
1:20:51 > 1:20:52and in his arms, if you want,
1:20:52 > 1:20:55he just leaned back and, er...that was it.
1:20:59 > 1:21:00At 1 o'clock, he died,
1:21:00 > 1:21:06still with these Japanese people, that came for a signature.
1:21:08 > 1:21:12That was a really incredible day.
1:21:17 > 1:21:19So had he actually signed the deal?
1:21:19 > 1:21:21The deal was signed, yes.
1:21:37 > 1:21:40Shortly afterwards, Placido Domingo arrived
1:21:40 > 1:21:41to find the place in turmoil
1:21:41 > 1:21:44when the housekeeper answered the bell.
1:21:44 > 1:21:46She opened the door
1:21:46 > 1:21:52and I can see some Japanese people in the garden,
1:21:52 > 1:21:54I see some commotion.
1:21:54 > 1:21:58And I ask her, I said,
1:21:58 > 1:22:03"I heard that Maestro's not feeling...too well."
1:22:03 > 1:22:09And she told me, "No, Maestro... Maestro passed away."
1:22:09 > 1:22:13And I can see movement in the back,
1:22:13 > 1:22:19because at the main time, Mr Ohga, the chairman from Sony,
1:22:19 > 1:22:25had a heart attack of depression of the death of Maestro.
1:22:33 > 1:22:36I immediately, in shock,
1:22:36 > 1:22:40I went with my son to the Festspielhaus
1:22:40 > 1:22:45and everybody knew about...about the news.
1:22:53 > 1:22:58I just, at the moment, I just cannot...cannot imagine
1:22:58 > 1:23:06you know, this...powerful, unbelievable personality, you know.
1:23:07 > 1:23:11It is life, this is what happens.
1:23:13 > 1:23:18That we, a few days back, we had been working together
1:23:18 > 1:23:24and just in three, four, five days, we lost him.
1:23:35 > 1:23:40Toscanini said, "In life, democracy,
1:23:40 > 1:23:44"but in the arts, aristocracy."
1:23:44 > 1:23:51And I think that also Karajan could have said this.
1:23:51 > 1:23:55It would be interesting if the orchestra nowadays would follow him
1:23:55 > 1:23:58as we did 40 years ago.
1:23:58 > 1:24:02Today, it's very democratic, very friendly
1:24:02 > 1:24:06and, er...I don't know if they could come along
1:24:06 > 1:24:08with this conducting style.
1:24:09 > 1:24:11Is the democratic way a better way?
1:24:14 > 1:24:19It's an easier way...I would say.
1:24:19 > 1:24:23It's easier for the colleagues to be together
1:24:23 > 1:24:27but I don't know if you reach, at least,
1:24:27 > 1:24:29the highest points of the musical mountain.
1:24:36 > 1:24:42That's when all the storm is over and reminds me of the time
1:24:42 > 1:24:45after we had the fight with Maestro von Karajan
1:24:45 > 1:24:50and he himself liked one spot which is coming right now
1:24:50 > 1:24:57on which Strauss wrote in the score, in German, "mit sanfter ekstase" -
1:24:57 > 1:24:59"with tender ecstasy."
1:25:27 > 1:25:30And Karajan loved this expression for the music
1:25:30 > 1:25:34and he expressed it...to sing very deeply
1:25:34 > 1:25:36and have a lot of time for these upbeats
1:25:36 > 1:25:38and for the flowing melody,
1:25:38 > 1:25:42to fill it with a...with a glow of sunshine,
1:25:42 > 1:25:46late evening sunshine, the last years of his life.
1:26:01 > 1:26:03I just remember when we played this piece -
1:26:03 > 1:26:06and I think I played it all the performances,
1:26:06 > 1:26:10maybe 50 or more with Karajan in his last years -
1:26:10 > 1:26:14every time, at the end, I was really exhausted by this intensity
1:26:14 > 1:26:17which you just could hear coming in these last parts.
1:26:27 > 1:26:29I like it when the orchestra plays together.
1:26:29 > 1:26:32I like it when it's pianissimo when it should be.
1:26:32 > 1:26:34I like it when it's raucous when it should be
1:26:34 > 1:26:38and I like it when it's really note-perfect.
1:26:38 > 1:26:41What's the matter with that? What else do you need?
1:26:45 > 1:26:49He brought classical music out of the niche of, you know,
1:26:49 > 1:26:53this ivory tower where it has never, erm, been well-off
1:26:53 > 1:26:55and where it doesn't belong.
1:26:56 > 1:26:58There is not one day in-between...
1:27:00 > 1:27:01Like yesterday,
1:27:01 > 1:27:09I-I see exactly the same good-looking, charismatic...
1:27:11 > 1:27:13..incredible person.
1:27:15 > 1:27:18Not many in this world like him.
1:27:20 > 1:27:24I had only once the opportunity to ask him, "Maestro Karajan,
1:27:24 > 1:27:30"can you tell me who was the most important figure in your young ages?
1:27:32 > 1:27:35"Have you a great idol you were following?"
1:27:36 > 1:27:40Immediately, with a clear voice, "Arturo Toscanini".
1:27:40 > 1:27:43He spoke clear.
1:27:43 > 1:27:46That was the one unexpected thing.
1:27:46 > 1:27:49And the other was that he told me this name.
1:27:50 > 1:27:56And so I took the chance asking him quickly, "Why Arturo Toscanini?"
1:27:56 > 1:28:00And he told me, with the serious and high-up voice,
1:28:00 > 1:28:03"Arturo Toscanini believed in what he did."