The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 101 CDs across 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, and which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalogue.
For many, Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) – hailed early in his career as ‘Das Wunder Karajan’ (The Karajan Miracle) and known in the early 1960s as ‘the music director of Europe’ – remains the ultimate embodiment of the maestro.

This 1986 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra and Julian Lloyd Webber as soloist is the best recording of the Sullivan I have ever come across. The three movements, which are played without a break, climb from a brief formal opening, to soar like an operatic aria in the second movement before culminating in a very powerful and melodic finale. The Herbert Cello Concerto n 2 is one of the composer’s most notable instrumental works (although he was a cellist himself, Herbert remains well known primarily for his operettas and musicals). Lloyd Webber’s interpretation of the concerto is flawless.

Victor Herbert, Irish by birth, moved to Germany when he was eight and came to America when both he and his wife landed gigs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. Operetta was plainly his strength, and his works in that medium remain his best known. But he soaked up enough of the German tradition (in 1883 he played in a tribute concert to Liszt, with Brahms of all people conducting) to want to write serious music, and he notched several major disasters in that field. That in turn has led to neglect of smaller works like the ones on this album, which contains several gems.