Best
This is a performance to die for. The pace of the music is what sets this appart. Every movement is set at just the right tempo so you can completely enjoy this cast of stars.

All the stars of the 20th century
This recording brings all the finest voices of the twentieth century together with one of the finest conductors and orchestras.The sound quality is quite good, however, the overall intonation is quite sharp--a problem we used to have to deal with with LPS. That might also have made the tempi a bit faster than they were at the original performances. Aside from the pitch, the recording serves to remind us of the highest caliber of music making, just one step away from the German romanticist performers of the 19th century.

Fritz Wunderlich's Last Recording: Karajan's Greatest "Creation"
This stunning recording from Deutsche Grammophone is Karajan's greatest recording of Haydn's Creation (of the two he recorded). In his prime as a conductor, he is musically potent and does not succumb to his usual overly grandiose manner. The singers are doing a heck of a job in their solos and ensembles. Of particular interest is the renowned 40's and 50's German tenor Fritz Wunderlich as the angel Gabriel and as Adam. He is singing in his last studio recording before his tragic death of cancer. Soprano Gundula Janowitz sing with ravishing voice, lyrical and lush, the voice of an angel. Baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau is in his element. He totally fits the baritone part of the archangel Uriel- a big, dramatic but noble and beatiful, God-like voice. Dieskau is in his glorious prime and pulls out all the stops. Mezzo soprano star Christa Ludwig sings the role of Raphael, normally a part given to another tenor. But her dark lower register is enough to make her worthy of the role. Walter Barry is also featured in this recording and his baritone voice is also ingenious. The orchestra is colorful, bringing out all the mystery and religiousity without being overt. The opening Prelude, "Chaos" evokes the Big-Bang and the subsequent formation of suns, stars and planets!! The choruses are magnificent and well-trained. Each of these singes are German, or Austrian, and therefore know how to sing with native pride. For other superb recordings of Haydn's Creation, check out the recording with conductor Antal Dorati and starring the radiant soprano Lucia Popp and incredible baritone Kurt Moll.

Karajan live or Karajan studio?
Since no one has compared this studio recording from 1966 (patchwork being added up to 1969) with Karajan's live performance from Salzburg the year before, I thought I'd fill in the gap. This review is posted twice, both here and under the live recording, also on DG.

Sound: Both sets re in excellent sound, although only the studio one is in stereo. The Austrian Radio transcript from Salzburg in 1965 is clear, warm, and detailed mono. The orchestra is set further back than in the studio version, but the soloists often sound closer. In both cases the chorus was the large Vienna Singverein , and their enunciation is muddied compared to smaller choirs. No preference in this regard between live and studio. I did find the original pressing of the studio version a bit too bright and less open than the live broadcast, but that may have been corrected in the new "Originals" reissue.

Soloists: Gundula Janowitz is the ethereal soprano on both recordings and sings almost identically, although in the live recording she opens out to reach the audience, while in the studio she adds a bit more intimacy and nuance. (This is also true of the orchestra.) Fritz Wunderlich performs all the tenor arias and major ensembles in both versions( he died suddenly from a fall in Sept. 1966 before finishing all the recitatives, which are filled in for the studio recording by Werner Krenn). Wunderlich uses his plangent voice with more nuance in the studio, singing out more in the live performance, and I prefer that. The bass is Walter Berry in the studio recording, preferable to Kim Borg in the live one, although not by a huge margin. However, in the baritone role of Adam, the live Hermann Prey is ocnsierably more lyircal and natural than Fishcer-Dieskau in the studio. Christa Ludwig on the studio version sings only one solo in the last chorus. The fact that the live soloists rank ahead of the studio may be a tipping point for some--it was for me.

Conducting: Karajan specialized in this work, as witness his three recordings (I don't own his digital reading from 1982, generlaly acknowledged as inferior), and he could be uncannily similar from year to year (for example, in both these performances the first big Adam and Eve duet takes 10 min., 1 sec., despite the year separating the two). Karajan took a classical approach to Haydn, preferring proportion and balance over excitement, control over spontaneity. In the style he chose, nobody since has excelled these recordings, but there is another way, as shown by Bernstein's two versions, particularly the unmatched drama of the first one from New York on Sony.

In the end, both Karajan readings are so close to each other, even down to sound and soloists, that there isn't much to choose. One might expect the live performance to be more exciting, but in fact that's a split decision as well--quite often Karajan finds more drama and momentum in the studio recording. I pick the live performance mostly to hear Wunderlich in better form and to have Prey in place of Fishcer-Dieskau.

Wunderlich stars in this performance.
I offer a slightly dissenting voice: I do not think that this performance is a 5-star winner. Yes, Wunderlich sings the arias exquisitely well. I find that Fisher-Dieskau has already become mannered in his singing. Yes, this is far better than Von Karajan's later digital version. No, this is not THE recording to have. At last not in my book (as a music historian and teacher). There are more than thirty complete recordings of "The Creation." Much good can be said of many, perhaps most of them. I recommend the following as the best of the lot:

John Eliot Gardiner's performance of the German version on "period" instruments -- superb in every regard, even if his soloists are lesser known.

Eugen Jochum's 1966 stereo recording with the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra and Chorus -- beautifully nuanced, deeply spiritual, and quite a bargain as a Philips Duo. Also the German version.

Rafael Kubelik's recording, also with the Bavarian musicians, on Orfeo. Warmth and clarity, strength and tenderness. Again the German version.

The original English version either by Christopher Hogwood or Robert Shaw, two very different yet equally effective performances.

Whichever version you choose, Haydn will lead you into the depths of Creation at every level of the word's meaning.