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Herbert Von Karajan could be a jerk in real life, and he was often very difficult to work with. That said, he was an outstanding conductor. Like many conductors of his era (Toscanini and Reiner, to name two), there were two ways of playing a work: his way and the wrong way. The end-results are hundreds of recordings that have his stamp of individuality.

Norman,
I am afraid you are dead wrong about Karajan and his damaging work to music. Your comment was wrong the same as we say Walt Disney damaged the art of animation for the same argue that you presented in your interview. ......cretics same as you sir are the ones who were arguing that Tchaikovsky piano concerto is not playable or his music is not melodic!. You presented a VERY lame argue.
Mehran

You can't separate the art from the artist. Music is the creation of one person's inner struggles, thoughts, feelings, etc. If Karajan was a Nazi, any struggle in his life was manifest in his interpretations.

Norman Lebrecht is so full of himself, I could barf. Karajan makes all the loser conductors of our time look just as bad as they really are. BUT more importantly, what about your show which stoops to jump on the bandwagon of bashing jew haters with hopes of gaining more listeners! Let's get on to Wagner as well, but it won't help your show which is pathetic and pale in comparison to the days when you actually had real artists on your show who actually played music.

Karajan's Mahler is very underrated. His 1982 Mahler 9th Symphony is a masterpiece. It's recorded live so there's none of the calculation you find in a lot of his later recordings.

I always treasured my parent's recording of Karajan's Beethoven 9 - the one he did in the early 60s with the Berlin Philharmonic. He really brings to presence the composer's inner struggles and elicits incredible playing from the musicians. Worth a listen!

Norman Lebrecht, eh? Hmmmmmm ... I warn you he was successfully sued for libel last year when he published a book about music. His publishers, Penguin, had to issue a grovelling apolgy, pay enormous damages and costs and pulp the book. Type "Norman Lebrecht+ libel" into Google and you find out what this man is really like. The New York Times said he was 'factually challenged'. He's cloth-eared and his opinions are worthless. If you want and accurate, balanced and fair assessment of von Karajan read 'Herbert von Karajan - a Life in Music' by Richard Osborne. It's 850 pages long and a masterpiece. The book received fabulous reviews. Also look at 'Herbert von Karajan - the Maestro as Superstar' by Paul E. Robinson. Neither author glosses over von Krajan's faults, but they can be relied on to tell the truth. You're taking a risk putting Lebrecht live on air if he's up to his usual tricks.