Karajan’s lifelong obsession with Otello culminated in this legendary 1973 account. Having refined his vision over years of intense Salzburg Festival productions, Karajan brought the Berlin Philharmonic into the studio to capture the work’s darkest psychological depths. At its heart lies the alchemy between Jon Vickers - whose terrifying, tortured portrayal of the Moor remains a benchmark - and Mirella Freni, Karajan’s favorite soprano, who offers a luminous, fragile Desdemona. It is not merely an opera recording; it is a visceral, cinematic descent into jealousy, captured with a sonic intensity that has never been surpassed.
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