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Article: God. (tribute to conductor Herbert von Karajan) (Book and Arts)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 22, 1989
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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God
A MUSICIAN entering heaven asked what God was like. "Oh, he is all right", he was told, "only he thinks he is Herbert von Karajan." As despotic as a third-world dictator, von Karajan was equally ruthless in turning his wealth of talent into hard cash; he died a multimillionaire. An arch-manipulator of the culture industry, he did more than any conductor both to popularise classical music and to immortalise it in his own image. The long-playing record, video and compact disc were all seized on by von Karajan and turned to his advantage, as well as the advantage of music. In any record store, the racks are of von Karajan rather than Beethoven. Most people ...