James Kearney wrote some excellent notes on the subject of Herbert von
Karajan and his legacy for home video:

>BEETHOVEN 9
>
>...  The full orchestra never appears - Karajan avoids the mismatch of
>a big orchestral sound and a small image of the full band.  The backlit
>drumsticks are back again.  Sections of the orchestra are often aligned in
>profile, the camera's low depth of field focusing on the nearmost player,
>dissolving the profiles of those further away.  I suspect those parts were
>filmed separately, the players miming to the soundtrack, restraining their
>movements to preserve the visual composition.

I had the same feeling when I watched a video of Strauss "Death and
Transfiguration" and "Metamorphoses" (1984, Karajan conducting the BPO,
SONY).  I would second your recommendation and I wouldn't buy any of
these SONY DVD issues (Beethoven's 9th and Dvorak's 9th), not only because
of the poor timing, but especially because of the poor filming.  When
the focus of the camera is always on the conductor and you never have
the feeling of a live performance, everything is spoiled.  After all,
everything you get is Karajan's egotism and narcissism.  A quite different
matter is "Karajan - Early Images", a video issued by DG some years ago
that shows Karajan at his best in perfomances (studio recordings, but with
a feeling of a live performance) of Beethoven's 5th, Dvorak's 9th and
Schumann's 4th symphonies.  This is a real gem for every CM fan.  It's a
black and white film and the sound is mono, but the performances and the
filming are first rate (the performances were filmed by Karajan's frequent
collaborator, the French director Henri-Georges Clouzot).  The performance
of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, for instance, is a real proof that Karajan's
first recordings of Beethoven were his best.  For those who like
orchestral/choral/documentaries on video, here is a list of what I consider
the best ones (record companies should issue them on DVD as soon as
possible):

KARAJAN: The Early Ears (1965-1966)/DG 072 282-3.
NEW YEAR'S CONCERT 1992/Carlos Kleiber/VPO/PHILIPS.
HARNONCOURT AND BEETHOVEN: Live performances of Symphonies no. 6 and 8 plus
The Making of The Symphonies (rehearsals)/TELDEC.
NEW YEAR'S EVE CONCERT 1984: Karajan conducts JS Bach's concerto for violin,
strings and continuo with the BPO and Anne-Sophie Mutter, plus Magnificat
BWV 243/SONY.
VERDI'S REQUIEM: Carreras/Norman/Price/Raimondi/Claudio Abbado/London
Symphony Orchestra/NVC ARTS INTERNATIONAL.
THE GIFT OF MUSIC: a brilliant documentary on the life of Leonard
Bernstein/DG 440 073 200-3.
THE GOLDEN RING: The historic 1965 BBC film on the pioneering recording of
Wagner's Ring by Solti/Culshaw/VPO, focusing the recording of
Gotterdammerung. LONDON 440 071 253-3.
MOZART: Symphony no. 35 plus MAHLER, Symphony no. 5/Georg Solti and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Recorded live at Bunkakaikan, Tokyo, March
1986/SONY.

More suggestions?

Wilson Pereira.