Karajan conducts Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 (1971)

Herbert von Karajan recorded the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies several times throughout his long career – including three audio recordings with the Berliner Philharmoniker. This audio-visual cycle, filmed over four years from 1968 to 1972, documents the conductor's mature vision of these seminal works in all its splendour. Filmed separately with four separate video directors (including Karajan himself for Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 9), they capture the conductor at the height of his powers with the orchestra he defined for over three decades, the Berliner Philharmoniker, and, for the mighty Ninth, features a quartet of some of the greatest voices of the era.