The history of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem’s interpretation is inextricably bound up with the name of Herbert von Karajan. He conducted the work on countless occasions and in this legendary concert he performed it with some of the greatest singers of that time: Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnès Baltsa, José Carreras, and José van Dam. Verdi wrote his Messa da Requiem in 1873/74, between Aida and Otello, for Alessandro Manzoni, a poet whom he much admired. Verdi’s Mass for the Dead is not intended for liturgical use but for the concert hall. In addition to its profound spirituality, this masterpiece brings together the finest qualities from Verdi’s operas: endless melodic lines and captivating musico-dramatic effects.

When Herbert von Karajan conducted Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival in 1987 featuring an outstanding cast of singers, the fantastic Wiener Philharmoniker and staged by Michael Hampe, it became a legendary performance of the highest artistic level. Samuel Ramey stars as the title character Don Giovanni, alongside Gosta Winbergh as Don Ottavio and Anna Tomowa-Sintow as Donna Anna. This dream of artistic collaboration made it one of the best opera performances, which now is available for the first time on Blu-ray.

Capriccio was the last contribution of, by then, nearly 80-year-old Richard Strauss to 20th-century musical theatre and from the very beginning intended for the Salzburg Festival. From a charming plan sketch by Stefan Zweig, the poet and librettist of "Die schweigsame Frau," driven out by the Nazis, Richard Strauss and his pupil and friend Clemens Krauss created a highly witty and elaborate late work, which, however, disconcerted the art observers for a long time. How could Richard Strauss, in the midst of World War II and the most brutal disregard for spiritual values, write a work that seemed to serve such an unimportant intellectual game, a genuine ‘art for art’s sake’? Yet it is precisely artistic thoughts relieved of all reality that give "Capriccio" its special place even within Strauss’s complete works.

The present recording from 1985 was already at the premiere an unequivocal success – a fact credited above all to Horst Stein and the Vienna Philharmonic and which led to numerous press headlines. With its markedly intellectual approach and its high musical standard, this festival performance drew a large audience to Salzburg over a total of three summers.