... not only for being the reason why the Compact Disc was defined with a capacity of 76 minutes of music. Living in Salzburg, I had the privilege to experience Karajan several times. He certainly was a gifted conductor and self-promoter; Salzburg was his oyster. For me personally, this was too much already, and I really disliked Karajan's interpretation of 19th century's romantic composers, especially the Slavic ones, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, etc. He used to conduct them like a Prussian march, the soul and feeling was entirely missing.
Compared to him, I always considered Sir Georg Solti to be the more versatile and empathic conductor.
If you like Beethoven's symphonies, I'd suggest you give Harnoncourt's cycle a try.
Regards,
Marcus