The combination of Herbert von Karajan and the revered Romanian pianist Clara Haskil was an ideal partnership. Karajan had an extraordinary rapport with her, describing her career as ‘a long and often sorrowful march to glory’ due to Haskil’s well documented ill-health. Since she and Karajan were contracted to different companies, they never recorded together which makes this live Salzburg performance to mark Mozart’s bicentenary in 1956 especially valuable. Haskil, notoriously self-critical, wrote ‘The concert tour with Karajan was unique and unforgettable’. Karajan’s reading of Mozart’s Symphony no.39 is characteristically fleet-footed with great tension, a rare example of a live recording featuring the Philharmonia Orchestra and the conductor together in concert.