Just last year Herbert von Karajan bravely declared, "As long as my arm can hold a baton I will remain, and as long as I live there will be no discussion about a successor." But last week the iron chancellor of the Berlin Philharmonic abruptly ended his distinguished 34-year tenure as conductor-for- life. With a curt, 17-line note to West Berlin's new culture minister Anke Martiny, the Salzburg-born Karajan, 81, severed his often troubled relationship with an orchestra widely regarded as the finest in the world. The reason given was ill health, but to an even greater extent Karajan was bowing...
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