Peter Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 with Alexis Weissenberg and the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Alexis Weissenberg, born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1929, gave his first triumphal recital in New York's Carnegie Hall in 1947. He secured his international reputation especially with his interpretations of the works of Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. Weissenberg died in January 2012 in Lugano (Switzerland). Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) projected the hieratic image of the conductor as officiant of some quasi-mystic rite. Karajan embodied classical music in the general consciousness as an epoch-making conductor, media star, opera producer, festival director and festival founder.