Otto Klemperer 10 CD box-set on Amazon

Looks like radio tapes - George might know more about these!

EJ

At this price I will give it a shot. 

I have only got some of his EMI cds, so have had a punt on this set.

As Oliver said above at that price they have to be worth a shot.

Debs,

Thanks for the heads up.

Stu.

Stu,

i have a EMI 9xLP box-set of LvB 'The Nine' by the Philharmonia Orchestra /Otto Klemperer.

They are different versions to what is on offer in this new 10cd box but for reasons of vinyl-foibles they don't imo bring out want i want to hear in depth of expression, and i can say the same for the other 3 vinyl box-sets of complete LvB symphonies that lurk in my ikea record shelving...

Kurt Masur ~ Gewandhaus Orch Leipzig - Philips

Kurt Sanderling ~ The Philharmonia Orch - EMI

Karl Bolm ~ Wiener Philharmoniker - DG

Although having said that, a few years ago i borrowed 'The LvB Nine' on CD by the Berliner Phil/Karajan which, for want of a better expression i found utterly overbloated and boring but was happy to have been lent it and not buy it for big bucks... it can be an expensive set to buy.

The only LvB Nine set i presently warm too is Josef Krips conducting the London symphony Orchestra,

...although i've not listened too intently to many versions, especially more recent recordings...

But back to the subject of the new 10 CD offer, 5 of which are LvB symphonies and including the fantastic angel-voiced Maria Stader in the chour! : )

Plus 1 CD is Brahms+LvB piano concertos, the other 4 various symphonies of Bruckner and Brahms - all to me well worth exploring.

Debs

Debs,

I have the EMI cds George said were the best 6/7 years ago.

Not box sets.

This will be the first Otto box set..

Stu

George,

Wont see this thread until Monday.

Its his 50th birthday today.

Wish him all the best.

Stru

Looks like the release of this set has been held up.

This looks a fascinating set. No doubt that Klemperer was at his best in live performances, rather than the studio.

I'll give it some proper attention after work!

Thanks for the heads up. At this sort of price it only needs one or two of the performances to be new to me and truly great to be good value!!

ATB from George

Fingers crossed the new release date.23rd of this month wont get changed again because some nice bloke at amazon priced it wrong in the first place.

The price has been up and down over the last month or two.

Roll on next Monday.

Its now £8.99

Stu.

It's astonishing and also a good sign for me how often Otto Klemperer is mentioned in this forum.

Certainly the 10CD-Box from Membran is a bargain, though I hope you will allow me to mention a caveat about the sources for these discs. They are certainly taped off the air from broadcast of different  radio stations in Germany or Austria. They have appeared on the market under different labels in the past and sound quality is not really what one could expect.

At the same time the excellent MediciMasters label offers quite a few disks based on the original radio tapes. One example is Bruckner No. 8 from a Cologne Concert of 1957. (I wanted to add a label picture, but don't know how...).Others are: Beethoven 9 and Missa Solemnis, Pianoconcert No. 4 with Leon Fleisher (together with No. 2 under Hans Rosbaud)  Bruckner 4 and 7, Brahms 1  all from  Cologne, Beethoven 3 and Mozart KV 201 from Stockholm and Munich. I hope others will follow.

The same quality you get from Testament which offers more than a dozen live Klemperer recordings from Cologne (Don Giovanni), Vienna and London (Fidelio, Holländer among many others).

The most recent set off "unofficial" i.e. non-EMI recordings with Klemperer comes from Audite and has all his concerts with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra from the 50s. The Mozart items which have always belonged to my favourite Klemperer and Mozart recordings as well were even taken in the studio in 1950/51as they served for building up a repertoire for the broadcasting station The set of course comes from the official radio tapes and is painstakingly documented. You can download the documents from the Audite homepage.

Audite's Celibidache's Complete RIAS recording box set ( 1st Master Series ) is done very well so I'd guess Klemperer set also ought to be good sound wise.

Curious to hear his early Beethoven/Mozart work, too.

I've just ordered 'Perfektionist Und EnergiebÜnde' by Ferenc Fricsay.

It's on the same type of 10cd membran box-set as the above Klemperer

Amazon uk £11.77 (at this moment in time but prices can go up or down)

I may have a couple of duplicates with one Bartok and a Mozart...

but this is still a very good buy for any Fricsay fan : )

Debs

No Chicken Fricsay though.

Stu

My set came this morning.

You cant call me a classical music buff.

I know what i like and i like what i know.

I love a lot of Otto's work.

I am only up to disc no 5.

These CD's SQ is so flat/dead,No life in them?

The EQ is all over  the place and mainly to the left

Deb's and others that bought this set?

Is it just my ears?

Stu.

Stu,

stop playing them on your LP12 and put them in your naim cdp! 

They sound very okay to me...

the recordings are getting on a bit, some in mono i think, but all very fine imho.

some audience sound clutter here and there but these are very much live recordings

Debs

Tried them on the old CD555 and they still sound life less.

Put BBC Radio2  on now before the xtc stuff comes on.

Stu.