Beethoven Symphonies with Klemperer. Final Choice.
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 04 July 2008
Dear Friends,
Finally, and without further investigation, I shall post a possible top list of Beethoven Symphony Cycle from Otto Klemperer.
The reason for not simply accepting the very fine EMI stereo Cycle is that in each case of the individual symphonies, there is or even are finer recordings issued and easily available. I have avoided investigating the sort of issue as might be thought of as “collectable” from out of the way companies which may not be available in all territories or even easily available at all. These are mainstream issues, which are as easily obtained as the EMI stereo Cycle, though being individual issues the price is not in the budget range but rather the upper mid-price bracket.
1. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1963] SBT 1405
2. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1957] SBT 1406
3. Klemperer/Philharmonia [EMI studio, 1955] 0724356774025
4. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1957] SBT 1407
5. Klemperer/Philharmonia [EMI studio, 1955] 0724356785120
6. Klemperer/Vienna Symphony Orchestra [Vox studio, early fifties] Information below.
7. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1957] SBT 1406
8. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1963] SBT 1405
9. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1961] SBT 1332
The performances have all been considered in the pages of this thread, and of course the three issues of the Missa Solemnis and certain other issues, such as the legendary Fidelio recording from the production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, have also been considered.
Future investigations will take in the Third, Fourth, and fifth Piano Concerto concerts from 1957 with Claudio Arraw, which gained a legendary status before Testament finally issued the recordings. I would like to confirm that these are worthy of “legendary status.”
Of course the question will remain why any one nowadays would want to investigate recording, mostly just over half a century old, when there have been many remarkable Beethoven Symphony Cycles recorded since, often in very good recordings and splendid performances? The answer for me is clear, in that by about 1955, Klemperer had hardly had a stable base to work, and the kind of opportunities that Herbert von Karajan had with his work with the Philharmonia and Berlin Philharmonic for one by now often accepted as exemplary set of readings, available in I believe five different commercial sets.
Klemperer, for various reasons, not the least that it was almost too late for him as an old man, completed only one complete “official studio cycle,” the EMI set. Even these recordings represent his work at a time when his work in the studio, was arguably showing signs of declining physical powers, and often a rather safe approach to tempi. The contemporary concerts show a very different record of an artist who would not only take risks, but seemed to insisted on them in the name of bringing forward his driven, powerful, and often deeply expressive understanding of the music. The paradox, is that this vision was in so many ways one that prefigures the modern HIP movement which insists on often fast tempi [a Klemperer characteristics in concerts, but not so often in the studio], clear balancing of the winds and brass, which seem to have been crucial in the concert hall and the studio, and an avoidance of the kind of tempo manipulations that characterise the older “romantic” school of conductors, such as Wilhelm Furtwangler.
In many ways Klemperer was a very forward looking artist, whose individual rejection of the normal performing traditions [of his day] led him to produce performances that have not become historical curios, but ones that remain as relevant today as they were relevant and “revolutionary” at the time.
I sincerely hope that some here will see this list and perhaps investigate some or even all of them over time. Klemperer’s reputation has been somewhat dogged by the expectation of slow, even eccentric performances on records, and there is no denying that if the only reference were to be his late EMI studio recordings that might be the impression left. These live and slightly older studio recordings demonstrate why he was so lionised for his concerts not only in the 1950s, but through most of the 1960s as well.
I commend these recording, for anyone who loves the Symphonic Music of Beethoven, and also to those who have found the music is not always so easy. These are so honest and well presented as music making that they compel attention, admiration and even allow for a deepening of understanding of quite why Beethoven himself was a great and revolutionary composer in his day.
Sincerely from George
PS: I have missed out the contemporary Eroica performance Testament issued from the Danish Royal Chapel Orchestra, on the strength of pe zulu’s assurance that is “but a child” compared to the famous 1955 EMI studio recording, and also omitted consideration of the Klemperer’s concert performances with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Symphonies 4, 5, 6, and 7. This is because the string sonority in Berlin is of that ultra-luxuriant and weighty style that Karajan brought to bear there, and which Klemperer seems to have been unable to change in the necessarily relatively short time given for rehearsals. With the Philharmonia, the orchestra naturally produced the kind of string balances that Klemperer was looking for and found in almost any orchestra other than the BPO.
PPS: The Vox recording of the Pastoral may be obtained from Amazon.com, as in the link here:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Missa-solemnis-Symphony...id=1213623775&sr=1-2
In this issue the Pastoral Symphony is coupled with the Fifth, and the Missa Solemnis.
A discussion of the various performances considered may be found ... here.
Please can we keep the discussion on the other thread, to save splitting it and diluting it. I put this up again here, because it might simply get lost in the other thread!
Thanks from George
Finally, and without further investigation, I shall post a possible top list of Beethoven Symphony Cycle from Otto Klemperer.
The reason for not simply accepting the very fine EMI stereo Cycle is that in each case of the individual symphonies, there is or even are finer recordings issued and easily available. I have avoided investigating the sort of issue as might be thought of as “collectable” from out of the way companies which may not be available in all territories or even easily available at all. These are mainstream issues, which are as easily obtained as the EMI stereo Cycle, though being individual issues the price is not in the budget range but rather the upper mid-price bracket.
1. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1963] SBT 1405
2. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1957] SBT 1406
3. Klemperer/Philharmonia [EMI studio, 1955] 0724356774025
4. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1957] SBT 1407
5. Klemperer/Philharmonia [EMI studio, 1955] 0724356785120
6. Klemperer/Vienna Symphony Orchestra [Vox studio, early fifties] Information below.
7. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1957] SBT 1406
8. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1963] SBT 1405
9. Klemperer/Philharmonia [Testament/BBC live in RFH, 1961] SBT 1332
The performances have all been considered in the pages of this thread, and of course the three issues of the Missa Solemnis and certain other issues, such as the legendary Fidelio recording from the production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, have also been considered.
Future investigations will take in the Third, Fourth, and fifth Piano Concerto concerts from 1957 with Claudio Arraw, which gained a legendary status before Testament finally issued the recordings. I would like to confirm that these are worthy of “legendary status.”
Of course the question will remain why any one nowadays would want to investigate recording, mostly just over half a century old, when there have been many remarkable Beethoven Symphony Cycles recorded since, often in very good recordings and splendid performances? The answer for me is clear, in that by about 1955, Klemperer had hardly had a stable base to work, and the kind of opportunities that Herbert von Karajan had with his work with the Philharmonia and Berlin Philharmonic for one by now often accepted as exemplary set of readings, available in I believe five different commercial sets.
Klemperer, for various reasons, not the least that it was almost too late for him as an old man, completed only one complete “official studio cycle,” the EMI set. Even these recordings represent his work at a time when his work in the studio, was arguably showing signs of declining physical powers, and often a rather safe approach to tempi. The contemporary concerts show a very different record of an artist who would not only take risks, but seemed to insisted on them in the name of bringing forward his driven, powerful, and often deeply expressive understanding of the music. The paradox, is that this vision was in so many ways one that prefigures the modern HIP movement which insists on often fast tempi [a Klemperer characteristics in concerts, but not so often in the studio], clear balancing of the winds and brass, which seem to have been crucial in the concert hall and the studio, and an avoidance of the kind of tempo manipulations that characterise the older “romantic” school of conductors, such as Wilhelm Furtwangler.
In many ways Klemperer was a very forward looking artist, whose individual rejection of the normal performing traditions [of his day] led him to produce performances that have not become historical curios, but ones that remain as relevant today as they were relevant and “revolutionary” at the time.
I sincerely hope that some here will see this list and perhaps investigate some or even all of them over time. Klemperer’s reputation has been somewhat dogged by the expectation of slow, even eccentric performances on records, and there is no denying that if the only reference were to be his late EMI studio recordings that might be the impression left. These live and slightly older studio recordings demonstrate why he was so lionised for his concerts not only in the 1950s, but through most of the 1960s as well.
I commend these recording, for anyone who loves the Symphonic Music of Beethoven, and also to those who have found the music is not always so easy. These are so honest and well presented as music making that they compel attention, admiration and even allow for a deepening of understanding of quite why Beethoven himself was a great and revolutionary composer in his day.
Sincerely from George
PS: I have missed out the contemporary Eroica performance Testament issued from the Danish Royal Chapel Orchestra, on the strength of pe zulu’s assurance that is “but a child” compared to the famous 1955 EMI studio recording, and also omitted consideration of the Klemperer’s concert performances with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Symphonies 4, 5, 6, and 7. This is because the string sonority in Berlin is of that ultra-luxuriant and weighty style that Karajan brought to bear there, and which Klemperer seems to have been unable to change in the necessarily relatively short time given for rehearsals. With the Philharmonia, the orchestra naturally produced the kind of string balances that Klemperer was looking for and found in almost any orchestra other than the BPO.
PPS: The Vox recording of the Pastoral may be obtained from Amazon.com, as in the link here:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Missa-solemnis-Symphony...id=1213623775&sr=1-2
In this issue the Pastoral Symphony is coupled with the Fifth, and the Missa Solemnis.
A discussion of the various performances considered may be found ... here.
Please can we keep the discussion on the other thread, to save splitting it and diluting it. I put this up again here, because it might simply get lost in the other thread!
Thanks from George