Otto Klemperer: The EMI Recordings on Warner

[Petrushka]

I've bought a few Klemperer recordings over the years but, it must be said, not many, due in part to Klemperer's alleged reputation for very slow tempi. However, while they are at such low prices I've purchased the Beethoven Symphonies, Brahms and Mozart sets plus the LvB Piano Concertos with Barenboim.

What a revelation these have been!

I've not played everything yet but there are some really magnificent performances and recordings here. The only evidence I've found so far of any lumbering tempi has been in the 1959 Beethoven 7 but it still possesses tremendous power and energy. The Brahms 1 (I already had this disc) likewise has enormous power with pounding timpani at the start which is absolutely perfect.

Someone I once knew said that Klemperer made Bruckner's 8th as long as Wagner's Ring and the Mahler 7 has come in for criticism on similar grounds but I've yet to buy those boxes.

I can't wait to get them! It's good to have one's prejudices over-turned like this

[Conchis]

I've bought a few Klemperer recordings over the years but, it must be said, not many, due in part to Klemperer's alleged reputation for very slow tempi. However, while they are at such low prices I've purchased the Beethoven Symphonies, Brahms and Mozart sets plus the LvB Piano Concertos with Barenboim.

What a revelation these have been!

I've not played everything yet but there are some really magnificent performances and recordings here. The only evidence I've found so far of any lumbering tempi has been in the 1959 Beethoven 7 but it still possesses tremendous power and energy. The Brahms 1 (I already had this disc) likewise has enormous power with pounding timpani at the start which is absolutely perfect.

Someone I once knew said that Klemperer made Bruckner's 8th as long as Wagner's Ring and the Mahler 7 has come in for criticism on similar grounds but I've yet to buy those boxes.

I can't wait to get them! It's good to have one's prejudices over-turned like this

I had the worst possible start with Klemperer - his 1970 recording of Walkure Act 1 (one of the last things he ever recorded) on vinyl. I was only 24 and a novice Wagnerian. I thought Klemperer's interpretation was hopelessly sclerotic.

A couple of years later, I took a chance on one of his discs of Wagner overtures: then, the penny dropped and since that time I've been a collector. I can never decided whether K, Walter or Furtwangler is my favourite conductor. At his best, there was a 'rightness' about the Klemperer way of doing things that always impresses.

His recording of Bruckner 6 is still the only totally recommendable one I've heard.

[richardfinegold]

Klemp's Brahms has been my choice set, along with Sanderling/Dresden.
I ordered the Mozart Symphonies because these recordings were my first exposure to Mozart Symphonies. In truth, I find them a bit 4 square, but still filled with vitality.
I don't recall the Beethoven, except for the somewhat ponderous 7th. His Bruckner was new to me, when that box was released. I miss some of the rubato, the knowing when to push and pull, that characterizes the greatest Bruckner interpreters, but there is still a lot of worthwhile stuff in that set.
I agree with Conchis that the 6th is the highlight

[Bryn]

I've bought a few Klemperer recordings over the years but, it must be said, not many, due in part to Klemperer's alleged reputation for very slow tempi. However, while they are at such low prices I've purchased the Beethoven Symphonies, Brahms and Mozart sets plus the LvB Piano Concertos with Barenboim.

What a revelation these have been!

I've not played everything yet but there are some really magnificent performances and recordings here. The only evidence I've found so far of any lumbering tempi has been in the 1959 Beethoven 7 but it still possesses tremendous power and energy. The Brahms 1 (I already had this disc) likewise has enormous power with pounding timpani at the start which is absolutely perfect.

Someone I once knew said that Klemperer made Bruckner's 8th as long as Wagner's Ring and the Mahler 7 has come in for criticism on similar grounds but I've yet to buy those boxes.

I can't wait to get them! It's good to have one's prejudices over-turned like this

Back in my school days we had two factions re. Beethoven Symphony recordings. The Klemperer and Kempe factions. I was in the Kempe faction and avoided Klemperer for far too long. O.K., it may be Klemperer's Beethoven, rather then Beethoven's Beethoven, but the musicianship is just so very special.

[Petrushka]

I think that I too had a tricky start with Klemperer when I watched his 1970 Beethoven cycle on BBC 2 (exactly 45years ago this month I recall) and watching this extremely old man ( I was 16 so he'd have seemed really ancient) was not pleasant. I think this coloured my attitude to Klemperer for many years though I'm sure I'd feel differently now.

[richardfinegold]

I think that I too had a tricky start with Klemperer when I watched his 1970 Beethoven cycle on BBC 2 (exactly 45years ago this month I recall) and watching this extremely old man ( I was 16 so he'd have seemed really ancient) was not pleasant. I think this coloured my attitude to Klemperer for many years though I'm sure I'd feel differently now.

Another factor coloring my judgement was knowing that he was the father of the actor Werner Klemperer, who played a bumbling WWII German Prison Commandant on a sit com called Hogan's Heroes. I mean, who could take the father of Col Klink seriously.
I heard Werner in Concert once, in the sprechtstime portion of Gurrelieder. He was fantastic.

[visualnickmos]

At last! A Klemperer thread......

Just a word about his stereo (circa 1959) Beethoven 7; it is indeed perhaps an Achilles heel, however his earlier 1955 mono account is another (brilliant) story. At the same session EMI simultaneously recorded it in stereo as well. It was also transferred to CD. Anyway, the upshot is, that his 1955 recording is worth searching out - both the mono and stereo versions. I've heard it said that EMI recorded it in mono as well, in case the stereo recording (still very much in its infancy) "didn't work!" I'm sure others on here, who are better informed than me, will have more knowledge about this, but it's a nice story...

Otto Klemperer was one of the first conductors whose work I became aware of as a teenager, taking an interest in music. And I loved what I heard. Just dipping into some of my personal gems, I think of his Dvorak New World, Schumann symphony cycle, the magnificent orchestral music from Wagner's operas, his Mozart symphonies, and of course - his Beethoven! All wonderful music-making.

[gradus]

Hard to over-state this conductor's stature imv. To my mind his polar opposite was Karajan not Kempe but maybe that was just my way of hearing him. I can only think of John Lill amongst contemporary musicians who have, to my mind, a comparable approach to Beethoven.

[Petrushka]

At last! A Klemperer thread......

Just a word about his stereo (circa 1959) Beethoven 7; it is indeed perhaps an Achilles heel, however his earlier 1955 mono account is another (brilliant) story. At the same session EMI simultaneously recorded it in stereo as well. It was also transferred to CD. Anyway, the upshot is, that his 1955 recording is worth searching out - both the mono and stereo versions. I've heard it said that EMI recorded it in mono as well, in case the stereo recording (still very much in its infancy) "didn't work!" I'm sure others on here, who are better informed than me, will have more knowledge about this, but it's a nice story...

Otto Klemperer was one of the first conductors whose work I became aware of as a teenager, taking an interest in music. And I loved what I heard. Just dipping into some of my personal gems, I think of his Dvorak New World, Schumann symphony cycle, the magnificent orchestral music from Wagner's operas, his Mozart symphonies, and of course - his Beethoven! All wonderful music-making.

The 1955 Beethoven 7 is included in the Warner box (as are all the other earlier recordings). I've not heard it yet but the booklet does seem to indicate that it is the stereo version. At least they don't say 'mono' so I'm assuming I'm correct.

[gurnemanz]

I think that I too had a tricky start with Klemperer when I watched his 1970 Beethoven cycle on BBC 2 (exactly 45years ago this month I recall) and watching this extremely old man ( I was 16 so he'd have seemed really ancient) was not pleasant. I think this coloured my attitude to Klemperer for many years though I'm sure I'd feel differently now.

Your memory of the date is impressively precise and jogged mine. In 1970 I was 21 and was utterly riveted by the broadcasts.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Two Klemperer Beethoven #9 films are available on youTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFN9CY33VHw

... and the BBC2 film from 1970:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz5AJwbn6uU

The other films from that Beethoven cycle are also available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IW6y8C7bnk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWL4mBIixZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmBg1zRGqNE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSZ9Gy-8uD8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iBuIgBp97o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz8Fp-Wm0U4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiIh80jYeGE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4pdnZ9xmlM

[Bryn]

Hard to over-state this conductor's stature imv. To my mind his polar opposite was Karajan not Kempe but maybe that was just my way of hearing him. ...

Karajan was persona non grata for both school factions.

[richardfinegold]

Listened to the Philharmonia Brahms 1 last night. It is so animated with an energy to passages that just dawdle by with so many other Conductors that it just springs to life. Superb.

[Gordon]

Another factor coloring my judgement was knowing that he was the father of the actor Werner Klemperer, who played a bumbling WWII German Prison Commandant on a sit com called Hogan's Heroes. I mean, who could take the father of Col Klink seriously.
I heard Werner in Concert once, in the sprechtstime portion of Gurrelieder. He was fantastic.

Wasn't he also the helmeted character in Rowan and Martin's Laugh In?

[Gordon]

At last! A Klemperer thread......

Just a word about his stereo (circa 1959) Beethoven 7; it is indeed perhaps an Achilles heel, however his earlier 1955 mono account is another (brilliant) story. At the same session EMI simultaneously recorded it in stereo as well. It was also transferred to CD. Anyway, the upshot is, that his 1955 recording is worth searching out - both the mono and stereo versions. I've heard it said that EMI recorded it in mono as well, in case the stereo recording (still very much in its infancy) "didn't work!" I'm sure others on here, who are better informed than me, will have more knowledge about this, but it's a nice story...

Otto Klemperer was one of the first conductors whose work I became aware of as a teenager, taking an interest in music. And I loved what I heard. Just dipping into some of my personal gems, I think of his Dvorak New World, Schumann symphony cycle, the magnificent orchestral music from Wagner's operas, his Mozart symphonies, and of course - his Beethoven! All wonderful music-making.

Klemperer was in a class of his own - and not the severe Teuton he was often portrayed as, he had an acerbic and penetrating wit as is captured in the many "Klemperer Stories" that were told.

I have most of his EMI recordings including the 1955 Beethoven mentioned which are among his best and untypical of his later reputation. In 1955 mono was the norm and stereo a bit of an interloper in the control room and so the stereo team were often housed elsewhere in the studio and used simple microphone set ups eg single Blumlein crossed pair. In October 1955 Klemperer started a Beethoven cycle at Kingsway with 3, 5 and 7. A complete 7 survives in Stereo [as well as a celebrated Karajan Pictures from a week after] and was issued on CD but these 3 symphonies were issued separately on mono LP and later in a 3 LP set in electronic stereo [SLS 873]. The CD issues of this 3 and 5 were only mono. He redid 3 and 5 later in October/November 1959 at Abbey Road for the stereo cycle with 7 last in 1960 at Kingsway. There is a live cycle from Vienna in 1960 available in downloads.

It was well known that Walter Legge was not an early fan of stereo. LP stereo did not happen commercially until September 1958 [EMI had StereoSonic 7.5ips tapes issued earlier] but the companies knew it was coming and so had experimental machines - modified mono ones - which were sometimes temperamental and so a complete set of takes were not always available and so sometimes the stereo issue was not the same set of takes as the mono. By 1956 however all the companies had both M ans S being recorded simultaneously and continued to issue M and S LP versions until the late 60s.

I also have all the programmes for his 1970 RFH live cycle which I attended but some of which he was not able to complete and Colin Davis took over. There was something about his presence that you could feel as soon as he mounted [painfully and with assistance] the podium. As is often the case the live performances had something that the studio sessions did not capture. Testament have a live 9th made in RFH at about the time of the studio recording as well as others from that 1957 cycle and some from 1963.