Otto Klemperer: The EMI Recordings on Warner

[Conchis]

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.

His Haydn Variations was the first version I heard that made me take notice of that work. Previously, I'd found it unmemorable.

Klemperer is also the only conductor who has managed to 'sell' Bach's choral works to me and I love his 'serious' take on Mozart (who is not one of my favourite composers). I'd heard his Tchaikovsky was supposed to be 'horrible' and 'unidiomatic' - well, maybe the latter charge is true, but his recordings of the final three symphonies make me listen with fresh ears.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

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

No - that was Arte Johnson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM

[Barbirollians]

I was lucky enough to be introduced to Klemperer through his wonderful concerto recordings of the Beethoven with Barenboim and I collected his Beethoven symphonies though I do recall being much more thrilled by the 1955 - No3,5 & 7 than the later set although the Ninth is special and the overtures especially good - I still cannot get over that slow scherzo in the Pastoral thirty years on !

The Brahms is indeed magnificent as to my ears is the Missa Solemnis and his Mozart symphonies on Testament and of course he made that desert island recording of The Magic Flute too .

[richardfinegold]

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

No, that was Artie Johnson.
Another Klemperer connection, very off topic--his second Cousin Viktor Klemperer wrote a fascinating two volume of memoir of life in the Third Reich (include a harrowing escape from the Dresden Raid) and then life in the DDR. Otto gets a few tangential mentions.

[Roehre]

No, that was Artie Johnson.
Another Klemperer connection, very off topic--his second Cousin Viktor Klemperer wrote a fascinating two volume of memoir of life in the Third Reich (include a harrowing escape from the Dresden Raid) and then life in the DDR. Otto gets a few tangential mentions.

Also as German Tele-series very impressive

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

In my student days, I became friendly with the pianist Gordon Back. We lost touch, and the next I heard of him was that he was about to marry Otto Klemperer's granddaughter.

[richardfinegold]

Also as German Tele-series very impressive

Wow, thank you for that. If only it was subtitled in English...

[Steerpike]

When the OK Philharmonia Brahms 1 first came out I heard mono and stereo versions. I'm working from long-ago memory here but I remember feeling they were the same performance except for the very opening. The mono introduction (with the prominent timpani) was distinctly faster in the mono - and better to my ears then. I was friendly with a cellist in the PO in those days and his view too was "much better".

Does anyone else remember this distinction or, better still, have a copy of the mono issue to check? Given that OK was famously resistant to patching, I wonder what the history of this difference was?

[gurnemanz]

No, that was Artie Johnson.
Another Klemperer connection, very off topic--his second Cousin Viktor Klemperer wrote a fascinating two volume of memoir of life in the Third Reich (include a harrowing escape from the Dresden Raid) and then life in the DDR. Otto gets a few tangential mentions.

Viktor K. was a linguist, as am I, and I remember being fascinated by his book LTI: Lingua Tertii Imperii "Language of the Third Reich". It was published in the DDR whose regime was also guilty of disfiguring the German language with hideous propaganda words. He got away at one point by subtly altering the name on his passport to Kleinpeter.

[richardfinegold]

Viktor K. was a linguist, as am I, and I remember being fascinated by his book LTI: Lingua Tertii Imperii "Language of the Third Reich". It was published in the DDR whose regime was also guilty of disfiguring the German language with hideous propaganda words. He got away at one point by subtly altering the name on his passport to Kleinpeter.

There are many references to LTI in the post WWII memoirs, and for a while I had no idea what he was talking about, until I reread the lengthy introduction. I think I saw an English version offered on Amazon

[Conchis]

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.

I've been looking at some of the Beethoven symphonies on youtube. Initially, the slow tempi are alarming - 'how can I sit through this?', I find myself thinking. But, very quickly, one accepts the Klemperer way of doing things, as if it's the only way these symphonies could be played. I suppose that's what made Klemperer a great conductor.

[neiltingley]

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.

krowaczewski 6th with Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra is equal to Klemps. This is from a fabulous complete set. There's another Klemps 6th on Testament with the BBC SO. A bit scrappy but soon establishes it's own momentum.

[neiltingley]

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.

Skrowaczewski 6th with Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra is equal to Klemps. This is from a fabulous complete set. There's another Klemps 6th on Testament with the BBC SO. A bit scrappy but soon establishes it's own momentum.

[neiltingley]

There are quite a few Klemp releases on Testament. The fantastic 1957 Beethoven 9 - so much better than the studio recording. Then there's a pricey but terrific set of broadcasts with the VPO. The Bruckner 5th is astounding. Klemperer had a bit of a golden period around 1967/8 and started programming Mahler 9 (also in the VPO box). I think the famous Dutchman recording was from then too and there's a testament of the RFH concert. Klemps with the Danish Radio SO has an astounding Brahms 4th that has to be heard to be believed. I really love the 1955 Mozart symphonies (later remade in stereo). And there's something about his way with Dvorak 9 that's addictive. The Tchaikovsky 5th he did is a superlative account too: quite unsentimental and very noble.