Rudolf Kempe favourite recordings

[Barbirollians]

Ten years after issue I have finally bought Kempe.’s Icon box for £22 . It seems to was cheaper in the past but not a bad price.

Prompted by that Bruckner 4 ad 5 on Acanta and buying a truly lovely BBC Legends disc of Brahms 4 and Schubert 5 .

What are your favourite Kempe records ? Lohengrin, the Strauss box, the BBC recordings of Dvorak 9 and Ein Heldenleben and the Brahms Concerto with Menuhin and the BPO for me.

[Petrushka]

Rudolf Kempe conducted the first classical concert I attended back in 1972 and the very first piece in that concert was Strauss' Don Juan. For this alone, his Strauss set with the Dresden Staatskapelle would be one of my landmark recordings (I bought the original LP boxes) and it now comes up in much improved sound in the latest CD remastering.

It's a great pity that there are comparatively few recordings from him and those available are not in the best sound. The Bruckner 4 & 5 are included in the Scribendum box, The Art of Rudolf Kempe, as is the Bruckner 8. The first two are very fine indeed, up there with the best, but the 8th is hobbled by less than ideal sound. The box as a whole is worth getting and includes a fine Brahms symphony cycle.

There is a fine Don Quixote in a legendary recording with the BPO on Testament and a distinguished Beethoven symphony set with the Munich PO recorded in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, scene of Hitler's 1923 putsch, though again the sound is not ideal. Looking again at the Testament list I really should get his Rimsky Scheherazade which I have on LP which I loved back in the day.

A thousand pities that Kempe did not record the Ring but, as some compensation, there is a 1960 Bayreuth set on Orfeo (somewhat dimly recorded, alas) and a Covent Garden one and a Parsifal on Testament which I've not heard (any opinions on these anyone?). His best Wagner, though, is an outstanding Lohengrin and a legendary Meistersinger, both frustratingly in mono but still classics of the gramophone.

The BBC Legends recordings fill useful gaps but again most are let down by indifferent sound quality.

Kempe was a much better conductor than his recorded legacy suggests and his early death in 1976, at the age of 65, robbed us of so much more.

[richardfinegold]

My exposure to Kempe has pretty much been the Strauss box. I don’t recall anything else of his being available on this side of the pond. I think that I remember seeing the Icon box a while ago but it was very expensive here. Did Kempe work much with American Orchestras?

I remembered seeing a Kempe recording recently that may be of interest. It is a live recording with a French Radio Orchestra. Frustratingly I cannot transfer the link. The program is a Handel Concerto Grosso, Mozart PC K 491 with Curzon, and the Symphonies Fantastique. It is apparently coupled as part of a 2 CD set with the second disc containing a Solti led Curzon Concert.
It is available from Norpete.com. Choose the tab “St. Laurent Studio” (Yves St. Laurent is a restoration engineer specializing in radio broadcast tapes). The catalog isn’t alphabetized or organized in any meaningful way so it will take a bit of searching.

[Petrushka]

Forgot to mention a very fine Janacek Glagolitic Mass on Decca and also on Decca a Bruch Violin Concerto/Scottish Fantasia with Kyung Wha Chung, all excellent and in vintage Decca sound.

I recall reading in Gramophone circa 1976 that Decca were to record a Shostakovich cycle with Kempe but this obviously didn't materialise and I suspect that the project eventually turned out to be the Haitink set.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That’s easy. It’s the RCA/Testament Eine Alpensinfonie recording with the RPO. My favourite recording of the work, with superior sound and panache to the later Dresden version.

[Petrushka]

That’s easy. It’s the RCA/Testament Eine Alpensinfonie recording with the RPO. My favourite recording of the work, with superior sound and panache to the later Dresden version.

I'd forgotten about that! Agree that it is better than the Dresden recording which still sounds congested even its latest remastering.

[cloughie]

I’ve long been a Kempe fan and recommend the EMI Brahms Symphonies BPO on Testament (like all Testament discs not at bargain basement prices) and later RPO 4th but maybe my top Kempe choice is with the VPO of Wagner Orchestral pieces from Tristan, Parsifal and Lohengrin.

[Barbirollians]

Listening through the Icon box and reading past reviews I think RO was rather harsh on the Munich PO in the Beethoven symphonies in the box - I have rather enjoyed their rusticity. The coupling of the BPO Brahms 3 and RPO Brahms 4 is tough on the latter . The Third is a delight and my eyes wander to the full price Testament set of all 4 .

Fresh Midsummer Night’s Dream accounts and TH Serbs to me to have been unduly harsh on the horn soloist in the Nocturne.

I can hear why the Kempe Scheherazade was so loved on CfP - a sultry and gorgeous performance with Alan Loveday on the solo violin. Don Quixote and Tortelier next.

[BBMmk2]

His full set of the Richard Strauss orchestral works box set, with the Dresden Staatskapelle.

[Barbirollians]

Finally, bought the Testament Brahms symphonies box. What a wonderful set - long breathed beautifully played and very moving. The Third and Fourth are particularly good.

[cloughie]

Finally, bought the Testament Brahms symphonies box. What a wonderful set - long breathed beautifully played and very moving. The Third and Fourth are particularly good.

No2, though mono, is my favourite, played with love!

[Keraulophone]

Forgot to mention a very fine Janacek Glagolitic Mass on Decca

The Brighton Festival Chorus were in those days the regular chorus used by the RPO (who even offered them a change of name to the RPO Chorus, which was turned down), but they were very saddened that this would be the only recording made with Kempe as the orchestra’s chief conductor. After RK’s relatively early death, Dorati took charge with Decca recordings of Carmina Burana and (when I joined the choir) all three Haydn oratorios.

Kempe’s R.Strauss recordings are as notable for the gorgeous sound the Dresden orchestra makes as much as for his ideal conducting.

[Barbirollians]

No2, though mono, is my favourite, played with love!

Only played that once so far and the phone rang in the middle of it - will listen again in the morning .

[Katzelmacher]

I used to have an early stereo LP of excerpts from Rheingold that he made with the BPO. I recall it was outstanding - better than Solti’s Rheingold, if memory serves - but it had an erratic presence in the CD catalogue. He conducted the overtures and Karfreitagzauber from Tristan and Parsifal on another EMI budget release that I had on tape and I have strong memories of those, too.

His Lohengrin and Strauss recordings are self-recommending, of course!

[jayne lee wilson]

Long ago in a galaxy far away, had a love affair with this....

https://testament.co.uk/product/rudolf-kempe-5/

.....loved this too.....(1960, playing now, astonishingly fresh sound and really affectionate readings..)....

https://testament.co.uk/product/rudolf-kempe-16/

..at the time (2003) preferred it to various Dresden Strauss remasterings (GROC, Toshiba etc....Lukaskirche can be spectacular, but always tricky to get right...). Ages since I heard these though.

Later.... despite being well outside my current listening themes & directions, I let the Berlin Quixote (which I see Pet mentioned briefly above) play on to its wonderful conclusion. A glorious and glorious-sounding performance, which no Kempe fan should miss....

Go on, order it along with Simpson Symphonies 2&4.....