Klemperer's Bruckner

[Guest]

Anyone acquired the new EMI box set yet?

I was listening to the remaster of the 4th symphony on spotify earlier in the week and - as I usually am with this conductor - was mightily impressed. Of the other works on this box, I only have the 5th and 6th symphonies - OK's 6th is supposed to the only entirely recommendable studio recording of this symphony, though there seems to be much less admiration for his recording of the 5th.

The 8th (recorded near the end of Ok's career in the studio, in 1970) apparently features a horrendous cut in the finale.

Any opinions on these versions?

[Barbirollians]

Anyone acquired the new EMI box set yet?

I was listening to the remaster of the 4th symphony on spotify earlier in the week and - as I usually am with this conductor - was mightily impressed. Of the other works on this box, I only have the 5th and 6th symphonies - OK's 6th is supposed to the only entirely recommendable studio recording of this symphony, though there seems to be much less admiration for his recording of the 5th.

The 8th (recorded near the end of Ok's career in the studio, in 1970) apparently features a horrendous cut in the finale.

Any opinions on these versions?

I only know the 4th ,6th and 7th and they are all splendid IMO . The Sixth rightly remains unparalleled though many have good things to say about Sir Rog's version but I have not heard it

[cloughie]

I only know the 4th ,6th and 7th and they are all splendid IMO . The Sixth rightly remains unparalleled though many have good things to say about Sir Rog's version but I have not heard it

A great set and a great bargain.

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Music/CD/Anton-Bruckner/Symphonies-Nos-4-9-Klemperer/product.html?product=E11133733

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't know the 8th, but Klemperer's other superb recordings of Bruckner have long held a very high place in my affections and admiration; not least the magnificent 5th. OK's timing and weighting of these magnificent works are second to none. (I'm also very fond of his #4 with the VSO recorded in the early '50s for (IIRC) Turnabout.)

[umslopogaas]

I've got OK's recording of the Eighth, and though it is a long time since I played it, I wouldnt be without it. Apologies if I've said this before (I'm sure I have) but though you should always hear an OK performance, because it will always deliver interesting insights, you should never have only that one, because OK was a bit too individual to be the only way of approaching a work.

As alternatives, I have Jochum and Karajan. Both wonderful.

And as a bonus, but at the same time the cause of much tooth-grinding, I have HMV LP ASD 603, half of the two LP set of the Eighth, played by the VPO and conducted by Carl Schuricht. This two LP set is a big, big item, if you have both in good original condition, you can name your price, there are collectors out there who will pay. Alas, I bought half the set in a second-hand shop for a fiver many years ago, and have searched in vain ever since for the other half. Anyone got a spare good copy of ASD 602? I will pay serious money ...

[amateur51]

In tomorrow (Sat 08 December 2012)'s CD Review Andrew McGregor will be reviewing several of the new EMI Klemperer boxes including the Bruckner box between 10:20 and 11:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p3mb1

[kernelbogey]

A short review by Andrew Clements in yesterday's Guardian G2.

'What gives them such strength and purpose is their faultless sense of symphonic architecture.'

[Petrushka]

I prefer to look outside the Philharmonia studio recordings box for Klemperer's Bruckner. I've never seen the attraction of the mightily praised 6th in any case; there are better recordings out there.

For an electrifying 5th try the 1968 live VPO performance on Music & Arts. There are also accounts of 4, 7 & 8 in the cheapo Klemperer box on Membran http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Br...4965285&sr=1-2 though I confess to not yet having heard the 8th from that box as the timing for the finale (20' 38'') would seem to suggest a cut.

[Barbirollians]

I've never seen the attraction of the mightily praised 6th in any case; there are better recordings out there.
.

Splutter - name them Petrushka !!!

[Petrushka]

Splutter - name them Petrushka !!!

Try Gunter Wand with the NDR SO for one. I also like the live recording from the Dresden Staatskapelle and Bernard Haitink as well as Jochum with the same orchestra. I don't know what it is with the Klemperer but I've never warmed to it. It's years since I last heard it so perhaps another audition is required.

[Barbirollians]

I don't like Haitink in Bruckner I am afraid - and I have tried . Jochum's 6th I do not know but now have it in that Icon box so will give it a spin .

[jayne lee wilson]

I like Klemperer's 6th better than Petrushka, but he's right to imply that the praise given to it has distracted from others. Barenboim is very good in Chicago, and Rozhdestvensky's USSRSSO one from 1985 is probably my favourite. Haitink, live with the Staatskapelle should be in the top 5 too. Norrington's SWR effort is one of his finest discs. The live VPO 5th is one of Klemperer's greatest performances.

The famous Klemperer 6th has as its chief merits an orchestral sound lacking all romantic or sensuous excess, phrasing of directness and inevitability, and the sense of all tempi being derived from one basic pulse. Looking forward to Venzago!

[mathias broucek]

I like Klemperer's 6th better than Petrushka, but he's right to imply that the praise given to it has distracted from others. Barenboim is very good in Chicago, and Rozhdestvensky's USSRSSO one from 1985 is probably my favourite. Haitink, live with the Staatskapelle should be in the top 5 too. Norrington's SWR effort is one of his finest discs. The live VPO 5th is one of Klemperer's greatest performances.

The famous Klemperer 6th has as its chief merits an orchestral sound lacking all romantic or sensuous excess, phrasing of directness and inevitability, and the sense of all tempi being derived from one basic pulse. Looking forward to Venzago!

Celi's 6th is pretty good. He makes the Adagio sound as profound as those of the 7th and 8th. (Of course the orchestral sound is the antithesis of how Jayne describe OK's....)

[jayne lee wilson]

I would have called Celi's Munich one great were it not for the adagio, which runs to 22'01... I just find it too much, even in context (maestoso is 17'02). Klemps takes 14'42, after 16'55 for the 1st movement. Rozh is 16'08/16'06...

But yes, the Celi is a great conception thrillingly played.

[Barbirollians]

Celi's Bruckner is unbearably distended to my ears . The Bruckner 6 seemed to take several days .