Originally posted by Barbirollians
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BaL 21.09.24 - Strauss: Don Quixote
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Otto Klemperer was , perhaps surprisingly, EMI's top-selling classical artist for a while, remarkable at a time when they had Callas, Menuhin and Beecham on their books. But he didn't record much Strauss. EMI allowed him to do unprofitable recordings such as the Novak-edition Bruckner 8 with a cut finale, (though Suvi Raj Grubb said he was 'aghast' as he knew it would affect sales) and Cosi fan Tutte, but not Euryanthe, which he wanted to do and which Deutsche Grammophon had offered him if he left EMI.
But EMI had not always let him record what he wanted. In the 1950s he wanted to do Bruckner, particularly no.6, but it was not until 1960 they let him do no.7. Significantly, no.6 was one of the firstthigs he did with the New Philharmonia after Walter Legge had left.
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Originally posted by Barbirollians View PostI enjoyed it especially the high rank of the Previn but as I own all the front runners a cheap one for me- sorry to hear no mention though of the Du Pre/Boult which i find extraordinarily moving . The concert for which this was a rehearsal after Klemperer withdrew from a recording was not recorded anywhere I assume . Bizarre, that EMI having heard that unexpectedly recorded run through didnt get du Pre and Boult to record it . They really were in thrall to Klemperer in those days - remarkable for example that when he proposed to butcher Bruckner 8 they tamely agreed.
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Having investigated it at last: I can’t imagine who ever thought it might work to pair up Klemperer and du Pré! There’s a retail slogan ‘never knowingly undersold’ and ‘never knowingly understated’ might have fitted du Pré… her approach does finally come off, sometimes brilliantly, in the (to me) most important bits (the vigil and the epilogue) but for a moment at the beginning of both it sounds like she’s about to ruin them. I’m not at all surprised Klemperer pulled the plug. If only they’d planned it with, say, Barbirolli from the beginning!
As a whole it does suffer a bit from not having either the precision of a studio recording or the atmosphere of a concert—there are some moments where things really do hang fire and some other moments which are a bit shambolic. I’m glad I’ve heard it though. It’s definitely not BaL selection material but some of the paths it takes (or at least suggests) are wonderful.
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