BaL 21.09.24 - Strauss: Don Quixote

[oliver sudden]

They really were in thrall to Klemperer in those days

(If I understand correctly, that is a big reason why we don’t have more ‘official’ Mahler from your namesake!)

[smittims]

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.

[cloughie]

I 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.

Record companies at the time did not often go for multiple recordings of the same work. Also from the Boult discography on Wiki, although he made a number of recordings for WRC he only started his prolific mainstream EMI output in tge late 60s. There are no commercial R Strauss recordings mentioned throughout his recording career.

[oliver sudden]

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.

[smittims]

Klemperer's association with Jackie came about through his friendship with her husband Daniel Barenboim. They visited him frequently and the recording of Don Quixote may have been suggested by Barenboim. According to Heyworth*, 'It was not a score he much cared for, and only his affection for Jaqueline du Pre led him to attempt it... The recording was cancelled. ' Jackie subsequently recorded the work with Boult and the New Philharmonia at Abbey Road on 6,7 and 9 April 1968, by Peter Andry and Christopher Parker. I mention these details only to show that it was a regular EMI recording,though I cannot trace a commercial issue during the lifetimes of either artist.

Sir Adrian did record four Strauss songs with Janet Baker and the LPO in 1975 and these were issued the following year on ASD 3260.

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* Otto Klemperer, his Life and Times, vol. 2. (Cambridge).

[oliver sudden]

Jackie subsequently recorded the work with Boult and the New Philharmonia at Abbey Road on 6,7 and 9 April 1968, by Peter Andry and Christopher Parker. I mention these details only to show that it was a regular EMI recording,though I cannot trace a commercial issue during the lifetimes of either artist.

This only deepens the mystery since by those standards much of it is a bit of a shambles! I can readily imagine what I heard being a pre-concert runthrough (especially with the orchestra’s applause at the finish) but if that’s the best they could come up with after three days in the studio I’m perplexed.

[makropulos]

This only deepens the mystery since by those standards much of it is a bit of a shambles! I can readily imagine what I heard being a pre-concert runthrough (especially with the orchestra’s applause at the finish) but if that’s the best they could come up with after three days in the studio I’m perplexed.

Well, that would deepen the mystery if it was true, but it isn't. According to Philip Stuart's discography (and Andrew Keener's note – he assembled the du Pré/Boult version), the taping was made on 9 April (only) at Abbey Road, which they were using it as the rehearsal venue for a concert in the RFH on 11 April (the RFH was not available for the rehearsal – and the studio was booked for the now abandoned Klemperer session). Boult was brought in at the last minute – for that day only – and Peter Andry and Christopher Parker were there (for the cancelled Klemperer sessions), so they put the tape machine on – just after the opening, which was patched from the Klemperer fragments recorded on 6 and 7 April. It is very much a rehearsal – including the 'bravo' and the ripple of applause at the end, led by Boult – but it has some enormously moving moments.