Originally posted by Richard Barrett
View Post
Klemperer the Sceptic.
Collapse
X
-
-
-
Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostAnd I'd love to hear the version of the Fifth Symphony with the original percussion parts restored.
A pity that Klemperer, returning to topic, never conducted or recorded the Mahler 5 or 6 as I think he would have been just right for them."The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Bryn View PostCheapskate hat on, I have made do with a used copy of the Frequenz triple CD box (£3.21 including p&p) of 4 (5.4.1954), 7 (3.9.1958) and 8 (7.6.1957). Klemperer very fine indeed in this performance of the 8th, to my ears.
...membership, ahem, 2I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Petrushka View PostIs this based on a story from Alma that had Mahler deleting the percussion after she supposedly complained that there was too much of it? Like so many of Alma's memories this story isn't necessarily to be relied upon.
The Fifth, in any case, is pretty well endowed with percussion and, if the story is true, it's as likely that Mahler restored much of it himself. Perhaps Alma had the 6th in mind?
A pity that Klemperer, returning to topic, never conducted or recorded the Mahler 5 or 6 as I think he would have been just right for them.
And on the Sixth: "I played the celesta at a performance conducted by Oskar Fried in Berlin, and I think Mahler was present; yes, he was. It's a great work. The last movement is really a cosmos in itself; it's a tragic synthesis of life and death. But I must honestly say that I don't understand it. And I think that the second theme of the first movement is highly questionable."
And, with apologies for moving even further OT, a quick reference to Alma's book, she is very certain that the work she describes is the Fifth - and supports her memory of the date with references to weaning her youngest child, and her subsequent illness "through the sudden drying up of my milk."
"Earlier in the year" she writes, "there had been a reading-rehearsal with the Philharmonic, ... I could not hear [the work's themes] at all. Mahler had overscored the percussion instruments and kettle-drums so madly and persistently that little beyond the rhythm was recognizable. ... He ... then produced the score, and crossed out all the kettle-drums in red chalk and half the percussion instruments too. He had felt the same thing himself, but my passionate protest turned the scale. The completely altered score is still in my possession."Last edited by ferneyhoughgeliebte; 18-06-17, 11:59.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]
Comment
-
Comment