When I explored the symphonic works of Anton Bruckner a few years ago, I came across Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) and was surprised to discover a lot of fun thing about him, first and foremost of which is that he was considered one of the great conductors of the 20th century. I had never heard of him before. However, I had heard of his actor son Werner Klemperer, who played buffoonish Col. Klink on the TV series Hogan’s Heroes.
The orchestra for this morning’s recording is the Philharmonia Orchestra. This performance was recorded in 1957.
From the excellent liner notes (written by Richard Osborne) to this Warner Classics box set:
Otto Klemperer, who died in Zurich in 1973 at the age of 88, was the last of a generation within a late 19th-century European culture where music was central to the intellectual and spiritual life of the civilisation it served.
It was record producer Walter Legge who in 1952 first offered the troubled 67-year-old “legend of yesteryear’ a contract and the possibility of a long-term association with the Philharmonia Orchestra which Legge himself had founded.
There can be little wonder that Legge was thrilled with Klemperer’s Beethoven. In 1957 he wrote to a colleague in New York: “When we have completed the Ninth I shall have given you a Beethoven cycle on records that will be prized as long as records are collected.” He was not far wrong.
More about that 1957 cycle in a moment. First, from his bio on Wikipedia:
[Klemperer] was a Jewish German-born conductor and composer, described as “the last of the few really great conductors of his generation.”
[He] was born in Breslau, Province of Silesia, then in Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), as a son of Nathan Klemperer, a native of Prague, Bohemia (today’s Czech Republic). His parents were Jewish. Klemperer studied music first at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, and later at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin under James Kwast and Hans Pfitzner. He followed Kwast to three institutions and credited him with the whole basis of his musical development. In 1905, he met Gustav Mahler while conducting the off-stage brass at a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. He also made a piano reduction of the second symphony. The two men became friends, and Klemperer became conductor at the German Opera in Prague in 1907 on Mahler’s recommendation. Mahler wrote a short testimonial, recommending Klemperer, on a small card which Klemperer kept for the rest of his life. Later, in 1910, Klemperer assisted Mahler in the premiere of his Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand.
Klemperer is less well known as a composer, but like other famous conductors such as Furtwängler, Walter and Markevitch, he wrote a number of pieces, including six symphonies (only the first two were published), a Mass, nine string quartets, many lieder and the opera Das Ziel. He tried at times to get his works performed, as he had hopes of being remembered as a composer as well as a conductor, but had little success. The works he composed have generally fallen into neglect since his death…
Many listeners associate Klemperer with slow tempos, but recorded evidence now available on compact disc shows that in earlier years his tempi could be quite a bit faster; the late recordings give a misleading impression. For example, one of Klemperer’s most noted performances was of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica. Eric Grunin’s Eroica Project contains tempo data on 363 recordings of the work from 1924–2007, and includes 10 by Klemperer – some recorded in the studio, most from broadcasts of live concerts. The earliest Klemperer performance on tape was recorded in concert in Cologne in 1954 (when he was 69 years old); the last was in London with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in 1970 (when he was 85).
See? I find all that interesting stuff.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 1 in C Major), from this particular conductor (Klemperer, at at 72) and this particular orchestra (Philharmonia Orchestra), at this particular time in history (October 28-29, 1957) on this particular record label (Warner Classics) is as follows:
I. Adagio molto………………………………………………………………………………..9:55
II. Andante cantabile con moto………………………………………………………8:53
III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace……………………………………………….4:04
IV. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace…………………………………………………6:20
Total running time: 29:13
My Rating:
Recording quality: 5 (Warner Classics is known for high-quality recordings. Aide from some noticeable – and justifiable – tape hiss, this one is no exception)
Overall musicianship: 5
CD liner notes: 4 (standard Warner Classics booklet with lots of information, and an essay about Klemperer in English, German, and French)
How does this make me feel: 5
This rates an immediate “Huzzah!”
There are three things going for this recording:
1. It’s historicity. It’s the oldest recording (so far) to which I’ve listened. That makes it even more fascinating to me.
2. The quality of the recording. Given the age of this performance (61 years!), this is a remarkable recording. The instruments were vivid and crystal clear. Yes, there’s a bit of tape hiss. But it’s not distracting.
3. The electricity and magic of it. There’s an indescribable something about this performance that grabbed me from first few minutes. I don’t know what it is, why some recordings are remarkable and some are merely competent, and bland.
I love this performance by Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra – despite the fact that it’s the longest I’ve heard so far. Its length is not a problem, as it is so exciting that time flies by much too fast.
This was very well engineered at the time, probably remastered subsequently by someone at Warner Classics, and is now in such a delightful state that it’s something worth listening to on many levels. I highly recommend this recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, and I look forward to hearing the others conducted by Otto Klemperer awaiting me in this box set.