The question that nags away whenever Klemperer’s
Eroica is discussed is
whether one favours this 1955 recording or the one made in stereo
in 1961. The essence is similar, the same sense of power, the
weighty architecture, the care taken over the delineation of the
wind choirs – one of Klemperer’s most astute qualities as an orchestral balancer
- as well as the sectional balance between the strings. The main
differences occur in the second movement – considerably slower
in 1961 – and in the finale where opinions certainly differ. Some
find the granitic linearity of Klemperer’s
conception better realised in the later performance but I’ve always
favoured the 1955, where one feels the finale’s spine is better
maintained and the sense of tensile control is just that bit more
gripping. Certainly one can argue that the 1961 recording incarnates
a different kind of tension – an argument that I think
is reasonable – but if one has to decide as definitively as one
can then the case for the 1955 traversal is the more unarguable.
The brass is on
especially fine form, as are the famed winds. The Philharmonia’s
bass line is more strongly etched than most British orchestras
of the day as well. Those for whom the slow movement moves at
a slower tempo will perhaps favour the 1961 reading which lasts
around 17 minutes to the 14:40 of this one, a tempo taken at
a rather faster clip even than Weingartner’s
legendary 1936 Vienna recording, also on Naxos. I find it eloquent
and powerful in both Klemperer performances
and the establishment of a significantly slower tempo only a
few years apart does attest to a certain redefinition of the
contours of the movement in its symphonic context. That may
be something of an index for those who have yet to hear either
recording.
Admirers of the
conductor will have the luxury of comparing and contrasting
both performances, augmented by such live concert or broadcast
material as emerges.
The 1955 Eroica
has been out before, incarnated most
recently in EMI’s GROC series, in a transfer I’ve not yet heard
[5677402 – coupled with the Leonore
overtures 1 and 2]. This Naxos offers
the overtures Nos 1 and 3 in performances
that marry theatrical dynamism with effective dynamic nuance
and colour.
The
transfers are unproblematic and attractive.
Jonathan
Woolf
see
also Review
by Colin Clarke
Philharmonia
