Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 7 in A major Op. 92 [38:12];
Symphony No. 8 in F major Op. 93 [27:23];
Overture to Egmont Op. 84 [9:58]
Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer
rec. live, Vienna, 2 June (No 7), 4 June (No 8), 31 May (Overture) 1960
IDIS 6623 [75:37]
This is the fourth disc of IDIS’s series of Klemperer’s Beethoven Vienna concerts
that I have reviewed. It has the same characteristics as earlier issues –
variable but generally poor recording; I do not know to what extent Danilo
Profumo’s re-mastering has improved the original tapes or how it compares
with other issues of this material. There’s minimal presentation and the performances
are very different from those to which we are accustomed today. However their
virtues greatly outweigh these serious defects.
Klemperer’s studio recordings are well known. Highly rated in their day they
now occupy a place of honour but are perhaps more respected than loved. He
was very much a conductor who preferred live performance. Recordings of such
performances, in particular those issued by Testament, have revealed a much
more dynamic and exciting approach. It is not that the generally slower than
usual speeds found on his studio recordings were abandoned; rather that there
is additional drive and conviction. Klemperer’s usual supreme virtues of clarity
of texture and structure are retained. In Symphony No. 8, for instance, the
first movement is taken at what is clearly three in a bar rather than the
virtual one in a bar normally favoured by conductors who now adopt the composer’s
metronome marking of dotted minim equals 69. There is nonetheless no feeling
of the movement lumbering. This is achieved by much clearer articulation than
is usually possible at the faster speed. The repeated quavers in cellos and
basses soon after the start are audible and they help to push the music forward.
Similarly the slower pace enables the later sforzandi on second and
third beats to make much more impact. The internal balance is always carefully
adjusted to ensure that the musical argument is never allowed to flag. The
first movement repeat is made in No. 8 but not in No. 7 – common decisions
at the time of these performances.
As I have said in reviewing earlier issues in this series, these are very
much discs for the collector with other versions already; preferably more
recent and better recorded versions. The recording quality can be wearing
if listened to at length and there are several oddities of balance that may
well be due more to microphone placement than to the conductor’s whim. Nevertheless
this remains a disc to treasure as a reminder of just how great a conductor
Klemperer was in these works in his prime.
John Sheppard
A disc to treasure as a reminder of just how great a conductor Klemperer was
in these works in his prime.
Reviews of other releases in this series
6610
- Symphonies 1 & 3
6612
- Symphonies 2 & 5
6615
- Symphony 9
6619
- Symphonies 4 & 6