49.00 PLN

CD:

Nr kat.: SBT1405
Label  : Testament (UK)

In the mid-1950s Otto Klemperer finally achieved a reputation as a great conductor, mainly through his interpretations of Beethoven’s symphonies with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. The publicity that attended the septuagenarian conductor’s performances as well as his recordings at this time made it seem as if he was concentrating too much attention on one composer, and there were suggestions that the Philharmonia management were pressurising him to perform Beethoven when he wanted to conduct other composers’ music. Apart from one brief period there was in fact no reason for him to feel that he was being asked to conduct too much Beethoven. The composer had featured strongly in his repertoire from early days, as it had in the repertoire of most prominent Austro-German conductors of the early twentieth century, and he had made recordings of both the First and Eighth symphonies in Berlin in 1924. But during the whole of his close association with the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1954 to 1971 (it was called the New Philharmonia Orchestra from 1964), he performed these two symphonies in London on only seven occasions each. Nearly all these performances took place within Beethoven ‘festivals’, a series of concerts that contained all the symphonies plus concertos and other works. The first Beethoven festival was held in the autumn of 1957. At this stage the Philharmonia Orchestra’s artistic director, Walter Legge, wanted to confirm Klemperer’s status as a leading Beethoven conductor of his time, and a festival devoted to the composer was an ideal showcase. The conductor had already recorded the Third, Fifth and Seventh symphonies for EMI’s Columbia label with the Philharmonia, and in his capacity as Klemperer’s recording producer Legge made plans for him to record the remaining six symphonies. The Ninth Symphony would be recorded and given two performances with a new choral body, the Philharmonia Chorus, which was trained to the highest standards. The two symphony performances on this disc come from the 1963 festival, which was spread over several weeks. It was usual for the Ninth Symphony to be paired in these events with either the shorter First or Eighth symphonies, and this year it was the First Symphony that played the supporting role: it opened the concert on 2 December. The Eighth Symphony was played on 14 October, and was the last item in a programme that began with the Weihe des Hauses Overture, followed by the Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein as soloist. Klemperer performed the Grosse Fuge on only three occasions in London. The first was in March 1957, and the second in November 1963, when the work was included in that year’s Beethoven festival. The recording on this disc comes from a single Beethoven concert which took place on 20 February 1966, when the Grosse Fuge opened a programme which also contained the Eighth and Seventh symphonies. Extract from the booklet note: Alan Sanders, 2007