Search - Beethoven, Philharmonia Orch & Chorus, Klemperer :: Symphony 9-Choral

Symphony 9-Choral
Beethoven, Philharmonia Orch & Chorus, Klemperer
Symphony 9-Choral
Genre: Classical
 

     

CD Details

All Artists: Beethoven, Philharmonia Orch & Chorus, Klemperer
Title: Symphony 9-Choral
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Testament UK
Release Date: 11/16/1999
Album Type: Import
Genre: Classical
Styles: Opera & Classical Vocal, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Modern, 20th, & 21st Century, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 749677117726
 

CD Reviews

Surprising Ninth.
Plaza Marcelino | Caracas Venezuela | 02/07/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The nineties saw the appearance, especially from the EMI stables, of a group of recordings taken live at actual concerts conducted by Otto Klemperer and authorised for release by his estate, some of them taped perhaps too late in his career but very interesting to compare with studio efforts. Live Klemperer recordings have been indeed uncommon, since the conductor was able to studio-record the vast majority of the repertoire that made him famous, a susprising quantity of it in stereo in view of Klemperer's long life span (he lived close to 90). The late fifties saw the recording and release of the conductor's famous HMV stereo set of the Beethoven 9 symphonies, never out of the catalogue since then. I don't know why this recording of Beethoven's Op. 125, taken at a RFH concert in November 1957 was made or if it was ever meant to be released to the general public when EMI put it on tape, but collectors must for ever thank Testament for making it available. If you're acquainted with the Klemperer style mostly from the EMI studio recordings made from the late '50s onwards, you're in for a big, big susprise. On the outside, this live ninth is not strikingly different from the studio recording, made less than a month later with the same participants and available also from EMI in a single disc or as part of the complete 9 symphonies set. But how different it sounds! There's a tense, thrilling atmosphere throughout that is far less present in the studio, as Klemperer --like most of the conductors of his generation, one that comprised monsters of the art like Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler or Erich Kleiber-- could be radically different in a concert hall, before an audience, than in the studio, and this recording does show it all-round. Besides, in 1957 he clearly still had a strength or power of expression that a few years later, save for a few exceptions, age had signifficantly taken away and replaced with idiosyncracies that tended to mar a number of those recordings he made during the last 5 or 6 years of his life (a significant example of this lies in his Bruckner 8th). This ninth is exhuberant with life, joy and dramatic tension, everything fits readily into place and some of the tempi may even susprise listeners more used to Klemperer's famous slowness, here apparent mostly in the scherzo, a slowness that many US record reviewers liked so much to criticise as "pedantic" during the sixties. So, in spite of an over-emphatic timpanist and Hotter's tendency to wobble and miss a few notes in the last movement, this a "Choral Symphony" to place among the very greatest ever put on disc. The sound is very good and clear (stereo, most unusual for a live recording dating from 1957), the conductor's usual orchestral layout a definite plus and Klemperer's legendary exigence of clarity of intonation and articulation very well followed by a Philharmonia Orchestra that at the time was one of the world's greatest orchestras. A must then, and if Testament can dig out similar Klemperer material from record company vaults, may they be blessed for ever!"
Grand and Powerful!
Lincoln-63542 | Raleigh, NC USA | 07/02/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I bought this CD to add to my collection of the Ninth I was not expecting it to rise to my Top 5 Favorites as it did. I compare its vitality and its strenght, as much as the execution of the instruments, particularly the drumming with the one by W. Furtwangler, Lucerne Festival 1953. Is that powerful and passionate! . The Tempo is excellent, the sound is great, the performance of the Soloists and the Philharmonia Chorus is awesome. Kemplerer is taking himself to the category of Sublime here in this rendition. Truly a Testament of Glory and Majesty. The CD is expensive but it worth every penny in performance and sound. Go for it!"
Great, but not as good as...
Ryan Kouroukis | Toronto, Ontario Canada | 05/09/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great live recording from 1957, but it's not as good as the new live Klemperer recording of the 9th TESTAMENT just released.This one is pretty good, typical Klemp, but the new 1961 live recording issued by TESTAMENT totally outclasses and outshines the 1957 version. The playing is more concentrated and intense, and the interpretation has more tragic feeling and greater majesty and nobility than ever before. The choral forces are like a thunderbolt from heaven, when comparing it to its predecesor! It's Klemp like you've never known! Klemp was on fire.Plus, TESTAMENT did a very fine job on the remastering of the mono sound. Actually, the 1961 live Klemp has just become my new favorite 9th, after the 1942 Furtwangler wartime 9th. I would sacrifice the 1957 Klemp and get the 1961 Klemp instead, it's so much better! You go through a much more elevated experience.(By the way...TESTAMENT have also just released the 1961 live Fidelio with Klemperer from Covent Garden!)-We all owe TESTAMENT great thanks for the work their doing and have done on issuing rare Klemps for humanity. Thanks TESTAMENT and thanks OTTO KLEMPERER."