Customer Reviews

Mozart: Symphonies Nos 29, 35 (Haffner), 38 (Prague), 39, 40, and 41 (Jupiter)

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At first I thought this Great Performances reissue of Otto Klemperer's Mozart symphony recordings was just another repackaging by EMI of music that was already in my collection. But then a few words on the track listing told me otherwise.

In 1956, Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra recorded the second album in what was planned to be a major collection of Mozart symphony records, the Symphonies #38 "Prague" and #39. This monaural recording was issued to critical acclaim and Klemperer's Mozart sessions continued, but beginning with the next, the Symphonies 25 and 40, the master tapes were done in stereo. Commercially in that era, having the #38 and #39 in mono just would not do, so in 1962, EMI and Klemperer redid the #38 and #39 in stereo.

The original performance was then deleted from the catalogues and forgotten by EMI, but not by many who admired Klemperer's music-making, preferred the earlier performances, and who cherished their now rarely-found LPs of the original 1956 recordings.

The current Great Performances reissue resurrects half of that original issue. To my great surprise, the Symphony #39 turns out to have been originally master-taped in STEREO, the stereo tape apparently recently rediscovered by EMI in its vaults; this seems to be EMI's justification for including it in this new reissue. It was done in fine stereo sound; I'm glad to hear it this way for the first time, and happy to have it in my collection, though Klemperer "completists" may well balk at having to buy the entire set to get a "new" version of this one performance. Perhaps, as in the case of Klemperer's first (and famous) 1955 EMI record of the Beethoven Symphony #7, EMI will issue the 1956 stereo Mozart #39 separately some day. But I decided not to take the chance, in case they don't!

I do regret that the 1956 recording of the Symphony #38 isn't included; apparently EMI didn't turn up a stereo master tape of that one. Also I regret that EMI could not find space for Klemperer's recording of Mozart's #36 "Linz", which was originally in stereo and an integral part of the collected view of Mozart by a great (perhaps THE greatest) conductor of the twentieth century.

This collection is worth the price just for the first six minutes of CD #2, the most perfect Mozart ever set down on record. Listen and learn what Mozart is all about, and why conductors matter.

The last track of CD #2 is also a knockout

Excellent sound quality for early 1960 recordings.

Was Otto Klemperer (the father of Werner Klemperer, the actor who played Col Klink on Hogan's Heroes) the greatest conductor of the 20th Century? There is good case for "yes". There is better case that Otto was the greatest conductor ever recorded because Celebidache refused to be recorded until very late in life.

Bottom line: Mozart as good at it gets, and a decent value-- almost 3 hrs of music on 2 CDs.

After you get curious about Otto's performances, try his 1951 mono CD of Mahler's Symphony #2, one of the greatest performances ever recorded, and hands down the best ever badly recorded.

I had most of these performances on LP when they came out. I think I learned to love Mozart best through Klemperer's recordings.
Time has not dimmed their brilliance and the sound is superb for their vintage.
Yes - he is slower sometimes but his control over the orchestra and the details that this brings out is revalatory. Dividing the violins was also Klemperer's chosen arrangement and it pays such dividends with Mozart.
I know these are not "authentic" but who cares. This is Mozart playing and conducting of the best calibre. I only hope that the rest of the symphonies he recorded will become available again soon.
If you are new to Klemperer's Mozart - try these you will not be disappointed.

I'm not going to say that these are the greatest performances ever of the late Mozart symphonies or that they're definitive, in part that any performances could be. So many great conductors have recorded this music, and the music itself is in so many ways elusive. Each of them can be played any of number of ways that are valid. Still, these are rather unique performances. (What else would you expect from Klemperer?) I find them hugely appealing.

Klemperer reportedly called himself an amoralist, contrasting himself to Bruno Walter, whom he referred to as a moralist. In many Klemperer performances, I can hear why Klemperer thought of himself that way, but these are such warm, graceful performances. There's nothing of the amoralist about them. Yet I wouldn't say that they're romantic or especially emotional performances. If anything, as in many Klemperer performances, I find myself unusually aware of the inner structure of each movement, of how individual phrases build on one another. Yet nothing sounds clinical or dry here.

Rather, everything sounds abundantly musical, natural, unforced. The performances just seem to happen as if the music is being composed on the spot. There seems to be no concept here except to let the music flow. As such, these performances are not the most moving or emotional ones I've ever heard of this music, but they create a rich and wonderfully varied sound world. These performances sing, they breathe, they pulsate with life, they are human, rich. They allow the music to remain elusive in just the right way, if that makes any sense.

Obviously, these are not what we would nowadays call "historically informed performances," although Klemperer always makes sure the winds are very prominent (as was his custom). They do tend to be a bit on the slow side by today's standards (even though they were recorded before Klemperer's conducting became eccentrically slow in everything except slow movements). Still, the minuets tend to be rather light and graceful, not plodding at all. In fact, everything sounds graceful here, except for phrases where Klemperer seems to feel Mozart wanted it to sound a little clumsy.

While it's unfortunate that no. 36 isn't included in this particular set, the performance of the 29th that's here in place of the 36th seems to me particularly special, making it sound like one of the greatest symphonies.

The sound quality on these recordings is generally warm and natural, with the feeling of a spacious acoustic. The strings never sound steely (a problem that I find with many recordings, no matter when they were recorded).

In short, if you don't have these recordings, but you love Klemperer and Mozart, I think you probably will like them a lot. They certainly don't sound like anyone else's Mozart, but then that's what you'd expect of Klemperer, isn't it?

All of these performances are splendid, and several are well-nigh awe-inspiring. Otto Klemperer, a true Master, generates trememdous excitement not from fast tempi, but from guiding meticulous and precise performances in ways that bring out the innate tensions in the music in full clarity. The orchestral playing is not only taut and exact, but extraordinarily beautiful as well.

Maestro Klemperer has been one of the great Mozart performers in
history. His symphony recordings are among the most idiomatic and
cristal clear anyone can imagine. This album is the best option to
get for this anthology.