I thought that I had read somewhere that OK considered M7 to be a “mistake” on the part of the Composer, but I was challanged to find the quote in another forum and I couldn’t locate it. At any rate, his recording of the Seventh didn’t do much for me
Klemperer Mahler 7 mystery?
A question to all Mahler afficionados here. I'm a great admirer of Otto Klemperer. His stoic, 'objective' interpretations of the classics have a ring of 'truth' and have 'aged' remarkable well. This would surely include his Mahler recordings of Symphony no. 2, 4 and 9 and Das Lied Von Der Erde. But what about his 7th?
I play this set every once in a while, like today, hoping to finally get it. But like before I can't (under)stand it. I wish my turntable could change gear without changing the pitch. It sounds as if it comes from another universe with a different time scale. I've read that Klemperer was in very ill health at the time of the recording and I'm aware that conductors in their 'old age' tend to slow down their choice of tempo. But this is just sooooo slooooooow, it must have been fully intentional.
Does anyone know the story about this recording?
I play this set every once in a while, like today, hoping to finally get it. But like before I can't (under)stand it. I wish my turntable could change gear without changing the pitch. It sounds as if it comes from another universe with a different time scale. I've read that Klemperer was in very ill health at the time of the recording and I'm aware that conductors in their 'old age' tend to slow down their choice of tempo. But this is just sooooo slooooooow, it must have been fully intentional.
Does anyone know the story about this recording?
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how did Bernstein II fare? And yes, @jasonbourne52 , Boulez Seventh is excellent |
The 7th seems to alternate between day & night and is all about "mood". This said, I prefer Bernstein’s 1966 over Klemperer’s --even though it’s faster it seems to be better at bringing out the moodiness. I heard another superb live performance with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin PO (I think)-- recorded in the late 90s Finally there's Tennstedt's live recording from the early 80s, nice but not quite up there with the others IMO. |
- 10 posts total