Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral' - CD

This set includes the first two piano concertos (No. 1 in two versions, one with cadenzas supplied by Glenn Gould) together with Beethoven’s only completed opera in its final version: Fidelio.

Otto Klemperer was born on 14th May 1885 in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland) and died on 6th July 1973 in Zurich and hence next year we mark 40 years since his passing. He had had a remarkable career as a young man but it was at the age of 70 that he started a series of recordings that would not only establish him as an internationally renowned conductor but provide EMI with a catalogue of recordings that became and remain touchstones.

Walter Legge, founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra and one of EMI’s chief recording producers, wanted to secure a set of Beethoven symphonies that would not only fill an immediate commercial need but would stand the test of time. In Otto Klemperer he found the ideal candidate and their partnership yielded not only the Symphonies and Overtures (some more than once) but also the Missa Solemnis and Fidelio.

Beethoven was fated to struggle throughout his life especially with the deafness that he started to notice when in his early thirties, thereby forcing him to look increasingly to his inner being for the spark of creation. Klemperer, too, had his fights for life including suffering a stroke whilst a brain tumour was being removed and having to flee his country within a day to prevent potential arrest by the Nazi authorities.

This set not only includes the symphonies (with both versions of Nos. 3 and 5 and all three of No. 7) but also nine of the Overtures (with duplicate versions) and extracts from the Incidental music to Egmont and the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. Although these recordings have been available in various couplings, this is the first time that a comprehensive collection of Beethoven’s solo orchestral work conducted by Otto Klemperer has been made.

Herbert von Karajan, the legend! Spectacular 10 CD Classic-Box! He was one of the most significant and well-known orchestra leaders of the 20th century.

He was working with big and famous symphonic orchestras in all well-known operas all over the world. This Box contains a representative profile of his creation.

Very few great conductors were able to polarise the concert scene like the Romanian-born Sergiu Celibidache (1912-1996). He hated marketing in all of its forms, and with the exception of Wilhelm Furtwängler, was disparaging of his more famous fellow conductors, including Herbert von Karajan and Arturo Toscanini. He also loathed going into the studio, so most recordings illustrating his astounding talents as a conductor are of concert performances.

The recordings featured in this 10-CD set were made between 1945 and 1963, and are mainly live broadcasts given with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin and Cologne, and a number of Italian radio orchestras. The repertoire ranges widely - from the English baroque of Purcell through Viennese Classicism of Mozart to Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Strauss. The compilation also features several popular works from the 20th century (Ravel, Gershwin and Samuel Barber for instance), plus music by Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling and Harald Genzmer associated with the German avant-garde. The least-known pieces are undoubtedly orchestral works of Heinz Thiessen (1887-1971), Celibidache’s composition teacher, to whom a full disc is devoted.

The legendary conductor Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) was known for his strict readings of scores and turned concerts and recordings into monumental documents of his art. In particular his performances of the works of the great symphonists Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner during the last two decades of his life are recognised as classics of the period. On this 10CD boxed set he conducts the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in recordings of all nine Beethoven symphonies as well as incidental music from “Egmont”, Brahms’ Symphonies 1 and 3 and Piano Concerto No. 2, and Bruckner Symphonies 4, 7, & 8.