Otto Klemperer - Klemperer in Geneva: Bach, Beethoven, Hindemith (1957) [2016]

Klemperer's incredible 1957 Geneva Beethoven 7th

"This is quite the finest Beethoven Seventh I have heard from Klemperer ... One surrenders to it and is swept to an overwhelming conclusion" - MusicWeb International

This live radio recording, sourced here from a later, high-quality French FM rebroadcast, offers us nearly eighty minutes of Otto Klemperer at the height of his musical powers, some three years after he began his run of extraordinary recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra for EMI, thanks to the efforts of legendary producer Walter Legge.

Despite becoming the first principal conductor of the Philharmonia in 1959, it was in Switzerland that Klemperer settled at this stage in his life, and this live 1957 radio broadcast is a rare example of him conducting the primary orchestra of his adopted home. Recorded at Victoria Hall, Geneva, the venue for the orchestra's many Decca recordings (and thus, one might expect, well-equipped and well-known to local sound engineers), the sound quality is excellent throughout following XR remastering, which has dealt effectively with a slightly over-forward tonal balance in the original.

Alas our source material included no applause or other material from the original broadcasts, though timings would have been very tight to include any additional content for this release.

Andrew Rose


Tracks:

HINDEMITH Nobilissima Visione
BACH Orchestral Suite No. 3
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

Personnel:

Otto Klemperer, conductor
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande