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In Reply to: RE: finished listening to Klemperer's Beethoven set posted by TGR on January 29, 2017 at 15:14:10
If I had to choose a Beethoven set besides Furtwangler, it would be Klemperer......
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We all have different reactions. One reviewer said that Furtwangler is a traveler who likes to stop to look at the flowers along the way. That was quite charitable, IMO. What he sounds like to me is a frustrated composer who wishes that he had composed the Beethoven symphonies, and damn right he is going to show you and Beethoven what Beethoven should have written. I find listening to Furtwangler conduct Beethoven to be incredibly intrusive. I don't feel that way with Klemperer, in general.
I have heard Furtwangler do the Eroica, the 5th and the 9th (3 different recordings, which to my mind are more alike in their eccentricities than they are different, which means that he wasn't making it up on the podium, like many think - his interpretations were carefully studied).
Interestingly, Klemperer felt that Toscanini, and not Furtwangler, was the greatest conductor of his time. None of them compared to Mahler, of course, in his opinion.
Many listeners I respect admire Furtwangler's way with Beethoven. It is definitely not for me.
That said, didn't care for his take on the other Beethoven symphonies.His Brahms OTOH has spoiled me for all other performances. Furt can change gears more smoothly than a Lexus. He actually makes Brahms sound like a profound, cosmic guy. And his Wagner?? If I die, I've instructed my brother to toss a memory stick of his Tristan and '50 Ring Cycle into the pyre. (Not as dramatic as watching vinyl melt but hey: I'm with the times.
Edits: 01/31/17
specious soundbites take on a life of their own.
I recall one person mentioning how crappy Scherchen's VSO sounded in the Beethoven Symphonies, but he neglected to mention that others were recorded with Beecham's crack Royal Phil.
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