Klemperer Beethoven

This is the latest and, they tell us, the last of EMI’s Simon Rattle Edition, gathering together the conductor’s complete forays into certain composers and repertoire. As with any such project the sets hitherto released have contained both treasures and duds. Even though not everything here is perfect, this set sends the series out on a high with his complete Vienna recording of the Beethoven symphonies.

Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) was internationally recognized and celebrated as an outstanding authority for classical-romantic piano music. Just how well deserved this admiration is, can especially be heard in the Beethoven-concerts and the Diabelli-variations, which are included in this 10-CD-Box and regarded as "trend setting" by critics until today. Early on, Backhaus had become a German pianist of world renown. As a sixteen-year-old he gave his first concert in London

Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) was internationally recognized and celebrated as an outstanding authority for classical-romantic piano music. Just how well deserved this admiration is, can especially be heard in the Beethoven-concerts and the Diabelli-variations, which are included in this 10-CD-Box and regarded as "trend setting" by critics until today. Early on, Backhaus had become a German pianist of world renown. As a sixteen-year-old he gave his first concert in London

For anyone who is a devotee of Otto Klemperer’s readings of the Beethoven Symphonies, they will not be disappointed with much of what is on offer here. In the main, these are weighty and highly-charged performances, with a certain grandeur…Horst gives us monumental, full-blooded and noble readings of these symphonies.

The Ninth makes for a strong conclusion to the set, but it perhaps lacks the grandeur of more traditional performances. It's powerful, meticulously prepared, and deeply committed, but it doesn't belong in the mighty Klemperer-Karajan dynasty. That will be a plus point to some, and a minus point to others. The young-sounding soloists are excellent as a quartet, especially the soprano, but aren't ideal in their solo numbers: the tenor sounds breathless and lightweight at Zinman's pace, and the bass is hardly commanding enough at his entry to be credible as a silencer of the orchestra's din. The chorus is excellent.

In 1955 and at the peak of his postwar powers, Karl Böhm recorded Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Berlin Philharmonic with an all-star cast of soloists. It is a great and powerful performance: tightly argued, superbly played, fabulously sung, and very dramatic. Deutsche Grammophon's original mono recording was clear but a little distant, and the digital remastering keeps the clarity and brings the performers a little closer to the listener. In every way that matters, this is a great Missa Solemnis. The thing is, how many recordings of the Missa Solemnis does anyone want or need? There's Böhm's later 1974 with the Vienna Philharmonic, a deeper and more transcendent performance.

It's not as bad as it might be, but still, except as a memento of the occasion, there really isn't much reason for Eugene Ormandy's 1967 recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis to have been reissued. Columbia's stereo sound was distant and a little tubby and Sony's digital remastering is a little closer but still tubby. The singing is okay but nothing special: Arroyo's is probably the best, but Forrester, and especially Siepi, were showing their vocal age by 1967.