Latest Release
- APR 10, 2024
- 7 Songs
- Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) · 2009
- Mozart: Die Zauberflote · 1989
- Beethoven: Symphonie No. 3, Fidelio Overture · 2013
- Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op. 77 · 1987
- Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) · 2009
- Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op. 77 · 1987
- Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op. 77 · 1987
- Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) · 1964
- Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29, 35 "Haffner", 38 "Prague", 39, 40 & 41 "Jupiter" · 2000
- Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5 & Choral Fantasy · 2006
Artist Playlists
- From young firebrand to Grand Old Man, Klemperer was a titanic conductor.
About Otto Klemperer
Erratic and sometimes frighteningly moody, both in rehearsal and in performance, Klemperer was also an intensely focused idealist. Born in Breslau (then Germany, now Wrocław, Poland) to Jewish parents, he studied music in Berlin before his big break came when he assisted Mahler in the triumphant 1910 premiere of the latter’s monumental Eighth Symphony. After that he rose steadily, becoming director at the Kroll Opera in Berlin, where he energetically championed new music, including operas by Hindemith, Janáček, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Klemperer fled to Austria, then to the U.S., where, partly as an act of defiance against Hitler, he began to concentrate more on the core German repertory. Never easy to work with, he fell out with authorities in America, then in Budapest; but in partnership with Walter Legge, English record producer and founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra, he went on to establish an unparalleled reputation in the German classics, especially Beethoven. (In 1954, Karajan flew to London just to hear Klemperer conduct Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.) In later years Klemperer became famous for his slow, deliberate tempos, but earlier recordings reveal that he could also take music very fast. In any case, his sense of rhythmic articulation meant that his performances usually had compelling momentum as well as deeply probing expression.
- HOMETOWN
- Breslau, Germany
- BORN
- May 14, 1885
- GENRE
- Classical