Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio
2. Andante cantabile con moto
3. Menuetto, Allegro molto e vivace
4. Finale, Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace
5. Allegro ma non troppo
6. Andante molto moto
7. Allegro
8. Allegro
9. Allegretto

Disc 2:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Marcia funebre, Adagio assai
3. Scherzo, Allegro vivace
4. Finale, Allegro molto

Disc 3:

1. Adagio molto / Allegro con brio
2. Larghetto
3. Scherzo, Allegro
4. Allegro molto
5. Allegro con brio
6. Andante con moto
7. Allegro
8. Allegro

Disc 4:

1. Adagio - Allegro vivace
2. Adagio
3. Allegro vivace
4. Allegro ma non troppo
5. Poco sostenuto - Vivace
6. Allegretto
7. Presto
8. Allegro con brio

Disc 5:

1. Allegro vivace e con brio
2. Allgretto scherzando
3. Tempo di Meneutto
4. Allegro vivace

Disc 6:

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Molto vivace
3. Adagio molto e cantabile
4. Presto - Allegro assai / Recitative - Allegro assai
5. Overture

Disc 7:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Largo
3. Rondo, Allegro scherzando
4. Allegro con brio
5. Adagio
6. Rondo, Molto allegro

Disc 8:

1. Allegro con brio
2. Largo
3. Rondo, Allegro
4. Allegro moderato
5. Andante con moto
6. Rondo, Vivace

Disc 9:

1. Allegro
2. Adagio un poco moto
3. Rondo, Allegro

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3400 in Music
• Released on: 2000-11-07
• Number of discs: 9
• Formats: Box set, Limited Edition, Original recording reissued

Amazon.com essential recording
Otto Klemperer's Beethoven is one of the towering achievements in the history of recordings. By today's standards, these performances are hopelessly old-fashioned: dark, heavy, and frequently very slow. But they are also the grandest, most unsentimental, most purposeful versions in the catalog. In addition, the relatively slow tempos (only in the fast movements--the slow ones are pretty swift) and forward wind balance permit more detail to be heard than in most original-instrument performances. At budget price and with the entire piano concerto cycle thrown in for good measure, this is greatness incarnate. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

Music of the Spheres.
To own these recordings; what a privilege!

These are to me, without a doubt the most convincing and satisfying accounts of these most eternal symphonic works ever committed to disc.

Without wanting to slaughter this gift by detaining it for analysis, yet there are two characteristic traits worthy of mention to the ardent devotee of Beethoven's works: first, the Klemperer 'sound', and second, the Klemperer 'SOUND'. There is an exact and almost terrifyingly hypnotic fusion here of supreme, organic, and hefty recorded sound quality with a logical, colossal, and well-nigh spiritual traversal of these symphonies.

The orchestra demonstrates a rare and elevated capacity to play through these scores note by note, never forgetting themselves in the frenzy of celestial splendour. They are always in the moment, never rushing, never dabbling, but steady, steady, like some granite truck ploughing through the eternal cosmos, or like an oak tree towering upward, growing, growing, and reaching mesmerizing heights.

I deeply respect the many contributions by other amazing conductors of the bygone era to this canon. The interpretations of Furtwangler, Pfitzner, Weingartner and Toscanini should especially not be overlooked. However, there is a fire in these recordings, an intensity of precision and seriousness that elsewhere have not been matched.

Meditate on these divine works. Appreciate and enjoy them.

Grab it while it's available!
When I read such comments as "hopelessly old-fashioned, dark,
heavy, and frequently very slow," I can't believe your reviewers
heard the same recordings I did. This nine-CD album is an
astonishing achievement and a wonderful contribution to the
recording legacy of Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia (or New
Philharmonia after 1964). Any lover of classical music should
immediately order this set while it is still in the catalog.
Please ignore the carping by some critics that Klemperer indulges
in "impossibly slow tempos." These people ignore the fact that
Klemperer often delivers quite brisk tempi when it suits his
interpretation of the score. Perhaps such critics prefer to
hear every classical piece performed at precisely the metronome
setting they feel matches the tempo markings of the composer, but
that could result in every recording of a work sounding the same.
Klemperer was a maestro who knew what he wanted, and he made sure
his orchestra knew it as well. His output with the Philharmonia
and New Philharmonia included numerous major works ranked by
prominent critics as among the "great recordings of all time."
Sure, there are other conductors with faster, even MUCH faster,
versions of the Beethoven symphonies and concerti and overtures.
Sir Georg Solti and William Steinberg come to mind, and some
critics hated their performances for being TOO fast. But there
are others even slower than Klemperer's slowest passages. I have
numerous versions of the Beethoven symphonies and piano concerti
(LP and CD) in my collection, and I enjoy the differences in
approach of such conductors as Solti, Ashkenazy, Karajan, Boehm,
Kleiber, Furtwangler, Toscanini, Monteux, Stokowski, and others,
even when accompanied by groans, moans, and occasional editing
of the scores. But I challenge anybody to identify a more
majestic set of Beethoven symphonies and concerti than this
Klemperer album. I want especially to compliment the five piano
concerti (featuring Daniel Barenboim as soloist). The sound of
these performances is markedly superior to the original vinyl
records, and the tempi are definitely not a drag. Add to that
the inclusion of the three Leonore overtures and the various
other pieces, and you have an amazing value as well as superb
performances. The only things I would have liked to add are the
Violin Concerto (with Yehudi Menuhin as soloist)and the Fidelio
overture. Incidentally, for those enthusiasts of vinyl records,
let me add that the CD sound (remastered with 24-bit technology)
is every bit as good, and often better than those Angel records,
and there are no unfortunate breaks in movements, such as in the
second movement of the Angel LP of the "Eroica" symphony.

The Truth - but not the Whole Truth
Klemperer's way with Beethoven is nothing if not honest. By the 1950's Otto Klemperer drew his written signature with a bold, truculent hand, the letters shaky but defiant. He had endured much. That signature and these Beethoven performances reveal the same spirit - an essential honesty.

These are bold, defiant, trenchant and experienced performances. They represent essential aspects of Beethoven's genius. Dylan Thomas's pleaded that his father should `rage against the dying of the light'. Beethoven did so. So too did Klemeperer. He rages through these symphonies. Despising superficiality, he scorned a polished, refined orchestral sound. The Philharmonia respond with bold, rugged, trenchant strength. The conductor's hand and beat were in the last years notoriously shaky but the spirit utterly secure, defiant in adversity.

Klemperer's vision is expressed with a defiant, trudging gait, firmly grasped priorities, unbending pride, prominent woodwind, violins divided right and left, thundering timpani in Eroica's the last page, blazing trombones in the finale of the 5th, a galumphing rustic peasant dance in the `Pastoral' (Klemperer insisted this was a slow Austrian county dance).

It is fashionable to prefer early versions of the 3rd, 5th and 7th and the `live' recording of the 9th but the recordings included in this set are quintessential Klemeperer. They represent something elemental, undeniable. Comparison with Klemperer's contemporaries uncovers fundamental differences of personality. Klemperer lacks the beauty and grace of Bruno Walter's vision; the deep peace and equilibrium radiating from Ferencsik's pacific performances; the athletic dynamism that drives Carl Schuricht's. But Klemeperer convinces by patent honesty, stubborn faithfulness to essential aspects in the physiognomy of Beethoven's spirit. Indispensable!