I think I see what you are trying to comune here but I tend to think that the 7th is a flawed child of Mahlers. I have yet to hear any conductor make anything of this symphony because it is so disproportionate from movement to movement and he was trying to bring in non orchestral instruments like the mandolin which requires most of the orchestra to hold back and I just don't think it works. I really think Klemperer wanted to say that even Mahler wasn't perfect.
Klemperer Mahler 7 mystery?
A question to all Mahler afficionados here. I'm a great admirer of Otto Klemperer. His stoic, 'objective' interpretations of the classics have a ring of 'truth' and have 'aged' remarkable well. This would surely include his Mahler recordings of Symphony no. 2, 4 and 9 and Das Lied Von Der Erde. But what about his 7th?
I play this set every once in a while, like today, hoping to finally get it. But like before I can't (under)stand it. I wish my turntable could change gear without changing the pitch. It sounds as if it comes from another universe with a different time scale. I've read that Klemperer was in very ill health at the time of the recording and I'm aware that conductors in their 'old age' tend to slow down their choice of tempo. But this is just sooooo slooooooow, it must have been fully intentional.
Does anyone know the story about this recording?
I play this set every once in a while, like today, hoping to finally get it. But like before I can't (under)stand it. I wish my turntable could change gear without changing the pitch. It sounds as if it comes from another universe with a different time scale. I've read that Klemperer was in very ill health at the time of the recording and I'm aware that conductors in their 'old age' tend to slow down their choice of tempo. But this is just sooooo slooooooow, it must have been fully intentional.
Does anyone know the story about this recording?
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- 10 posts total
- 10 posts total