Shostakovich 9, RAI Symphony/Klemperer, Turin 1956

GP49

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Apr 6, 2010, 1:21:55 AM4/6/10

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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9
RAI Symphony Orchestra
Otto Klemperer, conductor
Live broadcast concert

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=44dea677a83d2311111096d429abd3607274d1436d3c638882e3a934329c7a5e

OR, if you don't like how long links get displayed in abbreviated form
on some message readers:

http://tinyurl.com/yaep4xy

From a mint-condition Fonit Cetra LP

Three FLACs, mono. Tracks are divided the same as on the source LP,
with Movements 3, 4 and 5 in one track.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Otto Klemperer is not exactly the first conductor one associates with
composer Dmitri Shostakovich.

Klemperer never commercially recorded Shostakovich but a radio
broadcast
documents his live concert performance of the Shostakovich Symphony
No.
9 with the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin on 21 DEC 1956. This
recording has been issued intermittenly on various labels (which
misdate
it as "1955"); but it does not appear to be currently available.

Musicweb International, in its website, compares Klemperer's
Shostakovich 9 to that conducted by Rudolf Barshai:

> ...Barshai proved that a Russian could be perfectly idiomatic in
> Mozart and Beethoven. After his move to the west in 1976 Barshai has
> won a lot of respect without ever quite making it to the top. The
> booklet profile (from a commercial issue of Barshai's Shostakovich
> cycle), taking up a comment by Shostakovich about Barshai’s "Eroica",
> states that his "music-making could most easily be compared to
> Klemperer’s".
>
> Easily said, when Klemperer recordings of Shostakovich are not
> exactly two-a-penny. But wait, there is one, so let’s examine the two
> conductors in Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony. Klemperer’s 1955 Turin
> performance of this work used to be available on a Cetra LP and is
> occasionally re-broadcast by the RAI; we may hope that one day a
> re-mastering of the original tapes will produce a less scrawny sound
> than that of the off-the-air tape I am working from. At the outset
> Klemperer is so much slower than Barshai that it seems ridiculous,
> but then you realise that he is thoroughly enjoying the droll humour
> of it all, and he gets bouncier rhythms and cheekier phrasing. It
> sounds closer to Kurt Weill’s pre-war Berlin than to post-war
> Shostakovich, but it has character and I’m afraid Barshai’s neat
> reading sounds merely bland in comparison. Klemperer also gets a
> weird mixture of beauty and sleaze out of the second movement and in
> the third movement, where he is scarcely slower than Barshai, the
> players sound possessed where Barshai’s are no more than spick and
> span. By this time Klemperer has the Turiners absolutely under his
> thumb. The brass in the fourth movement blow raspberries in a way
> Barshai does not even attempt and the Turin bassoonist is momentarily
> transformed into the greatest bassoonist in the world as Klemperer
> coaxes a saxophone-like whine and some bilious rubato from him. And
> in the finale Klemperer, at a faster tempo than Barshai, again revels
> in the cheekiness of the music.
>
> So please, a warning to over-zealous fans of present day musicians:
> don’t make comparisons that risk blowing up in your face! Barshai is
> a very fine conductor but a great conductor is another thing and
> Klemperer, even in music for which he presumably had only a passing
> interest, was unmistakably that.

-MusicWeb International article:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/July02/Shostakovich_Barshai.htm

Christopher Howell

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Apr 6, 2010, 8:37:00 AM4/6/10

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On 6 Apr, 07:21, GP49 <gpoo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9
> RAI Symphony Orchestra
> Otto Klemperer, conductor
> Live broadcast concert
>
>

> Otto Klemperer is not exactly the first conductor one associates with
> composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
>
> Klemperer never commercially recorded Shostakovich but a radio
> broadcast
> documents his live concert performance of the Shostakovich Symphony
> No.
> 9 with the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin on 21 DEC 1956. This
> recording has been issued intermittenly on various labels (which
> misdate
> it as "1955"); but it does not appear to be currently available.
>
> Musicweb International, in its website, compares Klemperer's
> Shostakovich 9 to that conducted by Rudolf Barshai:

As the author of the MusicWeb piece you quote I am grateful to have
had the opportunity to compare your LP transfer with my off-air
version (recorded on cassette from a broadcast in the 1990s, burnt
onto CDR a few years ago). In spite of the obvious disadvantages of
this process I hear a slightly more open sound on my transfer. RAI
have by now put all their more important archive items on digital
support which is likely to be much better than the over-filtered Cetra
LPs if only it could be made officially available.

Re the correct date, what is your source for this? RAI themselves
announced it as 21 December 1955 (and the same date for Stravinsky
Pulcinella and Strauss Till Eulenspiegel) and they should know, though
I suppose if their own catalogue is mistaken this would account for
others having repeated the mistake over the years. From 17 December
1956 is a concert including Beethoven 1 and Schubert 8.I must say it
seems unlikely two different programmes were played only five days
apart since the Turin concerts were always held weekly and I'd tend to
believe RAI's own dating unless you have conclusivce evidence that
it's wrong.

Chris Howell

TareeDawg

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Apr 6, 2010, 9:04:17 AM4/6/10

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This concert took place on Dec 21st 1956 in Turin.

I have the whole concert on cassette. Also from the concert on my
cassette is Till Eulenspiegel, Pulcinella Suite (1949) and Haydn's
symphony 101 The Clock.

The first movement of the Shosty 9 is how I expect it to go. Wonderful
performance by Klemps at his considerable peak. The tape was copied from
a Fonit Cetra recording LAR37.

Ray Hall, Taree

GP49

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Apr 6, 2010, 10:07:36 AM4/6/10

to

On Apr 6, 5:37 am, Christopher Howell <ckhow...@ckhowell.com> wrote:

> Re the correct date, what is your source for this? RAI themselves
> announced it as 21 December 1955 (and the same date for Stravinsky
> Pulcinella and Strauss Till Eulenspiegel) and they should know, though
> I suppose if their own catalogue is mistaken this would account for
> others having repeated the mistake over the years. From 17 December
> 1956 is a concert including Beethoven 1 and Schubert 8.I must say it
> seems unlikely two different programmes were played only five days
> apart since the Turin concerts were always held weekly and I'd tend to

> believe RAI's own dating unless you have conclusive evidence that
> it's wrong.

=============================

I referenced the discography in Volume II of Peter Heyworth's Otto
Klemperer biography. It specifically mentions the discrepancy in
concert date.

GP49

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Apr 6, 2010, 10:22:45 AM4/6/10

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On Apr 6, 6:04 am, TareeDawg <raymond.ha...@bigpond.com> wrote:

> This concert took place on Dec 21st 1956 in Turin.
>
> I have the whole concert on cassette. Also from the concert on my
> cassette is Till Eulenspiegel, Pulcinella Suite (1949) and Haydn's
> symphony 101 The Clock.
>
> The first movement of the Shosty 9 is how I expect it to go. Wonderful
> performance by Klemps at his considerable peak. The tape was copied from
> a Fonit Cetra recording LAR37.

Fonit Cetra LAR37, I believe, is a three-LP set with several Klemperer
concert performances in Italy from the same timeframe. The LP I
transferred is labeled as part of LAR37; the Shostakovich 9 is Side 6;
other side of the LP is Side 5, Pulcinella Suite. I may be able to
get the rest of the LP set. If so, hopefully it will be in the same
fine condition as this LP.

As for RAI's digital archive of their broadcasts, wouldn't the
digitalization make them "new" recordings and thus subject to
copyright for decades into the future; while (at least in Europe) the
original analog recordings would now be public domain? Perhaps someday
they may become interested enough to make a CD or downloadable issue
of these and other fine concerts in their library. The sound on the
Fonit Cetra LP is definitely heavily filtered; there appears to be
nothing above 8KHz on the LP.

woytek

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Apr 6, 2010, 10:50:18 AM4/6/10

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Big thanks for making available this rare recording. If You can upload
other two LP's from Fonit Cetra LAR37 - it will be great!

TareeDawg

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Apr 6, 2010, 10:49:17 AM4/6/10

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As far as I am aware, any digitization of an out-of-copyright recording,
does not infer new copyright entitlements of the performance as such.
But I could be wrong of course.

Ray Hall, Taree

O

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Apr 6, 2010, 10:56:14 AM4/6/10

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In article <NRHun.17662$pv.1...@news-server.bigpond.net.au>, TareeDawg
<raymon...@bigpond.com> wrote:

It will depend on the laws of the country, but generally speaking a new
digitization would create a new "publication" of the item, so you
couldn't take the new digitization and create and sell copies. This
new release would not affect the copyright on the original recordings
themselves.

-Owen

@thumppunktorg Neil

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Apr 6, 2010, 11:14:16 AM4/6/10

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On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:21:55 -0700 (PDT), GP49 <gpo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9
>RAI Symphony Orchestra
>Otto Klemperer, conductor
>Live broadcast concert

This is awesome!!! thanks.

I wish I could get hold of his Sibelius 4th. AFAIK only every
conducted in once...

Christopher Howell

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Apr 6, 2010, 3:28:51 PM4/6/10

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On 6 Apr, 16:56, O <ow...@denofinequityx.com> wrote:
> In article <NRHun.17662$pv.13...@news-server.bigpond.net.au>, TareeDawg

> -Owen- Nascondi testo citato
>
> - Mostra testo citato -

I had understood that a re-broadcast in which the material is
remastered makes a new copyright. When I expressed a wish that RAI's
digitalizations might be made available I meant in a proper and legal
manner. Arts Archive have issued a considerable series covering Maag,
Cluytens and Giulini using the original tapes so RAI will evidently
negotiate if approached. Any issue bearing the trademark
"RaiTrade" (this includes a number of opera videos too) is official.

Chris Howell

woytek

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Apr 6, 2010, 3:33:04 PM4/6/10

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Fifties was tremendous time for RAI orchestras in Rome and Turin.
Concerts with Klemperer, Walter, Rodzinski (Szymanowski Stabat
Mater), Celibidache, Barbirolli (great Dream of Gerontius),
Furtwangler (Wagner Ring)... On European Archives are available Fonit
Cetra LP's with Furtwangler Concerts from Rome and Torino:
- http://www.europarchive.org/item.php?id=lp-31332_BeG Beethoven IV
Piano Concerto Pietro Scarpini Rome 19.01.1952
- http://www.europarchive.org/item.php?id=lp-31333_BeG Brahms Violin
Concerto Gioconda de Vito Turin 7.03.1952
- http://www.europarchive.org/item.php?id=lp-31334_BeG Beethoven
Eroica Rome 19.01.1952
- http://www.europarchive.org/item.php?id=lp-31335_BeG Beethoven V
Symphony Rome 19.01.1952

Sol L. Siegel

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Apr 7, 2010, 1:04:15 AM4/7/10

to

GP49 <gpo...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:2624d983-0d1d-45c5...@w17g2000yqj.googlegroups.com:

> Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9
> RAI Symphony Orchestra
> Otto Klemperer, conductor
> Live broadcast concert
>
> http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=
44dea677a83d2311111096d429abd3607274
> d1436d3c638882e3a934329c7a5e
>
> OR, if you don't like how long links get displayed in abbreviated form
> on some message readers:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yaep4xy
>
> From a mint-condition Fonit Cetra LP
>
> Three FLACs, mono. Tracks are divided the same as on the source LP,
> with Movements 3, 4 and 5 in one track.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Otto Klemperer is not exactly the first conductor one associates with

> composer Dmitri Shostakovich...

>> ...a warning to over-zealous fans of present day musicians:
>> ...a great conductor is another thing and

>> Klemperer, even in music for which he presumably had only a passing
>> interest, was unmistakably that.
>
> -MusicWeb International article:
>
> http://www.musicweb-
international.com/classrev/2002/July02/Shostakovich
> _Barshai.htm

Was the author of that article unaware of the oft-repeated story of
Klemperer visiting Shostakovich in Moscow in 1936, looking through the
score of the just-completed 4th Symphony and proclaiming it a
masterwork?

Somehow I can imagine Klemperer tackling the piece - assuming, of
course, that Shostakovich hadn't been forced to suppress it.
(Shostakovich reportedly was studying the score of Mahler's 7th, a work
that Klemperer eventually recorded, during the period just before
starting work on the 4th.) As it turned out, he never did. If he had,
it might not have fit on a single LP - or even CD!

--
- Sol L. Siegel, Philadelphia, PA USA

Christopher Howell

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Apr 7, 2010, 2:01:27 AM4/7/10

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On 7 Apr, 07:04, "Sol L. Siegel" <vod...@aol.com> wrote:

>
> Was the author of that article unaware of the oft-repeated story of
> Klemperer visiting Shostakovich in Moscow in 1936, looking through the
> score of the just-completed 4th Symphony and proclaiming it a
> masterwork?
>

> --
> - Sol L. Siegel, Philadelphia, PA USA- Nascondi testo citato

Yes, the author of that article (myself as I've already said in this
thread) was unaware of that story and is grateful to have heard it
now.

Chris Howell

Christopher Howell

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Apr 7, 2010, 2:08:13 AM4/7/10

to

On 7 Apr, 07:04, "Sol L. Siegel" <vod...@aol.com> wrote:
>

> Somehow I can imagine Klemperer tackling the piece - assuming, of
> course, that Shostakovich hadn't been forced to suppress it.
> (Shostakovich reportedly was studying the score of Mahler's 7th, a work
> that Klemperer eventually recorded, during the period just before
> starting work on the 4th.) As it turned out, he never did. If he had,
> it might not have fit on a single LP - or even CD!
>

On the other contrary, if he'd recorded it around the time of his Vox
Bruckner 4 (1949), a 10" LP would have been enough. And as I pointed
out in my MusicWeb piece, even in the 1955 Shostakovich 9th, once past
the (deliciously) slow first movt, several of his tempi are faster
than Barshai

Chris Howell

GP49

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Apr 7, 2010, 11:04:31 AM4/7/10

to

On Apr 6, 10:04 pm, "Sol L. Siegel" <vod...@aol.com> wrote:

=============================

According to Heyworth, Klemperer visited Shostakovich on May 30, 1936.
At the piano, Shostakovich played his newly-completed (three days
earlier) Fourth Symphony and Klemperer was so impressed by its "strong
Mahlerian flavor" that he requested the right to the first performance
outside the USSR. Of course, that was not to be as the Fourth
Symphony was withdrawn by Shostakovich that winter, while under
intense official criticism of his recent music while Stalinist purges
were sweeping the country; the first Moscow Show Trials had taken
place in August 1936 and had resulted in death sentences for the
primary defendants.

GP49

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Apr 8, 2010, 1:31:06 AM4/8/10

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On Apr 6, 8:14 am, Neil <neil @ t h u m p PUNKT org> wrote:

> I wish I could get hold of his Sibelius 4th. AFAIK only

> conducted in once...

With the Los Angeles Philarmonic, IIRC. In those days, Sibelius 4 was
regarded as "new music" and Klemperer was constantly in a battle with
the LA Phil's management, for his programming too much modern music.
Remember that this was the orchestra whose management wanted the
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 to be performed without the last movement,
so that it would end rousingly with the march-like third movement.

Although archival material has come out of Klemperer's Los Angeles
days, there isn't any Sibelius.

RiRiIII

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Apr 8, 2010, 5:30:58 AM4/8/10

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Italian Radio Tre broadcast the following on 5 & 6 October 2008:

ESERCIZI DI MEMORIA - SUONI DALL'ARCHIVIO DELLA RADIO
OTTO KLEMPERER

Ludwig van Beethoven
Sinfonia n.1 in do maggiore op.21