Klemperer Volume 2: Beethoven and Brahms

When this site discussed the first volume of the Warner Classics Remastered Edition albums of conductor Otto Klemperer, it seemed desirable to account for performances of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms in separate articles. Where the second volume of recordings of both operas and sacred works is concerned, there are only four CDs accounting for both composers. Brahms, whose first volume recordings quickly became personal favorites, is accounted for by only one of those CDs with the performance of the Opus 45 A German Requiem. This is “partnered” by a CD of Beethoven’s Opus 123 Missa solemnis. The remaining two CDs provide a performance of Beethoven’s only opera, his Opus 72 Fidelio.

My experience with Fidelio goes all the way back to my pre-college days, when NBC would present occasional broadcasts of opera performances, often abridged and usually in English. My most recent encounter took place in the War Memorial Opera House when it was performed by the San Francisco Opera in the fall of 2021. From the vantage point of my seat, I could appreciate how Music Director Eun Sun Kim had arranged the instrumental ensemble to provide the best account of the interplay between strings and winds. This was also a performance in which the third of Beethoven’s “Leonore” overtures (Opus 72b) provided “interlude” music between the two scenes of the second act.

Klemperer’s recording was a studio affair that did not have to worry about any of the constraints imposed by staging. The result is “all Opus 72” without any “extras.” Among the vocalists, I have to say that I was most impressed by Gottlob Frick’s account of Rocco (the jailer), which provides a rich palette of dispositions that consistently align with the narrative. On the other hand, the “lead” roles of Leonore (mezzo Christa Ludwig) and Florestan (tenor Jon Vickers) seem to be straightforward stand-there-and-sing studio work.

Opus 123 provides an entirely different perspective of Beethoven’s technique as a composer. I have never been able to warm up to this setting of the Mass text; and, more often than not, I come away from both performances and recordings wondering if Beethoven felt the same way. The best I can say is that bass Martti Talvela used to be one of my favorite vocalists; but I always felt that his comfort zone was in opera, rather than sacred music.

The Brahms Opus 45 is another matter. In spite of its title, it is not, strictly speaking, liturgical. Rather, it provides choral settings of texts from both the Old and New Testaments. It consists of seven movements, only three of which require soloists. One of them is for soprano (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf); and the other two are for baritone (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau). What particularly strikes me is that this composition pre-dates all of the instrumental Brahms selections found in the first volume of this Warner collection. The fact that it has always impressed me for its maturity only increases my appreciation for both the technical and expressive sides of Brahms’ skills as a composer.