This release has been sourced from the Richard Itter archive. After twelve years of negotiation, ICA Classics has signed an exclusive long term agreement with the Lyrita Recorded Edition who are responsible for Richard Itter Trust. The collection is very important for collectors because it has never before been released. Despite there being a large number of Otto Klemperer recordings on the market, these Richard Itter tapes of live broadcasts from the Royal Festival Hall and the BBC’s Studios in Maida Vale between 1955 and 1956 have never, as far as is known, been released before. Klemperer was always more exciting when caught live and had added urgency as compared to his studio accounts, particularly at this time before his health deteriorated in later years. His Philharmonia concerts were hugely successful in the mid 50s when Walter Legge was looking to replace Herbert von Karajan who was in the process of leaving for the Berlin Philharmonic. As Richard Osborne states in his notes: “The winter of 1955-56 marked a new dawn for Klemperer.”

-----

REVIEWS:

Klemperer’s Mozart may sound a bit heavy-handed and brusque. On the other hand, the performances are refreshingly direct, projecting exemplary clarity of texture with the wind instruments really cutting through the orchestral tuttis to impressive effect. Likewise, the performance of Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 is really compelling, a good sense of structural cohesion working in tandem with great expressivity and rhythmic precision.

– BBC Music Magazine

Viewed overall, what we have here is the Klemperer we already know and love but granted wings and, trust me, you can tell the difference almost straight away.

– Gramophone