Otto Klemperer

Alright – I’m gonna save you $100. That’s right. Click on the youtube link below, watch a great documentary about conductor Otto Klemperer and you won’t have to pay $100 to buy the only VHS copy listed at amazon. Must be out of print. No DVD to speak of either and I wouldn’t hold my breath for a release. This thing is about as low budget and funky as it gets, but I found myself laughing out loud many times at the dry, craggy humor of this GIANT of a 20th Century conductor. And considering he topped out at a lofty 6’5” that’s no lie – he was a large boy indeed! Literally – a TOWERING figure of music.

There are so many reasons to like Otto Klemperer. He knew his Beethoven by heart. He was an early champion of Mahler (and knew him as well). He showed distaste for the rise of the Nazi party in Germany after WWI – managed to survive and escape to the USA where he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic for several years before eventually returning to Germany after WWII to give Richard Strauss what for about being politically amoral. Go get ‘em Klemp! In fact, it’s amazing to watch in the film how he navigates through several political situations while remaining true to his ideals and morals. In other words – he moved around a LOT. But consider this – how many people can claim to have enjoyed dual citizenship status of both West Germany AND Israel – simultaneously – in their lives? That’s my man Otto for you.

As if escaping from the Nazis wasn’t enough – life was to deal Klemperer a number of crazy blows. While living in exile in the US, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor – though he survived surgery his recovery was protracted and left him with partial paralysis on his right side (even effecting his facial muscles). In 1951, he suffered a fall and broke his hip. In the early 60s he survived accidentally setting fire to himself (and absent-mindedly trying to put the fire out with a bottle of alcohol sitting on his night-table next to his bed – he admits to doing this in the documentary!!). I don’t think he was ever run over by a sixteen-wheeler truck, but hell – seems like that’s the ONLY thing that didn’t happen to him. The fact that he lived to be 88 years old and worked right up to a year prior to his death is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit – or just crazy luck. Stubborn German, as my mother might put it.

I have to admit, I have only a few of his works – a Bruckner 7th, some Beethoven……but after watching this (admittedly low-budget, but ultimately awesome) documentary I want to grab all the Klemperer I can get my hands on. I really think if you could go back in time and put Otto Klemperer and Sonny Boy Williamson in the same room with a deck of cards you’d have yourself a HELL of a time right there! With the right amount of spiritual lubricants they’d end up either in fisticuffs or laughing and back-slapping each other (or BOTH). I should be so lucky to live to be an 88 year old  badass MOFO like Klemp. They’re not making them like this anymore, folks. It’s mindblowing to see the footage at about 1:20:00 where he’s conducting in a recording session at Abbey Road Studios at around 1970 or so. He looks DISGUSTED with all those interruptions over the recording process – heck! He ain’t PINK FLOYD, y’know!

Watching the documentary, I couldn’t help wondering if Peter Sellers used Klemperer as a model for his Dr. Strangelove character – the resemblance is pretty striking! The film is pretty funky and requires a lot of sub-title reading, but the anecdotes are worth the effort, even if the soundtrack is a little wobbly. I guess what I like most about Otto Klemperer is his refusal to concede to oppressive dictators, his determination and sheer intensity of being. Listening to that Bruckner 7th yet again – there’s a real weight to the performance that must be attributed to Klemperer’s influence.

Here’s a link to the official New York Times obituary – good synopsis of his life and legacy:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0514.html

And here’s that documentary. It’s pretty hard-core stuff, but there are some wonderfully entertaining stories and anecdotes.

Sibelius and the New Year Eureka Moment!

This is composer Jean Sibelius as a young man. There are lots of images of him in his later years as an older man (he lived a very long life), but he's rocking a pretty cool 'stache here. When I started my more disciplined excursion into classical music a few years back, the music of Sibelius appealed to me pretty quickly. I think it was a Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic rendering of the Second Symphony that hooked me in. That was on a compact disc from the Great Performances series. 

In fact, when I first started building up a classical library my main medium was compact discs. I eventually made the jump to vinyl LPs  - cost effective and a lot of fun, as I described in my last entry. For the most part I envisioned this blog to be an outlet for my discoveries in those mediums, thinking “If anyone found themselves rummaging around old LPs in a thrift store and came across a record I profiled they might take a chance knowing it could be a good listening experience.”

Of course, I know not everybody has a turntable these days (not hard to do, but its not a hobby for everyone). But anyone reading my blog obviously has a computer. And so do I. But I have resisted using it as a music delivery system in the man cave. Truth be told – I have a deep connection to vinyl record culture – much more so than even compact disc culture. Vinyl records have a resonance for me – I dunno what it is. I just respond to the record thing. And, to an extent, I’ve had an unfortunate habit of dismissing newer technology before giving it much of a chance.

Now, there’s lots of debate about the old analog vs. digital issue. As far as I’m concerned – good or bad sound can be experienced in both domains. A lot has to do with the recording itself and the way it gets mastered to the medium. And now with lossless digital files like FLAC, really excellent sound is no longer limited to physical media. And that’s not even taking into account the latest HD sites that deliver Hi-Res files in 96/24 bitrate quality! There are some wicked cool advances taking place!

Anyway – it was New Year’s Day and I was just goofing around the net when I came across this recommendation:
http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-Complete-Symphonies-Lemmink%C3%A4inen-Concerto/dp/B004Z4ZN4A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325732397&sr=8-2

This download was priced at $4.99 when I got it, but even still it’s a tempting bargain – all of the Sibelius Symphonies (and more) for that price? Even though the bitrate was no better than a variable one up to 256 I thought – why not? So, I bit. Trouble was – I was no big fan of windows media player or even winamp – at least for listening to music files from the computer.

Enter – FOOBAR2000 ! See that window on my screen below?

This is foobar2000 – finally a user friendly digital media player that is no-frills, does what I need it to do and makes listening to music a breeze from my computer. I can import one symphony at a time – playlists are easy to manipulate. And even this 256 bitrate download sounds pretty reasonable. Yeah – I can tell the frequencies are kinda shaved off the highs and lows, but overall I’m quite enthused!

As I’m writing this I’ve got Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony going and I’m digging it! The nice thing about foobar is I can see the track information clearly both in the larger menu and the playlist menu. Gads – I must sound like an idiot here, but this is a great step forward for me. I know of a few good friends who are laughing their butts off right now as they’re reading this, like “Welcome to the modern age!!” Ha!

Well, I’ll bet there are other great download deals out there. If it helps increase the access to great music I’m ready! Welcome to the New Year! And, of course, I can easily recommend the music of Jean Sibelius. Happy Listening!!!!