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Sountracks to our lives 11 July 2004CE
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Fitter Stoke
Fitter Stoke
2611 posts

Why Erich Kleiber rocks
Jul 12, 2004, 23:17
Well, without going into full review mode (cos much as I'd like to, I just ain't got time at the mo), Erich Kleiber's 1949 recording of Beethoven's Fifth has an unsurpassed equality of fire, lyricism and poetry in equal measure with tempi and dynamics that seem to these ears just right. It's a devil of a symphony to conduct - too many maestros (including the much-heralded Kleiber junior - Carlos that is) whip through it as if it were 'eavy metal - and miss the heartfelt beauty that permeates virtually the entire work (and not just the slow movement). Keep the power in reserve and the burst of major-keyed daylight that is the final movement shines all the more gloriously.

Mind you, there are at least twenty other recordings of the work I simply couldn't do without, because like all great classical works Beethoven's 5th is far greater than it can ever be played. It's all just dots and squiggles until a great interpreter brings it to life. Erich Kleiber was one such dude. As were Furtwangler, Karajan, Klemperer, Giulini, Schuricht, Toscanini, Boult, Bernstein, Horenstein, Keilberth, Bohm, Jochum, Wand, Szell, Kubelik, Ancerl, Weingartner, Schmidt-Isserstedt and several others I'm too tired to think of.

The best conductors are either dead or nearly dead. Sad but true.
In reply to:
Re: War and Beethoven's Fifth (Billy Milk)
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