# Otto Klemperer - if only he had recorded the St John Passion



## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

Even though Klemperer's renditions of the Mass in B Minor and the St Matthew Passion are as far as you can get from HIP, these two versions are so ethereal and moving that I can't help but loving them. 
I wish he would have recorded the St John Passion, then we would have an epic triad of Bach's masterpieces by a mastermind conductor.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

We had this thread just three days ago.
Otto Klemperer's St John Passion


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

starthrower said:


> We had this thread just three days ago.
> Otto Klemperer's St John Passion


Leave it to Klemperer to get two threads in one week for a recording he never made...


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## level82rat (Jun 20, 2019)

Better said than I ever could. But good news is the other thread starthrower speaks of provides an apt alternative to Klemperer in the conductor Jochum.






Give it a shot.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Klemperer is the bridge between Bach and Mahler.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

UniversalTuringMachine said:


> Klemperer is the bridge between Bach and Mahler.


Ever heard Mengelberg's St Matt?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

If only pigs could fly........


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Ever heard Mengelberg's St Matt?


That thought frightens me.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

What a coincidence! I am listening to Klemperer's St. Matthew Passion right now!

You should also try: Klemperer's Brandenburg Concertos
His Missa Solemnis (Beethoven's)


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Ever heard Mengelberg's St Matt?


I haven't got the patience


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

ORigel said:


> What a coincidence! I am listening to Klemperer's St. Matthew Passion right now!
> 
> You should also try: Klemperer's Brandenburg Concertos
> His Missa Solemnis (Beethoven's)


Unfortunately the Beethoven is spoiled not jus5 by the lumbering fugues but by is four soloists who don't match


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

What a coincidence! I am listening to Klemperer's St. Matthew Passion right now!

You should also try: Klemperer's Brandenburg Concertos
His Missa Solemnis (Beethoven's)


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

UniversalTuringMachine said:


> That thought frightens me.


It's my absolute favorite


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

It’s subjective so I in no way want to belittle those who like it, but I’m listening to his St. Matthew Passion now, and I am actually appalled. It sounds like a baggy frankensteinian monster to me. Like butter scraped over too much bread, but amplified into a thousand decaying screams.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

It isn't Klemperer or Jochum but Britten's recording (certainly not HIP) of the St John is quite something, with lots of drama and even angst - a classic of the gramophone as they used to say.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

RogerWaters said:


> It's subjective so I in no way want to belittle those who like it, but I'm listening to his St. Matthew Passion now, and I am actually appalled. It sounds like a baggy frankensteinian monster to me. Like butter scraped over too much bread, but amplified into a thousand decaying screams.


:lol: It is rather over the top, isn't it? I used to love it because I saw it as an anecdote to speed-demon HIP performances, but after doing a survey of SMP recordings this April I found myself becoming irritated by his stubborn inflexibility. He has the greatest solo team on record, no doubt about that, but for old-school I much prefer Jochum and even that old Mengelberg. Schreier and Harnoncourt Teldec are some favorites for HIP.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> It's my absolute favorite


Mengelberg is the bridge between Bach and Wagner.

Now I can see why you like it.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> He has the greatest solo team on record, no doubt about that,


Oh, I think that there's considerable doubt about that. Even if one likes Schwarzkopf and thinks that Gedda is acceptable in Bach (I don't, BTW), I can think of several recordings with better solo lineups, starting with Munchinger, Corboz, Solti, Rilling, and Jochum, and there are probably a few that I'm forgetting.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

UniversalTuringMachine said:


> Mengelberg is the bridge between Bach and Wagner.
> 
> Now I can see why you like it.


D9 we want abridge between Bachand Wagner?


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

DavidA said:


> D9 we want abridge between Bachand Wagner?


Who doesn't like St Mathew Passion played like a Wagnerian opera?


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