Otto Klemperer & New Philharmonia Orchestra - Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

The German conductor Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) was born in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). He studied at the Frankfurt Conservatory, then at Berlin's Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory, where he took lessons in composition and conducting from Pfitzner, making his debut in Berlin in 1906 with Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers. On Mahler's recommendation he became chorus master then conductor at Prague's German Theatre (1907-10); between 1910 and 1917 he worked at the opera houses of Hamburg, Bremen and Strasbourg; he was musical director at Cologne (1917-24), Wiesbaden (1924-27) and Berlin's Kroll Opera (1927–31), but left Nazi Germany in 1933, eventually settling in the USA, where he became conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1933-39).

After a brain tumour operation in 1939 his career faltered until he became director of the Hungarian State Opera (1947-50). In the 1950s and 60s he achieved great success, largely through his association with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and his recordings for EMI. In 1959 he was appointed the Philharmonia's 'conductor for life'. His last concert was in September 1971. Many of Klemperer's fine EMI recordings are available in the Great Recordings of the Century series.

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major WAB 105, was written in 1875–1876, with minor changes over the next two years. It came at a time of trouble and disillusion for the composer: a lawsuit, from which he was exonerated, and a reduction in salary. Dedicated to Karl von Stremayr, education minister in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the symphony has at times been nicknamed the "Tragic", the "Church of Faith" or the "Pizzicato"; Bruckner himself referred to it as the "Fantastic" without applying this or any other name formally.

The Symphony No. 6 in A major, WAB 106, by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) is a work in four movements composed between 24 September 1879, and 3 September 1881 and dedicated to his landlord, Anton van Ölzelt-Newin. Only two movements from it were performed in public in the composer's lifetime. Though it possesses many characteristic features of a Bruckner symphony, it differs the most from the rest of his symphonic repertory. Redlich went so far as to cite the lack of hallmarks of Bruckner's symphonic compositional style in the Sixth Symphony for the somewhat bewildered reaction of supporters and critics alike.

According to Robert Simpson, though not commonly performed and often thought of as the ugly duckling of Bruckner's symphonic body of work, the symphony nonetheless makes an immediate impression of rich and individual expressiveness: "Its themes are exceptionally beautiful, its harmony has moments of both boldness and subtlety, its instrumentation is the most imaginative he had yet achieved, and it possesses a mastery of classical form that might even have impressed Brahms."

Tracklist:
01 - Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106_ I. Maestoso
02 - Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106_ II. Adagio. Sehr feierlich
03 - Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106_ III. Scherzo. Nicht schnell - Trio. Langsam
04 - Symphony No. 6 in A Major, WAB 106_ IV. Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
05 - Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, WAB 105_ I. Introduction. Adagio - Allegro
06 - Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, WAB 105_ II. Adagio - Sehr langsam
07 - Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, WAB 105_ III. Scherzo. Molto vivace - Trio. Schnell
08 - Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, WAB 105_ IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro moderato


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