Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 (1799-1800)
Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1804-1808)
Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks Baden-Baden/Paul Kletzki
rec. September 1962, Baden-Baden, Germany. ADD stereo
Janus Classics JACL-2 [57]
I am not especially familiar with the Paul Kletzki’s discography, but what of his I do know I like very much, especially his recording of Brahms’s Double Concerto with Ferras and Tortelier – so I was pleased to see this issue, part of an ongoing series of remastered Kletzki recordings by Janus Classics, co-produced with the Wilhelm Furtwängler Society of China (who knew?), who are evidently sponsoring something called the Furtwängler’s Legacy Project. Clearly that also embraces conductors associated with Furtwängler, as Kletzki was his student. For further positive assessments of Kletzki’s craft as both conductor and composer, I refer to reviews by MWI colleagues in the Archive section, particularly those of the “Great Conductors of the Twentieth Century” (review).
Kletzki’s manner with Beethoven reminds me very much of that of a favourite conductor of the symphonies, André Cluytens, and indeed, their timings are similar with the exception of the first movement of the Fifth, which Kletzki takes very fast and omits the exposition repeat, hence we reach the unexpected, lyrical oboe cadenza in the recapitulation only three minutes in and the whole movement is a couple of minutes shorter than the standard duration of something over eight minutes.
The notes by Qiao Huang and the extracts lifted from Berlioz’s and Wagner’s observations about the First and Fifth respectively, assure us that the former is purely “Classical” and that Kletzki’s interpretation is “free from the influence of emotionalism and subjective interpretation”. This may be so, and certainly Kletzki’s way with the work is devoid of overt interventionist gestures, but apart from Beethoven’s obvious indebtedness to strict sonata form, I have never heard the work thus; the First Symphony seems to me to be replete with the tropes I associate with Beethovenian Romanticism – certainly more so than the Second. Whatever the case, the sound is crisp and well-defined, with good balance between the bass and treble, even if the percussion instruments could be more forward and better defined. The Baden-Baden orchestra is not as opulent as the BPO but they are a very tidy outfit which plays with verve, responding willingly to Kletzki’s generally urgent and alert beat. He is one of those conductors who is a background presence in the best sense, in that you feel as if you are hearing what the composer intended without undue interference. There is nothing “routine” about his direction; rhythmic propulsion is always to the fore and if he tends to emphasise the strings they repay that attention with the delicacy and agility of their playing.
The restoration and remastering by Brian Wang, is very fine – this is slim, clean, blemish and distortion-free stereo which brings out Kletzki’s separation of the first and second violins. I have not heard previous incarnation of these recordings but the notes assure us that they were “bottom-heavy” and markedly inferior, so we are getting the best possible experience.
We are also given a history of the orchestra, which, despite resistance, was forcibly merged with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart in 2016.
Ralph Moore
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