Otto Klemperer's Long Journey Through His Times

FINALLY! Few re-issues on DVD in recent years have given such cause for outright celebration as these two legendary films about Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) by Dutch filmmaker and author Philo Bregstein!OTTO KLEMPERER’S LONG JOURNEY THROUGH HIS TIMES was available in the US on a Facets VHS in the late 1980s I remember but vanished soon after. As he hints at some dark history (“fierce disagreements” with his first editor), Bregstein admits that he felt he had never entirely succeeded in rescuing the second, 1984 version from “the errors of that first editing” job. Bregstein it seems was simply ahead of his time: using digital state-of-the-art editing techniques he has now re-edited and restored both his films in an absolutely stunning fashion. And that goes for picture as well as sound: the re-mastered excerpts for example from the Offenbach, Richard Strauss (Salome’s Dance!) and Kurt Weill recordings Klemperer made way back in 1928 and 1931 are just magnificent!Klemperer apparently had a strong aversion to being filmed. Bregstein says he finally got him to agree in 1971 after Klemperer had watched a TV documentary Bregstein had made about the destruction of Dutch Jewry during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Their taped (off-camera) conversations reveal a close personal involvement. Bregstein: “I asked him to testify about his century.” What follows is one of the most absorbing portrayals of Klemperer’s life and times one can imagine, the energy of the film’s narrative underpinned by an absolutely riveting soundtrack solely made up of Klemperer recordings.I’ll highlight some of the episodes that struck me most.MAHLER – Klemperer first met Mahler in 1905 when Klemperer, still at the conservatory, conducted the off-stage orchestra in Mahler’s Second Symphony under Oskar Fried in Berlin. Throughout Bregstein shows us Klemperer rehearsing parts of that same symphony in London in May 1971. He is then 86: utterly fascinating to see him getting the orchestra to do the opening bars right, or trying to obtain the rubato playing he wants in the second movement.KROLL OPER – Bregstein’s account of Klemperer’s near mythical avant-garde Kroll Opera years in Berlin (1927-1931) is a tour-de-force of cinematic storytelling. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Paul Hindemith, Leos Janacek, Kurt Weill: Klemperer championed them all in his anti-romanticist embrace of modernism. Contemporary-dress performances of such operas as Wagner's Flying Dutchman have left a lasting impact, enlivening opera stagings till today. One marvels how Bregstein succeeded in interviewing so many of the key witnesses that had worked with Klemperer or had known him at the time, foremost among them his close friends the dramatist Hans Curjel, the composer Paul Dessau and the philosopher Ernst Bloch.From the socio-cultural and political background Bregstein sketches with a sure hand from rich and often unique historical archive material Klemperer effortlessly emerges as one of the “pivotal figure[s] in the explosion of creativity during the Weimar Republic that was to revolutionize the performing arts of the 20th century.”EXILE – When the Nazis seize power in 1933 Klemperer flees to the United States and becomes principal conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, then privately funded and “not very good – when he left it was a first-class band.” New York eludes him: Mahler’s Second Symphony (!) in December 1935 with Toscanini’s New York Philharmonic Orchestra draws a half-empty hall.ILLNESS – As is well known today, Klemperer suffered his entire life from bipolar disorder; both manic and depressive periods could last for years. Following a successful operation in 1939 for a (benign) brain tumor (but partial physical paralysis would remain with him for the rest of his life), the illness flares up in all its manic ferocity, unsettling his private life and derailing his professional career for the next 5 years.The more tragic events of this period are passed over in silence here. So is Klemperer’s liaison with the soprano Maria Schacko, 20 years his junior and married at the time to the conductor Maurice Abravanel. Bregstein obviously has no patience with gossip. “For that we have the eminent 2-volume biography of Peter Heyworth,” he proposes (in a different context). Watching his close friend gradually regain his grip on reality, Ernst Bloch was to write: “Klemperer’s musicality stood like a fortress in occupied territory, the sole part of his character to resist the devastating impact of his illness.”BUDAPEST – Klemperer’s career and his health pick up when in 1947 he becomes GMD at the Budapest State Opera in Hungary. Bregstein’s marvelous Budapest sequence leaves no doubt that Klemperer’s three years there formed one of the happiest periods in his life. But when communist cultural repression intrudes upon his artistic credo, Klemperer leaves Budapest abruptly: “How can you expect Don Giovanni to know Marxism?!” Ironically, back in America, the authorities confiscate his passport suspecting him of Communist sympathies.INDIAN SUMMER – In 1954 Klemperer, nearing 70, embarked on what was to become his famous Indian Summer with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. For many of us his reputation today rests on the wealth of recordings he made with them for EMI (now Warner Classics) as well as “live” – performances that remain unique for their expressive power, structural command and textural transparency.In 1964, when Walter Legge, its narcissistic owner, disbanded the orchestra, they regrouped on the spot as the New Philharmonia with Klemperer as their president. Clips of their first concert with Beethoven’s Ninth in a sold-out Royal Albert Hall that same year punctuate LONG JOURNEY at moments of celebration (loyally standing by the orchestra in their hour of need, Klemperer had agreed to have BBC TV film the concert).Bregstein’s second film, KLEMPERER THE LAST CONCERT, centers on Klemperer’s final public appearance as we see him, “a gaunt Lear,” presiding over the New Philharmonia Orchestra in London’s Royal Festival Hall in September 1971. To great effect Bregstein has now interwoven the rehearsals and the first movement of Brahms’s Third Symphony he was allowed to film at the time with interviews he did as recently as 2015 with David Whelton, the Philharmonia’s managing director, pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy reminiscing about the Brahms Second Piano Concerto he played under Klemperer in 1968, Karen Stephenson, the Philharmonia’s current second cellist playing excerpts from the same cello part that Klemperer had marked up 45 years ago, and with conductor and musicologist Antony Beaumont, who played under Klemperer in that “last concert”.The result is a superbly told story of the extraordinary and now legendary relationship that evolved between Klemperer and the orchestra. The sumptuously designed hardback book Arthaus has included contains further insightful notes also here. Longstanding orchestra member Peter Beavan: “Underlying it all was a foundation of rocklike rhythm and spiritual awareness that, for me at least, lifted a work such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis into a realm far beyond earthly music making.”ARTHAUS have done themselves proud with this generously produced luxury set whose bonus features include the complete digitally re-mastered audio recording of Klemperer’s last concert that survived in mono, and short but riveting filmed (1972) interviews with Ernst Bloch and Pierre Boulez. “Klemperer was a giant of a man,” remarks David Whelton. This superlative ARTHAUS edition goes straight to the heart of that greatness where the art of Klemperer’s music making is concerned and of the man himself as an utterly compelling human being in his defiance of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Mesmerizing!

A marvelous and extraordinary film where Mr Brechtsein was able to film this extraordinary person but also he showed us the times Klemperer lived in Los Angeles and his work at the famous Kroll Theater in Berlin.I was fortunate to attend many of his concerts with the Residentie Orchestra and Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands.and will never forget Klemperer conducting Mahler 4th symphony with Maria Stader ( I think).A film a must for those who love music and for those who are interested in the cultural live in Berlin before the Nazi's took over.This film should be in all music libraries in the world.Paul Vandenmuysenberg

Thia documentary could recently be seen on YouTube but has been removed due to copyright reasons.It is not available any longer as it has not been released on DVD. I write this to urge the copyright owners to release it as DVD as it is a magical tour not only through Klemperer's own life but also through his times from his early encounter with Mahler, the modernist opera productions at the Kroll Oper in Berlin of the Weimar years, his exile in the US and his return to postwar Europe and finally his indian summer with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. His own laughters when telling stories - "Klempereur" as he sometimes was nicknamed due to his formidable personality.

This is the only way to get closer to the great conductor Otto Klemperer save his recordings.This video documentary/biography is about an hour and 40 min and goes through every major and minor event of his life. Clips from rehearsals, rare photographs, anecdotes and interviews bussle throughout giving us a glimpse into the Man and his Art! It is a profoundly moving film.It is an essential video for those who love the greatness of Otto Klemperer.(So far this has not been issued on dvd, and is not even available on vhs either...but I have made copies for anyone interested, pls contact rkouroukis[at]gmail[dot]com)

le coffret comporte un CD ( le dernier concert ) , un livret important sous forme de petit livre à la couverture cartonnée et 2 DVD ( le dernier concert et un film documentaire de 100mn ) : une somme . Le dernier concert est fort intéressant sur le de l'art interprétatif tardif du maître , mais assez mal capté , malheureusement . Probablement à cause du lieu car en 1971on savait faire de très bonne captations , même en public ...Le DVD du concert est complété par des d'extraits de répétions : fascinant .Le livret est enrichi d'une importante iconographie photographique , comportant parfois des documents assez rares , me semble-t-il . Il contient aussi une chronologie fort utile , où l'on apprend par exemple que Klemperer a rencontré Trotsky lors d'un de ses nombreux concerts dans la toute jeune URSS qui l'intéressait fort à l'époque ...Le gros morceau est le documentaire( 1h40 ) : " Klemperer , le long voyage à travers son temps " d'une grand richesse et d'une densité foisonnante ( trop ? ) . Il nous donne à comprendre l'itinéraire hors norme du chef d'orchestre , il nous montre que ce sont les périodes d'exception qui font les auteurs et les interprètes d'exception : Klemperer en est un des plus monumentaux exemples ! Le film est très largement commenté par les déclarations de Klemperer lui-même qui témoigne avec l'impitoyable lucidité qu'on lui connaît , sans concession et sans outrances ( on comprend néanmoins qu'il ne s'est pas fait que des amis , surtout dans le milieu très conservateur de la musique dite "classique" ... ) . Parfois aussi il s'exprime avec une familiarité et une simplicité inattendues quand on pense à la statue du Commandeur à laquelle on a coutume de l'assimiler !Comment dire des choses plus essentielles que ce qu'il dit aux musiciens du Philharmonia , quand , répétant en 1971, les premières mesures du second mouvement de la deuxième symphonie de Malher , il les interrompt et leur dit : " c'est comme du Schubert , mais ce n'est pas du Schubert , seulement le souvenir de jours anciens disparus et heureux ... " aussi juste que bouleversant .

These two Klemperer films by Philo Bregstein make for riveting viewing. That they exist at all is itself a small miracle: Klemperer was one of the greatest conductors of the twentieth century but hated to be filmed and kept private matters closely guarded.It took the creative approach of a young, as yet unknown Dutch filmmaker in 1971 to prompt Klemperer, at age 86, to set aside his deep-seated aversion to talking about himself and for the first time in his life to allow a camera into his rehearsals and studio sessions.True, some time before Klemperer had agreed to talk with Peter Heyworth, taped conversations Heyworth used as the basis for his Klemperer biography. But this is different: with Bregstein Klemperer abandons the measure of reserve that runs through the Heyworth conversations and talks more openly, more personally, about the major events of his life, crucially about the rise of the Nazis, for example, how it hits him in 1932: “We must go, all Jews must leave Germany. Go in time, or horrible things will happen.” Looking back at his years in exile in the USA, he poignantly reflects: “We waited. We couldn't do a thing. We sat there in California while in Germany millions of Jews were murdered.” Then his voice trails off: “We couldn't do a thing...”At this point I better declare right away that I have “an interest in this product”: I was partly involved, with many others, in assisting Bregstein in his efforts to bring his two treasures back into the catalogue.By the late 1980s an earlier version of LONG JOURNEY had briefly acquired cult status on VHS but copies were hard to come by. Using the latest digital editing techniques Bregstein has now brilliantly restored both picture and sound, retaining the film’s experimental character that had attracted Klemperer in the first place, but by copious hours of judicious editing was able to endow it with the “natural flow that had escaped me before”, as he puts it in the notes he contributed for this edition.The result is a spellbinding 100-minute journey through the musical, cultural and political history of the “Age of Extremes” as exemplified by the career and the life of one of its most elemental musical personalities.Fortunately, in the absence of objectivity on my part, I can refer for external evidence to the utter dedication of ARTHAUS: the extraordinary care they have lavished on design, production and content of this Klemperer box set speaks volumes for their belief in the enduring significance of Klemperer’s legacy.The 180-page book that is part of the set (60 pages each for English, French and German) is rich in background information and contains copious illustrations from different stages in Klemperer’s life. But perhaps even more valuable are the many insights it offers into Klemperer’s art, for example into the connection between the bipolar condition he suffered from throughout his life and the repercussions, both negative and positive, it had on his career and how it may have influenced his music making.The book also gives pride of place to the (New) Philharmonia Orchestra who were at the heart of Klemperer’s astounding Indian Summer after the war. Bregstein’s KLEMPERER THE LAST CONCERT is a celebration of this unique relationship while the complete concert recording the set also contains is a resounding testimony of that synthesis of the elemental force, crystal clear structure and lyrical serenity that became the hallmark of Klemperer’s “late style.”LONG JOURNEY is strong on authenticity, exceptionally so when it comes to Klemperer’s legendary reign at the Kroll Opera in Berlin (1927-1931) as Bregstein succeeded in interviewing a vast array of the people directly involved, among them several of Klemperer’s long-standing friends and close colleagues. It’s thrilling to discover how the impact of the avant-garde productions staged at the Kroll continues to resonate in the world’s opera houses today. It’s equally amazing to find that with his Bach performances at some of his Kroll concerts Klemperer reveals himself as a precursor of the HIP movement: Frans Brüggen was among his admirers.But so were Pierre Boulez and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.Thus, this set is an absolute must for music lovers and students across the board, but will be equally absorbing for anyone interested in the cultural and political history of the “short” twentieth century and the unanswered questions it pursues us with now that we’ve stumbled so disastrously into the twenty-first.

Dieses Paket ist sehr zu empfehlen, denn zum Einen ist es eine interessante Geschichtsstunde über das Kulturleben im Berlin der 20er Jahre, und zum Anderen öffnet es faszinierende Einblicke in das Leben von Otto Klemperer. Die Probenaufnahmen sind grandios. Sie erklären nur teilweise, wie aus den wenigen und teilweise nur schwer verständlichen Anweisungen so großartige Musik entstehen konnte. - Sein letztes Konzert mit der 3. Brahms-Symphonie ist wunderbar gespielt und sehr berührend, insbesondere wenn man weiß, dass mit den letzten zarten Tönen der Symphonie (die nur wenigen Dirigenten und Orchestern gelingen) auch Klemperers musikalisches Wirken in der Öffentlichkeit endete.

Seine grossen Aufnahmen zu Spottpreisen angeboten gehören in jeden Plattenschrank! Mahler 2. unverzichtbar! Lohengrin in Budapest, wo er wütend das Pult verlässt weil das Publikum nach der Gralserzählung applaudiert.....“Seine“ MissaSolemnis! In Marmor gemeißelte Sinfonien BEETHOVEN BRÜCKNER BRAHMS ; Das Lied der Erde - aber vor allem eben die 2. Mahler alles Marksteine der Schallplattengeschichte und nun auch als Ergänzung diese letzten Dokumente!! Liebevolle Dokumation! Das muss man haben zum Erleben und Mitleiden!

Je disposais déjà depuis 1985, des mains de ce cher Philo Bregstein, de la version VHS du film, que je conservais comme une relique. Trente ans après, quel bonheur de découvrir ce coffret admirable d'intelligence. Otto Klemperer personnalité hors du commun et musicien insurpassable. Toute ma gratitude à Philo Bregstein. Jeunes et adultes avancés, ne manquez pas ce témoignage, il vous enrichira.