Chris Bonds ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>...  On the "Great Conductors" video, Klemperer compared himself to Walter
>by calling him a "moralist" and himself a "complete A-moralist!"

I thought he said "I am immoralist"

>...  Maybe he didn't bring out other qualities as much, but it's wise to
>remember that Mahler started out as a "songwriter." The question is, did
>he completely change to something else in his later symphonies, starting
>with the 6th?

Goo dpoint you mention the 6th - this was one of the symphonies Walter
never conducted, along with the 7th, and there are no extant performances
of 3 or 8 either (I know he conducted 3, but not sure about 8).

You don't mention that Klemperer also criticises Walter's Mahler for being
too soft.  He also, cryptically, described Walter as "too Jewish".

I think that THE Mahler conductor has to be one who manifest his sympathies
with the compser's entire output, which for me rules out Klemperer (who
thought the adagietto of the 5th "little better than salon music" and only
recorded 2, 4, 7, 9 and Das Lied), Walter (1, 2, 4, 5 and 9).

And Alma herself, although not always to be relied upon in matters factual,
expressed her opinion that it would have been better if Mengleberg had
conducted the premiere of Das Lied.

Deryk Barker
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