BEETHOVEN:GROSSE FUGE OP.133/MOZART:SERENADE K.525"EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK"/ETC:OTTO KLEMPERER(cond)/PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA

While this 1957 recording with Otto Klemperer leading the Philharmonia in a program of Beethoven, Mozart, and Handel is clearly not for everybody -- in these days of lean and clean Mozart, how many listeners will want to hear a performance of Eine kleine Nachtmusik with the caloric content of a sacher torte? -- but those listeners who can adjust their expectations to accept a higher textural density and a weightier interpretive gravity will find much to enjoy here. Although more heavily muscled than Arnold Schwarzenegger, Klemperer and the Philharmonia's performances of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge and Mozart's Adagio and Fugue are also intellectually insightful and musically compelling. In the Beethoven, Klemperer connects the themes and developments in ways that make the piece even more cogent and compelling than usual, while in the Mozart, he drives the work's lines and increases its harmonic mass so that the piece sounds even more monumental than ever. And while some listeners might reasonably object to the rough tone and interpretive intensity of Klemperer and the Philharmonia's performances of Mozart's Serenate notturna and Handel's Concerto grosso in A minor Op. 6/4, few would dispute their ethical integrity and interpretive authority. Captured in deep and detailed stereo sound by EMI's master producer Walter Legge, this disc will positively thrill longtime Klemperer fans and possibly even interest new Klemperer fans.