The great conductor Otto Klemperer (1885-1973) interviewed by John Freeman (1915-2014) in 1961 (From the BBC "Face to Face" TV series).
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@novagerio92443 жыл бұрын
He has a touching simplicity and humbleness, the gret old man!
@aigleroyal39413 жыл бұрын
- And when did you first decide that you like to be a conductor? - Always!!!
@peterpiece21022 ай бұрын
I noticed that also....😅
@mistertx41418 жыл бұрын
Furtwangler and Klemperer, the two greatest.
@MB23403 жыл бұрын
Das sind mir die zwei liebsten.
@theinnerlight879 жыл бұрын
An utterly fascinating man. I could listen to him for hours. He showed his more relaxed self here, I think, quite far removed from the stern, aloof giant of a man that people often describe. He laughs, he answers questions honestly and affably. It's an honour to see this side of Klemperer. Thank you for uploading.
@bluetortilla9 ай бұрын
HUGE fan. A master conductor of Beethoven, Bruckner, and Mahler. Extraordinary human being. I'll always love my Mahler's 2nd Symphony which fit on a regular CD.
@larrymagee87585 жыл бұрын
Thank god we still have this man's music to listen. This man's Mahler is truly great. Straight forward and true, with no embellishments, truly great.
@Tartinesmeloves9 жыл бұрын
Can't thank you enough for this. I've read so much about how Klemp was both gracious and caustic, affable intellectual and (for want of better terms) adulterous party animal. It was nice to see traces of it all still there. Also, knowing that he struggled with bipolar disorder, it's heartbreaking to hear him say that his life was characterised by "ups and downs." A study in stoicism for today's celebrity.
@SeventiesVet6 жыл бұрын
I find his personality fascinating as it is so serious, sincere, and genuine, unlike the frivolous, trivial, and artificial ones of contemporary notable people. The Bruno Walter discussion was especially fascinating and revealing. Freeman was an excellent interviewer here, making Klemperer feel comfortable with his respectful yet incisive questions.
@stefanufer6083 күн бұрын
Still the all-time best balancer of orchestral sounds IMHO
@Warp75 Жыл бұрын
My favourite conductor & as someone with Bipolar it makes me appreciate him even more.
@jack11097 жыл бұрын
Wonderful man, Maybe the best conductor of Beethoven ever
@johnervin80332 жыл бұрын
Amen. Under Walter Legge at EMI, covered in depth by Evan Eisenberg in his book "The Recording Angel" his offerings of Beethoven, and more than the symphonies, are unsurpassable. I'd be surprised if anyone ever excels them. They are spiritual testaments and gifts to the world and that mean limitless gifts to us.
@paulprocopolis9 жыл бұрын
It's great to see this interview again. Freeman was quite a pioneer in this sort of television, his series including interviews with Carl Jung and Edith Sitwell among others. By today's standards, Freeman sounds like the perfect gentleman!
@PeterLunowPL Жыл бұрын
wonderful man
@berlinzerberus9 жыл бұрын
What a giant he was..I exceedingly love his Brahms. Having heard him live a few months before he died, he conducted Beethoven 'Eroica' and Symphony No. 4. A wonderful experience, he and the New Philharmonia Orchestra. He was hardly able to walk on stage and I had the impression that the musicians played what they wanted to play without looking at him, he conducted in a way 'pro forma'.
@jnsurg9479 жыл бұрын
I remember I saw a part of this interview in " The Art of Conducting". It was what he said about Bruno Walter. He said "He(Walter)is romantic, I am not at all." "He is moralist, I am immoralist." I respect Klemperer,I have many CD from his Mattäus Passion to Mahler.
@danali459 жыл бұрын
A few months ago, I read a book that was made from interviews of Klemperer. I am very interested in his vision of music, all the more so as he's one of my favorite conductors. He is a man who could bring out all the shades and nuances of a music, having an accute understanding of moods, voices, feelings, contrasts ... I least that's what I think every time I hear him conduct.
@dmntuba5 ай бұрын
Maestro ❤
@afrofinka7 жыл бұрын
A great testimony of a great conductor. Klemperer is one of my favourites because of his natural authority on the podium. As Menuhin said "He stood there with authority and conviction ; he was a kind of magician"
@BrianJosephMorgan5 жыл бұрын
I so admire his recording of “Der fliegende Hollaender,” with Anja Silja (EMI, 1968).
@jun19565 ай бұрын
I love this recording too. Ms.Silja and Mr. Theo Adam as der Hollaender are really great. Best recording of the opus!
@ericyan20179 жыл бұрын
Love this interview
@Barbapippo9 жыл бұрын
Nice guy, honest and straightforward
@vladislovkyzinski34309 жыл бұрын
Barbapippo But not immoral. :)
@duwir59593 жыл бұрын
It´s great that there is a whole Beethoven cycle with Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia available (videos on YT), everybody can see how this great man conduct.
@Boltogenta7 жыл бұрын
Nice interview that I'v enjoyed very much. Thanks for sharing, pianopera.
@hoorooblu3 жыл бұрын
Yes, this is Colonel Klink's dad, Otto, being interviewed. Otto's son, Werner, won Emmy awards in 1968 and 1969 for playing Klink in Hogan's Heroes, the anti-nazi, caper comedy set in a POW camp (truly funny, like Fawlty Towers in a prison camp). The German officers, such as Klink, were nearly all played by Jewish actors, who stipulated that their characters must always end up outwitted by the Allies or be victims of their own hubris/military system. One of the allied prisoners, LeBeau, was played by a real-life survivor of a concentration camp, Robert Clary, who noted that a POW camp was entirely different from a comcentration camp and he was happy to be making people laugh but also remember and think about WW2 ) Col. Klink plays classical.music on Hogan's Heroes, badly, but dreams of being famed as a musician...
@SeventiesVet3 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the background, but this iconic interview is not about Hogan's Heroes.
@hectoralmeidaduran30615 жыл бұрын
It's wonderfull to hear two persons.with so much talent together and find out the.thougts and believes of so great director ! I was atonish about the moderno composer ,such as Stravinsky that he didnt understand him so much.! But this kind of interwiews.make us much aware of this great conductor and learn so much about him !
@AALavdas3 жыл бұрын
Great interview, from both sides!
@123must9 жыл бұрын
Dear Peter Geoge, thanks a lot for your clear explanation about the interviewer John Freeman. From the beginnning of this intervew I fett that there was a deep connection betwen these human beeing ! Thanks again !
@ershenlin17749 жыл бұрын
OK is THE GREATEST conductor ever. No one get close to him, not even WF.
@lsmith1454 жыл бұрын
ok
@jasonhurd43794 жыл бұрын
Ershen Lin OK and WF were diametrically opposed in their approaches. Klemperer was very much a 'vertical' conductor, with the voicing of chords and the wealth of individual detail being given utmost importance. This gave his interpretations a rugged, 'granitic' quality that was most impressive, and also rendered them, for lack of a better word, objective, with any overt emotional content very much in the background. Contrariwise, for Furtwängler the long line and harmonic structure were uppermost, after the ideas of theorist Heinrich Schenker. Totally different, and each magnificent in his own way.
@AALavdas3 жыл бұрын
That's a personal opinion. In my book, there is also Karajan, Furtwängler, Walter, Bernstein, Stokowski. It's not a competition, and there is not only one! We are blessed to have recordings from all those greats.
@ershenlin17743 жыл бұрын
@@jasonhurd4379 OK - objective; WF - subjective. It's not about vertical vs. horizontal.
@ershenlin17743 жыл бұрын
@@AALavdas First of all, all opinions are personal, and nothing more. Secondly, you seems to grew up in the age of K-worshiping, which lasts for several decades in the US and other NATO countries. To be honest, Karajan and Stokowski are two shallow showmen. you could ask Celibidache about it. I don't want to repeat his words on K (or "K-man" as per WF), which I very much agree. They are out of the top-50 conductors on my list. Incontrast, Светланов, Мравинский, Кондрашин are among the greatest. Walter and Bernstein are OK, but substantially overvalued too. BTW, where is your book? can you give a link? I ask because it seems you had an important stuff but then you are hiding it.
@margaretmoore7034 Жыл бұрын
Herr Doktor.. ist der Maestro !
@janowarhammer9 жыл бұрын
Hermoso documento. Muchas gracias por compartirlo!
@Robert…Schrey3 жыл бұрын
He has the looks of a harpy-eagle.
@theogoldberg89194 жыл бұрын
Pianopera thanks for sharing.
@vladislovkyzinski34309 жыл бұрын
He reminds me of Dr. Strangelove here, the way he is posed.
@jonnsmusich9 жыл бұрын
Very nice. Thanks pianopera for putting this up. Yes I saw him conduct, maybe three times, in London. At that time I preferred Walter's Mahler. As Berlinzerberus says, by then he was poorly and not a dynamic conductor. But, like Adrian Boult, a huge presence with minimal movement. "Conduct with the eyes".
@douglasmurphy91279 жыл бұрын
I know one thing Klemperer Mahler 2nd and philharmonia orchestra is one version that is all things considered one of the greatest interpretations
@cappycapuzi1716 Жыл бұрын
fascinating outside of a few clunky questions. Klemperer was right "A conductor conducts with his eyes" (except for HvK). And I'm glad to be the first "Like" of this video!
@jacquesm16527 жыл бұрын
Life lesson: don't throw alcohol on a fire.
@prokastinatore2 жыл бұрын
The globe saw exactly two conductors who were able, to conduct the "St. Matthew Passion" from Johann Sebastian Bach: Otto Klemperer and Karl Richter!
@pe-peron8441 Жыл бұрын
I absolutely agree. The first performance I heard of the St. Matthew Passion was by Karl Richter, and I immediately felt that I was in front of the greatest musical work I had ever heard, and by some margin. Some time later I had the good fortune to approach Klemperer and get to know his Passion, which, despite being at times almost overwhelming, like a colossal wounded beast, heavy and ungainly, but awe-inspiring beyond words, showed me an even greater grandeur And with this interview I also discovered that I adore not only the presenter but also the man, truly an exquisite person And how about you? What are your opinions on the two great maestri?
@prokastinatore Жыл бұрын
@@pe-peron8441 I absolutely agree. I believe in the Godfather, the Godfather Bach, the Godfathers of conducting like Klemperer and Richter!
@gomagoma3139 жыл бұрын
Interesting. I find him more amiable than I thought. His speech is like his music. Trudging from a word to word,from a note to note.
@anaklasis9 жыл бұрын
Freeman remained unsatisfied after this interview, saying that he didn't take the best of Klemperer.
@anaklasis9 жыл бұрын
19:45 The best moment in this video. Klemperer does not understand why in the Earth he would quit conducting.
@mrajczyk7 жыл бұрын
Klemperer is the only one you need go to for the Mass in D but Bruno Walter is the only conductor who has ever followed Beethoven's markings in the 7'th Sym 2'nd movement in playing the grace notes as such and not as 16'th notes which EVERYONE else did ( for the melody that accompanies the main one of single E notes), and does. The effect of this small change is incredible. Would you call that a romantic ? yes Freeman was asking such rubbish, at least in '61 he couldn't ask about Hogan's Heroes
@jefolson69898 ай бұрын
Excellent observation.
@patrickpaganini8 жыл бұрын
There are some interesting interviews with players who played under Mahler in the VPO and then in America - those interviews make it clear (if any one was in a any doubt) that Mahler was incredibly musical. When a player said "Mahler - I can't see your beat" - he replied, "You don't need to - during performance, you should listen to other players - a conductor is only necessary for rehearsal".
@rq3tgunm2 жыл бұрын
When hearing "as the best living conductor of Beethoven" in the beginning, it seems that he just wanted so say: "what else?" :-)
@hanslick71719 жыл бұрын
Grateful....... enough said..........
@123must9 жыл бұрын
very interesting ! Thanks
@135yearswaiting9 жыл бұрын
John Freeman was a great interviewer, he let the interviewee speak . Today one usually learns more about the interviewer than the interviewee. I remember another interview Freeman did with Lord Birkett, the very famous barrister and judge, absolutely brilliant. Hope someone can put it on KZfaq sometime.
@123must9 жыл бұрын
Thanks !
@prokastinatore2 жыл бұрын
Er war einer der größten Dirigenten der Vergangenheit, dessen Interpretationen heute noch Referenzstatus innehaben. Sein "Matthäus-Passion" von J.S. Bach ist Musikgeschichte. Nur Karl Richter dirigierte sie für meinen Geschmack noch ein wenig perfektionistischer.
@jshaers969 жыл бұрын
Who would have thought that you couldn't put a fire out with alcohol? A mistake anyone could make!
@maestroclassico5801 Жыл бұрын
Other than the stroke, his voice sounds a bit like his son actor Werner Klemperer....Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes
@AGZ757 ай бұрын
La entrevista no podra subtitularse en español?, gracias.
@zensho68 Жыл бұрын
12:25 I'm immoralist, absolutely!
@AfroPoli Жыл бұрын
11:26 How could they forget Mengelberg...!
@TS-12672 ай бұрын
... Since BEETHOVEN???.... 2:17 NEVER HEARD OF HIM
@andreaguarino8207 Жыл бұрын
Karajan Bernstein and Klemperer best conductors ever
@ODJones-zy5ir3 жыл бұрын
12:24 in case you were wondering...
@snaaptaker6 жыл бұрын
Nice. Colonel Klink's daddy. ☺
@pianopera6 жыл бұрын
Had to look that up - Hogan's Heroes was before my time! :-)
@snaaptaker6 жыл бұрын
Oh, sorry about that. I'm just old, and I remember those old shows, even though I didn't watch that one very much. I don't know about Holland and Japan, but it's still on TV in syndication in the US. And I think it's also on YT, if you want to check it out. It was sorta funny. :-)
@pianopera6 жыл бұрын
Thanks. Somehow I'd never have thought that Otto Klemperer's son was a star in an American sitcom!
@jasonhurd43794 жыл бұрын
'Colonel Klink's daddy'...please. That's like referring to Lucille Ball as 'Desi Arnaz' wife'...😒
@bobsanders79587 жыл бұрын
Hogan!
@themadmgtow51962 жыл бұрын
hey its col klinks dad
@masive14983 жыл бұрын
Colonel Klink's Father
@aksiiska94703 жыл бұрын
the intro music is by beethoven, i guess, but i don't know exactly. er muss einen schlaganfall oder hirntumor gehabt haben
@xkarenina55552 жыл бұрын
11:45 Über Bruno Walter
@hobhood7118 Жыл бұрын
The 'conductor Mahler', not the 'composer Mahler'. In 1961 Mahler's music was only just becoming popular...
@leestamm3187 Жыл бұрын
At the time to which he refers, 1905 to 1910, Mahler was far more renowned as a conductor than a composer.
@01Gezelle7 жыл бұрын
He says Amoralist not immoralist. Something quite different! It means not being a moralist
@pianopera7 жыл бұрын
No, listen again at 12:22, he and John Freeman clearly said "immoralist", not "amoralist".
@jeffallcock45618 жыл бұрын
Ah, I see: he compares Bruno Waler's Mahler and his: 'moralist' and 'immoralist'.
@ntodd4110 Жыл бұрын
I'm pretty sure he actually meant "amoralist". That is, he doesn't want to mix word-game of morality with the word-game of aesthetic choice. I respect that awareness. It shows up in his other comments as well.
@AnonYMouse-df4ez9 жыл бұрын
Arash is right! I would have asked Klemperer about his compositions and then gone backward from there.....about his activities at the Kroll Opera and his stewardship of modern music.....about his views of Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Bruckner, many others.......his view of "Fidelio"----and much, much else. Freeman is a dolt.
@patrickpaganini8 жыл бұрын
I think any of us could probably have done a better interview.
@vladislovkyzinski34309 жыл бұрын
If indeed "immoralist" is the word, it is an absurd choice! I seriously doubt that Dr. Klemperer is an immoral person. How about "immortalist." That would connote he would be with us forever: immortal.
@pianopera9 жыл бұрын
***** I used the word "Immoralist" here because Klemperer used it himself, when he compared himself with Bruno Walter, whom he called "Moralist". See the interview at 12:22. Of course that was only symbolically spoken.
@adrianleverkuehn98329 жыл бұрын
pianoperaYou are right. "Moralist" and "immoralist" are concepts from Nietsche, whom Klemperer read often (as he himself states at 24:30). For example, Nietsche considered himself an immoralist and Zarathustra a moralist. All German artists & intellectuals of Klemperer's generations knew Nietsche. That English speakers (especially recently) do not know Nietsche is the reason this remark of Klemperer's is seldom understood.
@pianopera9 жыл бұрын
Adrian Leverkuehn Yes, I agree, apart from the spelling (it should be Nietzsche).
@adrianleverkuehn98329 жыл бұрын
pianopera Thanks, Vladislov! And thanks for uploading this video. I had heard for years about this interview (ever since it was quoted on the back of Klemperer's EMI Mahler 9th in the late '60s). Where did you get it?
@arashfarhidnia76899 жыл бұрын
+Vladislov Kyzinski I think Klemperer’s statement, he was, in comparison to Walter, an immoralist, simply means that where it came to the music, he did not keep to any usual labor traditions and conventions. In this sense the word "moralist / immoralist" is well-chosen.
@theodentherenewed47852 жыл бұрын
This interview turned out awkward. The interviewer asked questions about conductor's favourite Shakespeare's play - why does it matter? Why he didn't ask about the favourite musical pieces? And the moment when he asked about Hindemith's piece was a total cringe - maestro Klemperer remembered that he recorded something in the studio, but mr. Freeman had no idea what piece it was. Why did he ask about Hindemith then? If he had no idea and he didn't care, the journalist should've never mentioned the matter of modern composers. He was so poorly prepared and Klemperer, to my surprise, had a limited proficiency in English. He spent a lot of time in the USA and in the UK, I would've thought that he was very fluent in English. But no, he wasn't, the interview should've been in German to allow Klemperer speak more easily.
@vjekop9322 жыл бұрын
It was an interesting interview, especially when they talk about Mahler and Walter. It's not their problem that you can't get over yourself and just enjoy.
Klemperer was disappointed at the result of this interview and didn't give any other. The interviewer here didn't realize clearly the historical significance of this event and conceived thus a digressive manner of unintelligent questions that focused more around the celebrity than the musician, let alone musicality. Anyone who indeed listened to his music would have come with questions such as: what makes you and Furtwangler great conductors and what is the main difference? What is really about the so-called conducting technique and how did you achieve your sound? Do you conduct Mozart's operas in German or English, what is your favorite and why?
@MrKlemps8 жыл бұрын
For a thorough-going, lengthy interview, see "Conversations with Klemperer by his biographer Peter Heyworth. It's a wonderful book and is, I think still in print.
@sacksuhlenbeck8 жыл бұрын
Thanks.
@Boltogenta7 жыл бұрын
I agree with you, most of the question should have been the kind you show. But we can't deny we also feel curiosity about the person, and his not only general but also circumstancial feelings (then, in that way, historical). Anyway, I suppose that having this interview is a visual (most of all) complement to Peter Heyworth's work. Regards.
@sacksuhlenbeck7 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this gentle opinion. Perhaps Klemperer the "person" is best, and can only be so, represented through the person as a musician, if only for the alternative saying that Klemperer has devoted everything to music (cf. Walter Legge, "...is inimitable") so that this person and his music can only be seen as out of a unity. Understanding the person is definitely useful to understanding his music-making, for instance. But as such the understanding of the person by questions should have the origin in the music, if echoing in the distance, which is of our real serious interest, is Klemperer the musician, and only such musicianship can reveal the historicality of Klemperer.
@vjekop9324 жыл бұрын
@@sacksuhlenbeck You are so full of shit it is quite astonishing.
@noeticwanderer75788 жыл бұрын
This has got to be one of the worst and most superficial interviews I've ever seen. Did the interviewer even know who this man was? Got to love some of Klemperer's replies, though: "Did you like the American way of life?" "No." "If think of America now, what do you like most about life in America?" "The orchestras are very good." Hahaha
@davidmathews79412 жыл бұрын
Of course he did You stupid person Go back to Mars