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John Marks recently pointed out to me a recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Krips conducting the Vienna Symphony in the Musikvereinsaal with Wunderlich and Fischer-Dieskau as sol0ists - circa 1964. Apparently the concert was recorded and broadcast on Austrian radio, but the tapes were thought lost until a copy turned up in the Krips archives - he had been given a copy, and DG issued a recording a few years ago. Somehow, I missed that and was unaware of this until John pointed it out to me.
I am still absorbing the performance, but I surprised by a couple of comments in the brochure. First, Krips had a long history of conducting Mahler, something that I didn't know. I had him pegged as more of a conductor of traditional Viennese works, Mozart to Brahms. Certainly it appears that this recording is the sole recorded example of his Mahler.
Secondly, it appears that F-D wrote Krips a letter to state that this performance was the greatest DLVDE he had ever participated in. Quite a statement, seeing how he recorded it with both Kletzki and Bernstein.
I wonder if maybe Krips was a better conductor that we give him credit for. I saw him once conduct the SF Symphony, the year after he was unceremoniously given the boot for Ozawa, in a program that included Haydn's Surprise Symphony and the Firebird Suite - there probably was a 3rd work, but that was in February, 1971.....
Anyway, I enjoy very much his Mozart symphony recordings, and I have his famous Schubert Great C-Major, but not much else. Never heard his Beethoven set, for example.
I wonder if his modern day fame would have been greater had he found a way to record some Mahler in the 50s and 60s - that was not very well trod ground in those days. And, it is a shame that he is the only music director of the SF Symphony who, between the appointment of Monteux and the modern day who did not record with the orchestra.
Follow Ups:
Top of the list might well be his Everest cycle of the Beethoven Symphonies (which you mention in passing) - currently available from some sites as hi-rez downloads. I found the performances to be variable however - some awfully good indeed, others not so much.
One recording I was very surprised by is this EMI/Angel LP:
Again, surprisingly well recorded and with a surprising level of excitement in the performances. You also mention his set of Mozart symphonies with the Concertebouw Orchestra: I have that set too and have always enjoyed it - a real gemutlich approach in very good sound for its time.
During his time in San Francisco, Krips was friends with my piano teacher at Stanford (Adolph Baller). Both Baller and Krips kind of hated the upheavals of the late 60's and both were really entrenched in their old-world, "civilised" attitudes - despite the rise of Nazism in the old world (from which Baller for sure suffered grievously!). I think in Baller's case that he was worried that these kinds of social upheavals might lead to a return of Nazism. (Interestingly, one of my other professors took an opposite view, and was worried that the police response to the 60's demonstrations, especially the one at Kent State, was itself a manifestation of a new kind of Nazism.)
Baller once told me that Krips resented the new procedures for orchestral auditions that were being proposed at that time (musicians auditioning behind a screen, etc.), and Krips claimed that he needed to see the musicians playing as well as to hear them. This attitude was deeply repugnant to many, who saw it as an excuse to restrict the inclusion of women and minorities in the orchestra.
Regarding your comment about Krips's failure to make any recordings with the SF Symphony, I read that this was deeply resented by the musicians in the orchestra at that time. After all, as you say, Monteux thought the orchestra was good enough to make records with.
I actually gifted a copy of that to my girlfriend at the time. She was never a big classical music fan, though.
Yes, the SFS made a ton of recordings with Monteux, although as Canarina relates in his bio of Monteux - the record companies wanted HIM, not the SFS. Standards apparently dropped substantially under Jorda, of course, and he was clearly not a major figure.
I had a embarrassing moment in the 80s when I worked with Jorda's nephew, who mentioned that his uncle used to conduct the SFS - names were different, so I couldn't make the connection until he told me.
I always find it gratifying when people take my advice--and then don't say that my advice sucks!
More to come once I get the hinges on The Tannhauser Gate oiled...
ATB,
John
Back in the 70's, Krips's recordings, if available, were on budget records. Additionally, the critics of the day would tend to praise the latest multi-miked, multi-channel recordings are the greatest [although they did also tend to tip their collective hat to Toscanini - curiously, that's rarely done today].
Thus, we tended to regard Krips as a budget-grade mediocrity. Still, it was his Tchaikovsky 5th [with the LSO?] by which I came to know the work.
Today, I think he was an excellent artist, undeservedly neglected just as Horenstein was - and there was a great, great conductor.
Indeed, had Horenstein - or Krips, for that matter - been given the opportunities that true mediocrities such as Leinsdorf, Maazel, Ozawa, had - what wonderful performances would've been left to us.
N. Thelman, SSI
Krips conducting Schubert's 9th Symphony and Schumann's 1st and 4th on Decca are both collectable and expensive in wide-band form.
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My first reaction on reading your post is that you are greatly underestimating the reputation of Krips. At least among musicians, he has always been very well respected! And yes, he was well known for his Mahler.
This next comment may irritate some audiophiles, but Krips is a great example of a conductor who they always underestimate simply because they ignore anything that isn't really well recorded. Abbado, one of the all time greats in pretty much every orchestral musician's opinion, is another whose reputation is much lower among audiophiles than it is among concert goers in general, for the same reason - he simply wasn't that well recorded for much of his career, so audiophiles blew him off because they didn't like the sound of his recordings. The opposite is sometimes true as well. It is fascinating how many vinyl collectors worship the recordings of some conductors simply because they were well recorded in the "golden age" of vinyl, but really they weren't that great. I'll refrain from naming names, as there were of course many great conductors in that era as well.
Incidentally, you are not far off with your remarks about traditional Viennese composers - Mahler is, after all, a direct descendant of theirs, musically speaking, including the Viennese part even, for much of his career. Usually anyone who is well grounded in the First Viennese school should do just fine with Mahler as well.
. . . but I posted under the OP at the top of this thread. My point was that many of the Krips recordings were very well engineered for their time and are themselves part of the "golden age of stereo" legacy.
His Beethoven symphony cycle with the LSO on Everest, and his Beethoven piano concerto cycle with Rubinstein on RCA, both from the late 50s. OTOH, Everest was a small label, and he may have been chosen by RCA to record the piano concertos because of a big falling out between Rubinstein and Reiner. Or so I've read.
He conducted a fine bunch of Mozart symphonies (21-41) with the Concertgebouw Orchestra for Phillips; these are still available, and a couple have been released as a Pentatone SACD as well.
Krips also conducted Brahms Concerto 2 with Rubinstein in a 1958 recording.
Yes, exactly right. I noticed the same thing when I first began to hang around audiophile and LP collector discussion groups. Certain conductors and soloists -- and recordings -- have cult status they don't deserve, other great ones are ignored. One example of a cult violinist mentioned below is Johanna Martzy. Mention her name to a violinist and you'll likely get a puzzled look.
Edits: 11/07/15
I've heard this and found the recorded sound quality not so hot--and I liked F-D better with Bernstein, even with the occasional exaggeration by both of them
For me, what makes this recording treasurable is Wunderlich's incandescent first movement:
He grabs you by the ears and never lets go.
Does anyone know anything by Wunderlich that is so passionately committed? (As music, not as a representation of a dramatic situation, if that distinction makes sense.)
Link attached for those receiving this on cuneiform tablets.
John Marks
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