There's not much Rudolf Kempe left in print, not much Beethoven, Brahms, or Bruckner from one of the great German conductors of the postwar period. What is left, a Meistersinger and a set of the orchestral works of Strauss, is as close to definitive as it gets in this world, with its flexible tempos, epic poetry, and deep humanity. This edition of EMI's Great Conductors of the Twentieth Century presents a selection of Kempe's Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner, plus bits of his Ravel, Wolf, and Johann Strauss. All of them are ...
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There's not much Rudolf Kempe left in print, not much Beethoven, Brahms, or Bruckner from one of the great German conductors of the postwar period. What is left, a Meistersinger and a set of the orchestral works of Strauss, is as close to definitive as it gets in this world, with its flexible tempos, epic poetry, and deep humanity. This edition of EMI's Great Conductors of the Twentieth Century presents a selection of Kempe's Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner, plus bits of his Ravel, Wolf, and Johann Strauss. All of them are excellent. Kempe's "Tragic" Overture is massive, his "Romantic" Symphony is monumental, and his "Eroica" Symphony is colossal, but all of it is supple and subtle and deeply human. His Ravel is airborne, his Wolf is clear light, and his Strauss is pure delight, but all of it is deeply human. The warm tone, the singing phrasing, the organic sense of form that imbues all these performances no matter what the orchestra is testimony to Kempe's own deep humanity. Each of these performances...
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