Back from beyond, a blast of brilliant Tennstedt
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Klaus Tennstedt fled East Germany in his mid-40s in 1971 and hung around for half a decade before anyone noticed he was a truly remarkable conductor – ‘last of the old Kapellmeisters,’ as Herbert von Karajan drily put it. After a breakthrough concert in Toronto, he guested around America’s Big Five orchestras while enduring a miserable job at Hamburg’s NDR orchestra. Apotheosis arrived in 1978 at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom Tennstedt made his indelible legacy recordings. The extraordinary discoveries on these four discs come from his 1970s-in-waiting…
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici.
I know you will hate this, Norman, but it was Ronald Wilford who spotted Tennstedt and eventually put him together with the LPO. A glorious partnership, whoever was responsible.
There are numerous live Tennstedt recordings issued by St Laurent studios-I personally prefer the sound of their discs to the sound on Doremi. I was fortunate to hear most of his BSO and several of his NYP concerts and they were as memorable as Norman suggests.
I had the great fortune to see Tennstdt conduct Brahms 1 with the Israel Philharmonic.Unforgetable.
Many thanks, Norman, for keeping the memories of Klaus Tennstedt alive. I’m puzzled as to why he is so often overlooked when people are listing their favourite conductors. Maybe because his career in the West was rather short, and maybe because his studio recordings don’t often capture the extraordinary frisson of his live performances.
Those of us who were lucky enough to hear him with the LPO in the 80s and 90s will never forget the incredible empathy that existed between conductor, orchestra and audience on those occasions, made all the more poignant because most of us knew that his days were numbered.
Another example of how things can be so wrong in the world. Klaus was an absolute giant..a great German, but others did as much as possible to keep him from having the robust career that he really deserved. The man was overflowing with innigkeit. His Mahler interpretations were incredible.
Also, many people don’t realize that von Karajan (AKA Hercules from Karajánnis) was NOT Germanic by blood. He was Greek and Slovenian. That of course resulted in a different musical expression and…motives. Richter couldn’t stand him…that should indicate something.
Despite these times, always remember that lines in the sand do not make someone a certain ethnicity. Either you are that ethnicity or you aren’t. Woke opinions are IRRELEVANT!
Herbert von Karajan was half-Slovenian, due to his mother’s origin. No question about that.
His Greek roots, however, are often overstated. The native Greek ancestor was immigrated from Kozani was his great-great grandfather, Geórgios Ioánnes Karagiánnis (* 1743; † 1813). All subsequent generations lived in the Austro-hungarian Empire. How Greek does that make Herbert?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karajan_(Adelsgeschlecht)
A great conductor who was really half-Greek was Clemens Krauss.
Sorry, I am trying to turn your rant into a fact-based conversation.
I was very fortunate to be playing with the Toronto Symphony when Klaus Tennstedt made his debut in the West. His Beethoven Fifth was electric and set the standard for everything that came later in my orchestral career.
Unforgettable: attending several (of seven) Met performances of Tennstedt leading “Fidelio” with Eva Marton and Jon Vickers. Electric!
The Met orchestra loved him — the only conductor they liked as much was Carlos Kleiber. KT didn’t want any fancy pomp and circumstance and certainly didn’t want any press interviews. According to my friend in the orchestra he “just wanted to drink beer with the players – and not ‘American horse-piss’ (his phrase) – proper German beer.”
Why was the NDR SO job “miserable”? It is an excellent orchestra.
They gave him no respect
Speaking of no respect: “Last of the old Kapellmeisters,’ as Herbert von Karajan drily put it.”
Well, Tennstedt is on youtube, and one may see if Karajan was accurate.
Then, Karajan imposing his own voice on everything did not always end well, as time has told.
Who want`s to see Karajan`s playback recordings by his own pompous company?
No, you cannot buy legacy.
Why do you need youtube to assess Tennstedt? The sound on youtube is far inferior to CD’s.
What do you mean by that? Was there a lack of respect during the final tour (Paris concert) or already during his Hamburg concerts? I was fortunate to have attended many of his Hamburg concerts and was fascinated by Tennstedt (in 1961 I heard him conducting Aida at Hamburg State Opera).
I very much enjoyed a Brahms 4 in Washington with the Philadelphia in early 1983. His Salzburg summer concert with the VPO was for me less successful. Mahler 10th adagio and the Eroica. He was replacing Bernstein who was ill.
Yes, the VPO never ‘got’ him.
The BPO, on the other hand, did and there were many memorable concerts with them, some of which were broadcast and have emerged on CD. He and HvK actually got on well together–KT liked to tell the story of an evening they had spent drinking beer (!) together–so ‘last of the old Kapellmeisters’ was probably meant as praise.
I heard him many times in London and Philadelphia and NY. Truth be told he wasn’t always “on” – but most of the time he was and occasionally he sent the music to the stars. Unlike the NDR orchestra the London Phil and the US orchestras adored him. It’s well worth a look on YT for things like his CSO Zarathustra. In Mahler and Bruckner he was truly outstanding. Not so much in Beethoven and Brahms for me – good but not great there.
IMO KT was a very great conductor who emerged from(in those cold war days) unexpectedly and out of so called no where. That should teach us so called informed people that the unexpected can arise and surprise as KT did.
IMO Norman nailed the assessment the KT appearances with the BSO, recordings of which I have heard and have collected.