Klemperer Conducts Wagner

Several of the recordings on this disc date from 1960, when Otto Klemperer celebrated his 75th birthday and Wieland Wagner, the composer’s grandson, saluted the conductor as “a unique artistic phenomenon”. Klemperer’s mastery of Wagner’s music was rooted in the early years of his career: by the age of 30 he had conducted performances of Lohengrin, Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde.

“The performances on these records are all superbly played and recorded. Klemperer is a great Wagner conductor, probably the greatest in the world.” Gramophone

The German-born conductor Otto Klemperer, a towering figure in the musical history of the 20th century, died at the age of 88 on July 8th 1973, so 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of his death. His complete recordings on Warner Classics are being made available for the first time in two separate boxes; the first volume with the Symphonic Works, Concertos and Lieder (95CD) was released in June 2023. All recordings are remastered in HD 192/24 from original sources.