Klemperer's Beethoven Seventh

摘要

In 1951 the impresario and record producer for EMI, Walter Legge, had secured two concerts for his prestigious Philharmonia Orchestra (founded six years earlier) at the new concert hall to be opened as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations. Apparently he had wanted Herbert von Karajan as conductor but this was turned down. The two men had first met in war-torn Vienna and began recording together in 1946 (much to the disapproval of the Allies, and even some EMI territories). Their relationship was symbiotic and Karajan would elevate the standard of playing with the Phiharmonia exactly as Legge had anticipated.