Paul Kletzki - Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 In D Major

Audiophile XRCD24 mastered from the original analogue EMI master tapes!

Paul Kletzki conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra performing Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 in D Major.

Paul Kletzki is best remembered for his conducting career but less well known as a composer. Born in Poland in 1900, he joined its Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 15 and after serving in the First World War, studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw. During the 1920s, his compositions were championed by Arturo Toscanini. Because he was Jewish, he left Nazi Germany in 1933 and moved to Italy. Due to the anti-semitism of the Italian Fascist regime he moved to the Soviet Union in 1936 and later to Switzerland. From 1942 onwards, Kletzki wrote no more compositions. Having lost much of his family in the holocaust, Nazism had destroyed his spirit and his will to compose. His conducting skills then came to the fore. Kletzki was invited by EMI's Walter Legge to conduct the newly-formed Philharmonia Orchestra in London and many fine recordings were made. In 1954, he was appointed chief conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and between 1958 and 1961, he was principal conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. From 1966 until 1970, he was the General Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He died in 1974.

In the original June 1956 review, M. M. of GRAMOPHONE wrote: "Kletzki makes an impetuous attack on the music which is virtually completely successful, carried along by a marvellous quality of both orchestral playing and recording... Whether it is a sweep of full-bodied tone, a biting attack, a resonant pizzicato, or a sensitive solo that is called for, it is always there; even to tunes from the basses with a distinctly above-average proportion of note to rumble. And all of it set off by a brilliant quality of recording with fine internal balance..."

Recorded in stereo on July 15 and 16, 1955, at the Kingsway Hall, London.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Symphony No. 2 In D Op. 43

1. I Allegretto

2. II Tempo andante, ma rubato

3. III Vivacissimo

4. IV Finale (Allegro moderato)

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