Hello all –

There is a recent discussion thread on Josef Krips and his
performances of Bruckner symphonies. In particular, the Krips 1961
live performance of the Eighth with the New York Philharmonic was of
interest to several members. Inquiries were made regarding the
performance in general, but also which edition Krips performed and if
the edition was cut.

A few years ago, Don Tait made me a digital copy of his open reel
tapes of this performance. The initial recording was a collaborative
effort between a young Don and his good friend Fred Heft over 45 years
ago. Don recorded the first 3 movements on his equipment, Fred the
last movement and ending commentaries on his deck and tuner. At the
time, both Fred and Don’s tape capabilities were limited to 45 minutes
duration.

Bill Anderson wrote:

Well, well. I've been waiting some time to finally hear this. This brings
back the distant past, a memorable concert of my college youth.

Around 1966 or 1967 I went to hear Joseph Krips conduct Bruckner's 8th with
the San Francisco Symphony. I only new Knappertsbuch's Westminster
recording. It was a great evening and aferwards I met the conductor and his
wife and got his autograph. I'll never forget the excitement of it all.

I can't say that at the time I new that it was a fast performance. Perhaps
so was my Westminster recording? I do remember being struck by how
everything held together so cogently. By the end it was simply overwhelming.

One slight distraction that night was that two patrons in the next row kept
laughing (albeit quietly) to each other at the way Krips kept rocking
forward and back in the long build-ups to climaxes. He WAS sort of like one
of those Russian dunking birds. Fortunately these two got up and left before
the last movement.

I am SO very grateful to Bill for allowing us to hear this.

peter

On May 10, 12:17 am, TareeDawg bigpond.com> wrote:

Dontaitchicago@aol.com wrote:

On May 10, 3:56�pm, Bob Lombard vermontel.net> wrote:

Dontaitchicago@aol.com wrote:

Aaron Z Snyder alum.mit.edu> wrote in
news:VtidnRpuE_etvLvVnZ2dnUVZ_obinZ2d@rcn.net:

I still haven't listened to the whole recording, but I now know for sure
that this is the 1892 first published edition. Although Krips' tempi for
the 3rd movement are a bit on the fastish side, they don't go beyond what
I'd consider reasonable. It's in the 4th movement where Krips, like just
about everyone else, goes much too fast. The opening tempo is given as
"Feierlich, nicht schnell" ("Solemn, not fast"), and is given a metronomic
marking of half note = 69, which is NOT fast. The second subject is given
half note = 60, which should make the second subject seem more flowing than
the first. No attention is paid to any of these markings, as is normally
the case. The finale thus loses coherency and meaning. It's a pity, but
that's how most conductors mangle this movement.

PS: I've sampeled enough of the third and fourth movements to make these
comments with a lot of assurance.

I'm delighted to take Aaron's back concerning the assertion that
slowness does not necessarily equate with profundity. There is a point
where a ponderous tempo merely distorts the architecture of a piece,
and irredeemably throws off the weights and balances needed in
performance. While I admit to thrilling at the prospect of a
conductor, instrumentalist or especially who can sustain and spin out
a line, some of those who attempt it simply cause structural collapse.