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Title: Careful with this one
Review: Biographers explain that Klemperer, who suffered from bi-polar disorder most of his adult life, wrote frantically during manic episodes, and then often destroyed his compositions during periods of depression. It is easy to interpret mania in the pages of the works on this CD - particularly in the Symphony No 1, which is almost comical in many of its melodic and structural elements. Unfortunately, it makes for some uncomfortable listening. The Symphony No 2 is more uniform, but also not very distinuished. The performances here are top-notch and well recorded - but can't make up for the subject matter. Careful when purchasing, unless you know what you are getting into.In an almost disturbingly parallel way, the liner notes (in translation) also appear to be written by someone not quite certain where their thoughts were going. Don't count on getting any reliable information about Klemperer or the pieces on the recording from these liner notes.
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