Posted by Martin Walker on February 19, 2010, 11:20 am 88.74.34.109
Ralph Moore claims that "Toscanini remains the quickest out of Karajan, Klemperer and Bernstein" - in the case of Klemperer, he obviously means the later Philharmonia recording; however, Klemperer made two earlier recordings in 1951 and 1955, both of which are quicker - the second of these (a Köln radio production) takes 75 minutes. Michael Gielen, who told someone I knew that the first Klemperer recording was his model, also takes 75 minutes (I haven't heard his latest recording.) Volkmar Andreae in '55 takes about 76 minutes, by the way - the slower performances seem to be a relatively recent phenomenon. I find the 1940 Toscanini most moving, despite the sound.
