Near the end of his illustrious career, Klemperer gave a performance of Bruckner's Eighth in London with the Philharmonia, the first three movements of which were magnificent. Then the impatient old man proceeded to omit a large chunk of the finale, leaving us aghast and bewildered. This earlier account, from Cologne in 1957, is complete, but, if not impatient, uncommonly hard-driven - and, in the finale, with some of those unconvincing tempo fluctuations hallowed by tradition. Yet the music rarely sounds rushed. Klemperer's grasp of the structure is characteristically strong, and generally he makes the fierce impetus seem, for the moment, right.
Medici MM 021-2