Otto Klemperer has featured prominently on recent lists of reissues and CD bargains, among which Audite's 'Otto Klemperer: RIAS Recordings, Berlin, 1950-1958' has to be something of a priority, with generally warm sound quality and performances that subscribe to the familiar middle-period Klemperer template of 'power and patience'. Klemperer's reading of Beethoven's Second was always a highlight of his EMI Philharmonia cycle and this Berlin RIAS Orchestra recording from a year later is equally satisfying, even though the Larghetto's course lasts a mere 11'46" by comparison with a more measured 13'08" in 1958. Not that you would suspect the difference from a spot check of the movement's opening: it's a gradual process and very much in keeping with the higher intensity levels of the live performances. Similar observations might be made about the Pastoral and Eroica Symphonies, the latter in particular a superbly balanced reading, Klemperer pacing every episode with his eagle eye focused securely on the overall structure, a ploy that pays highest dividends in the last two movements, the finale a triumphant homecoming. Nowadays, so many conductors rush their fences and the music suffers because of it. The Third Piano Concerto features Hans-Erich Riebensahm as a solidly reliable soloist, the performance a good few minutes broader than the one Klemperer conducted for Barenboim in the late 1960s.

I've always had a fondness for the best of Klemperer's Mozart and was happy to encounter his well-judged RIAS renditions of Nos 29 and 38, while the fiery first movement of No 25 (the 'Little' G minor) keeps consistently to the fast lane. Mahler's Fourth, with a rather wobbly soprano Elfriede Trötschel, is warmly and often emotionally played: you can actually hear Klemperer urge his players on. Add a robust account of Hindemith's eminently listenable 'ballet for orchestra' Nobilissima visione and overtures by Mozart and Beethoven and you have a generous sampling of a great conductor captured on the wing, while getting the best from a good if hardly exceptional orchestra.

More Klemperer conducting Beethoven arrives courtesy of ICA, an affable account of the Eighth Symphony with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (1955), which serves as a fill-up to the main work, Mendelssohn's Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (also 1955). Again, the comparison with the EMI Philharmonia recording (1960) is telling, not only because of an extra adrenalin boost in Cologne but because you actually get a smidgen of extra music – the 50-second Allegro vivace between the 'Dance of the Clowns' and the finale which is in effect a reprise of the 'Wedding March' that quietens for a brief return of the fairy music.

Andromeda has issued a three-CD set of selected live Bruckner recordings under Klemperer, all of them fine examples of the conductor's uncompromising approach. My favourite among them is a version of the Sixth with the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1961 (also on Music & Arts CD247) which, although less carefully prepared than the later studio version with the New Philharmonia, has a far firmer grip on the structure, its dramatic contrasts and its strategically placed shifts in pace and volume. This is especially noticeable in the first movement, which is given a magnificent reading. I'd previously bought the Berlin Philharmonic Seventh (1958) and Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra Fourth (1954) on a Europa Musica set (051 054, which also includes a fine Eighth from 1957): both are compelling, the Fourth being one of Klemperer's most impressive Bruckner recordings. A shame that the Eighth wasn't included, because of all the Bruckner symphonies that's the one where we really do need a livelier alternative to the conductor's late, tired EMI recording (72 as opposed to 84 minutes! – and both use the same edition).

Finally, from Guild, a real curio, Klemperer conducting Bach with the Budapest Radio Symphony Orchestra in January 1950. The highlight is undoubtedly a performance of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto with pianist Annie Fischer as soloist, who is virtually the equal, in terms of elegance, energy and style, to Alfred Cortot on his delectable old pre-war recording with the École Normale. Granted, the other instrumentalists aren't up to much (the violinist Tibor Ney has his off moments), certainly not in Bach's Magnifcat, and neither is the singing of the Budapest Chorus, though some of the soloists are good, notably the ardent tenor Lajos Somogyvári. Klemperer directs fairly fleet performances, which is more than you could say for his expansive, sweetly expressive 1945 Los Angeles Philharmonic renditions of the Air from the Third Orchestral Suite and his own arrangement for strings of 'Bist du bei mir' from the Anna Magdalena Notebook, both of which are cast rather in the manner of Stokowski's Bach. Interesting, though, and the sound is pretty serviceable, given its age and source.

Die Klassiker, Beethoven vor allem, hat eigentlich jeder schon im...

Die Klassiker, Beethoven vor allem, hat eigentlich jeder schon im...

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At the opposite end of the interpretative spectrum from Böhm's temperate Beethoven is Kyrill Kondrashin's combustible Mahler, the Sixth having recently been released on Hänssler Classic based on performances given with the SWR SO Baden-Baden in January 1981. Frenetic, superfast and yet occasionally light – even delicate – in texture, it resembles in its overall profile a recording that Kondrashin made for Melodiya but that never gained commercial currency in the UK. I liked its eagerness to excite but Hänssler should investigate a performance that Hans Rosbaud gave with the same orchestra in 1960 and that many years ago Stradivarius put out in a flawed CD transfer. Broader than Kondrashin by many minutes, it's perhaps the most imposing account of the work that I've ever heard.

More musically compelling by far, and surprisingly individualistic, is a performance of Schubert's 'Great' C major Symphony that Leo Blech conducted in Berlin (with the Berlin RIAS SO) in 1950. I expected something fairly traditional, but right from the Andante opening Blech's wide range of tempi renders even Furtwängler straitlaced by comparison, the first movement flying off at a real lick then broadening significantly for the coda until the movement grinds to a halt for the final bars. The welcome coupling features the underrated Hungarian pianist Julian von Károlyi in a supple and sensitive performance of Chopin's Second Piano Concerto, the opening tutti immediately arresting one's attention on account of its sensitive phrasing. This is a peach of a disc, and the sound quality is excellent.

A concert recording of Carl Schuricht conducting the Suisse Romande Orchestra in Brahms's Fourth Symphony also has an engaging freshness about it, especially the finale, where the assortment of tempi is almost as varied as Blech's is for Schubert. But it works, and so, oddly enough given one's expectations, does Schuricht's old-world but animated way with Bach's Second Orchestral Suite, where the flute soloist is Andre Pepin. I had no doubt whatever that Nikolai Malko's 1954 Philharmonia set of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances would prove satisfying and thanks to the Magdalen label we're once again able to enjoy Malko's impeccable musical judgement and the liveliness of the Philharmonia's playing. I'd say that viewed overall this is the finest complete set of the Dances to emerge from within these shores, even in view of fine versions under Dorati, Rodzinski and Schwarz. The vinyl-based transfers are more than acceptable.

The familiar (to horn players at least) nestles alongside a couple of welcome rarities in this impeccably played horn and piano recital. The horn is a notoriously difficult instrument to record well. The instrument’s bell usually faces the wrong way, and it’s easy to end up with too much boomy resonance. The sound on this Audite release is impeccable. Guglielmo Pellarin is principal horn of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and his expressive, very European sound is captured close-up. Which means here that there’s a lovely, breathy softness to the horn tone, especially when it’s played quietly. Saint-Saëns’s two Romances are unpretentious salon pieces, both exploiting the 19th-century valve horn’s new-found chromatic agility.

Poulenc’s Elégie is one of the most disquieting pieces by this still underrated composer. The 12-note opening theme rapidly cuts into edgy staccato writing, the violence perhaps suggesting the tragic demise of the horn player Dennis Brain, to whose memory it was dedicated. The Sonate by Jean-Michel Damase makes brilliant use of the extremes of the horn’s range; Pellarin’s fruity low register delights here. Jean-Michel Defaye was a pupil of Nadia Boulanger; his ALPHA is occasionally dissonant and unsettling before it lets the horn sing. A superbly executed recital, beautifully accompanied by pianist Federico Lovato.

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Es gibt kaum eine Musik, die so express ist wie Janáceks Streichquartette. Das Mandelring Quartett ist dafür genau das richtige Ensemble. Beim ersten Quartett „Kreuzer-Sonate“ entfesseln die vier Emotionen. Sie kratzen und streicheln, attackieren und beruhigen wieder. Das zweite Quartett „Intime Briefe“ spielen sie zunächst in der gewöhnlichen Fassung mit Viola (Roland Glassl). Und liefern als überaus hörenswerte Zugabe noch die für Viola d’amore (Gunter Teuffel) geschriebene Urfassung hinterher. Das Stück klingt in der Interpretation, „als ob man es aus lebendigem Fleisch herausschnitte“, wie es einst Janácek forderte. Ein Hörereignis!

Unterschiedlicher könnten zwei Stücke einer CD nicht sein. Hier Strawinskys lustig-nostalgisches Divertimento; da Schostakowitschs Violinsonate op. 134, in der sich die Musik fast permanent an der Grenze zum Verstummen befindet. Beide Komponisten haben kaum mehr gemein, als dass sie beide in Russland geboren sind. Schostakowitsch blieb in der Sowjetunion und durchlebte die Untiefen des Stalinismus, Strawinsky wanderte früh nach Frankreich aus und wurde in den USA zum gemachten Mann.

Schostakowitschs Sonate von 1968 wirkt nach Strawinskys Tschaikowsky-Adaption – für das Divertimento griff Strawinsky auf sein Ballett "Kuss der Fee" zurück, in dem er Musik Tschaikowskys verwendete – wie ein Schock. Schostakowitschs Musik ist so ausgedünnt, bewegt sich in so trostloser Zweistimmigkeit fort, dass man schon von komponierter Leere sprechen kann.

Eine Leere, die den Interpreten seltsamerweise ein Höchstmaß an Kraft und Konzentration abverlangt: Wo die kompositorischen Mittel so reduziert sind, wird das Musizieren zur Meditation. In diesem Sinn schaffen Judith Ingolfsson (Violine) und Vladimir Stoupel (Klavier) eine Einspielung, die Melancholie spüren lässt und dennoch den letzten Zugang zur musikalischen Leere Schostakowitschs schuldig bleibt. Vielleicht liegt das Problem im relativ langsamen Tempo von Eingangs- und Schlusssatz, das Ingolfsson und Stoupel nicht mit Intensität füllen können. Svjatoslav Richter und Igor Oistrach gehen da im Mitschnitt der Uraufführung wesentlich unkomplizierter zu Werke. Vielleicht hätte im Gegenzug Strawinskys Divertimento weniger Intensität gutgetan: Ingolfsson spielt vor allem den Tschaikowsky-Aspekt des Werkes aus und vergisst dabei den kühlen Ton des Neoklassizismus.

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