The Penultimate Word

For my birthday I received a book called The Life and Death of Classical Music, by Norman Lebrecht, a music critic and editor. The title is not accurate, the book is really about the rise and fall of the great classical music record labels - Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI, Victor, etc.

Lebrecht is a witty and engaging writer, and his book is filled with anecdotes. One of the funnier concerns the German conductor Otto Klemperer and a Hungarian record producer living in Los Angeles called George Mendelssohn, no relation to Felix. Mendelssohn, trying to get a new record label called Vox off the ground

… grabbed hold of Otto Klemperer, who wrecked his American career with manic-depressive escapades and was heading off to conduct the state opera in Hungary, a rash move in the gathering Cold War. Mendelssohn got Klemperer to record a few symphonies in Paris and Vienna. Back in LA, the pair entered a record store and asked for Beethoven’s Fifth, conducted by Klemperer.
‘Sorry,’ said the assistant, ‘we’ve only got Toscanni and Walter…’
‘But we want Klemperer.’
‘These are the best recordings,’ said the sales guy. ‘Why do you want anyone else?’
‘Because I am Klemperer,’ growled the conductor.
‘And I guess your pal’s Beethoven,’ grinned the assistant.
‘No, he’s Mendelssohn,’ roared Klemperer.
‘Wow,’ exclaimed the clerk. ‘You know, I’ve always loved your Wedding March.’

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