Every Composer Needs A Great Storyteller

By Lloyd Schwartz

Published July 16, 2014 at 1:54 PM EDT

The legendary German conductor Otto Klemperer was one of the most profound musicians of the 20^th Century. In the 1960s, nearing the end of his career, he overcame many physical handicaps to create an astonishing body of recorded classical music. EMI has just reissued a broad spectrum of his recordings, including a box set of one of the composers he's most associated with: Gustav Mahler. Fresh Air classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz has a review of Mahler: Symphonies 2, 4, 7 & 9 / Das Lied von der Erde.

Lloyd Schwartz

Lloyd Schwartz is the classical music critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

See stories by Lloyd Schwartz

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