EMI HMV ASD 426: Kempe's Pricey Eroica

EMI HMV ASD 426
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Rudolf Kempe, conductor

Pressing: UK, ED1, white/gold

Date first published: 1960

Stampers: 2YRA 1610-3, 2YRA 1611-11

Performance: 7/10

Sound: 7/10

Price range: $62-474 (mean $275)

Comments: Rare and expensive are the words that best describe this Kempe recording of the Eroica with the Berlin Philharmonic.  Collectors may be pleased to know that it is an improvement over the Beethoven Overtures album, both in terms of performance and sound quality, though I would urge potential purchasers to keep their expectations low.  I love the opening measures to the first movement of the Eroica, especially when the E-flat major chords are played with a powerful and precise attack (as exemplified by Klemperer/Philharmonia, Bernstein/VPO, Markevitch/Symphony of the Air, Schuricht/PCO, Szell/Cleveland Orchestra).  Here, Kempe and the Berlin Philharmonic give what is to me one of the mushiest openings on record.  It didn't leave a good first impression.  Thankfully, things do get better from here on out.  The funeral march second movement is given an effectively somber reading, and enough momentum and excitement are generated in the third and fourth movements to keep things interesting.  The sound is warm, tubey, with more hall presence and reverberation that can at times muddy the orchestral textures.   

The investment, if you choose to view it that way, is mainly for Kempe die-hard collectors.  If you think $300 will buy you an audiophile demonstration record, you're wrong.  If you're looking for the reference Eroica on vinyl, check out my recommendations above for contenders.  Unfortunately, this was never reissued on the Concert Classics or Classics for Pleasure series.