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Otto Klemperer was one of the great conductors of the 20th Century, with a formidable reputation for austere, monumental performances of the great Germanic classics. He rapidly to fame after successfully substituting as conductor in Max Reinhardt¹s Berlin production of Orfèe aux enfers. In 1905 he led the off-stage brass in the Second Symphony of Gustav Mahler, who recommended Klemperer for employment as Chorus Master of the German Opera in Prague. Klemperer debuted as a conductor there in Die Freischütz, and got a conducting job in Hamburg in 1910. He assisted Mahler, in the same year, in preparing the performance of the composer¹s immense Symphony no 8. A liaison with soprano Elisabeth Schumann (a recently married woman) caused a scandal ending Klemperer¹s Hamburg appointment. He did not have a substantial musical job for over five years, when he was appointed conductor of the Cologne Opera, a post he held until 1924. He was a leading interpreter of new music, becoming a conductor ...