A personal memoir from Jon Tolansky and musicians he has interviewed
Franz Kafka declared that “first impressions are always unreliable”. Might he have modified his claim had he encountered Otto Klemperer? Although Kafka may have been correct in a deeper sense, for many people including myself the first impression of the great Dr. Klemperer was in one crucial respect lastingly reliable: one straight away sensed through his intense presence that he was profoundly formidable – as a person and a leader.