Is the Recapitulation slower than the Exposition, faster, or about the same?

Conductor to highlight:

352 performances tallied. Margin of error: ±.02%.

On average, the tempo of the Recapitulation is very close to that of the Exposition. Those differing by more than 3% are shown in red.

Note. The first quarter of the Recapitulation is new material, the remainder is rhythmically identical to the parallel passage in the Exposition (m.37 - 154).

Analysis. Because the differences are so small, one can't speak with confidence about a conductor unless there are several performances at hand. That said:

  • Furtwängler has a slower recap because he stretches out the new material (which is lyrical in nature). The same may be true of Karajan
  • Klemperer is very consistent, even at ultra-slow tempi. The same is true of Jochum.
  • Knappertsbusch has a faster recap because he tends to start the Exposition slowly (relative to his 'true' tempo) and then get warmed up as he goes along.
  • Reiner and Scherchen 58 get faster and faster as the movement proceeds.
  • Toscanini has an exceptionally wide variance.