Taking stock: Beethoven's Eroica.

[Seán]

Over the past few weeks I have spent some of my listening time on Beethoven's Third Symphony. A selection of those I have enjoyed are:

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 3

Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer - conducting.

Lovely playiing by the Philharmonia on this 1959 recording.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner - conducting.

Rather astringent sound on this 1954 recording but it is an enjoyable performance all the same

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Georg Solti - conducting.

A surprisingly long ansd measured performance by the Maestro, and very enjoyable it is too.

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä - conducting.

This is a good performance, this cycle will be a fitting epithet to a once great orchestra. How sad.

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
MAESTRO Claudio Abbado - conducting.

This is a splendid recording and I have returned to it again and again. Abbado brings out the best in the BPO with their beautiful, colourful sound particularly in the reeds and woodwind, I love it.

London Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitink - conducting.

This was one of my earlier Beethoven purchases and it does not disappoint.

More soon, all comments welcome.

[Peter]

You definitely picked a complex piece considering the thousands of recordings of Eroica. By coincidence I happened to listen to the Third Symphony several times this past week. It is a peculiar version: Mengelberg conducting the Concertgebouw in the recent Decca set (seemingly from the Italian Decca branch). The sound was a bit muted as the engineers had cut off the higher frequencies, but there was something magical about the pace and the way the orchestra played. Part of the impression of this recording was linked to knowing that it was performed as the Netherlands was recently occupied by the Germans. The recording date is November 1940 and it seemed that there was a certain anguish and melancholy embedded in the way the orchestra performed. Perhaps it was part of my imagination, but I certainly felt it in my mind's eye.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Concertgebo ... berg+decca

Now I need to revisit the multitude of the other Eroica versions lingering in my home... hmmmmm, which ones.....

[fergus]

Good to read your thoughts on this work Seán. For me it is the work where Beethoven found his "real voice". Interestingly, of all of the versions that I have the "older" conductors spring to mind....Klemperer, Walter and Wand.

[Jose Echenique]

The Eroica is a tough one. I bet I can´t remember all the recordings I have, but let´s try:

1.LPO/Victor de Sabata.
2.Concertgebouw/Erich Kleiber.
3.VPO/Claudio Abbado.
4.BPO/Claudio Abbado (the live recording).
5.Orchestra of the XVIII Century/Frans Brüggen (Philips).
6.Orchestra of the XVIII Century/Frans Brüggen (Glossa).
7.VPO/Leonard Bernstein.
8.VPO/Karl Böhm.
9.BPO/Herbert von Karajan (the 1976 cycle).
10.NRD Symphonieorchester/Günter Wand.
11.Los Angeles Philharmonic/Carlo Maria Giulini.
12.La Scala/Carlo Maria Giulini.
13.VPO/Wilhelm Furtwängler.
14.Basel Kammerorchester/Giovanni Antonini.
15.Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall.
16.Gewandhausorchester/Kurt Masur.
17.Gewandhausorchester/Riccardo Chailly.
18.Tönhalle Zùrich/David Zinman.
19.Staatskapelle Berlin/Daniel Barenboim.
20.BPO/Rafael Kubelik.
21.Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/John Eliot Gardiner.
22.Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
23.Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer.
24.BPO/Ferenc Fricsay.
25.Anima Eterna/Jos van Immerseel.
26.Collegium Aureum/Franzjosef Meier.
27.La Chambre Philharmonique/Emmanuel Krivine.
28.Cleveland Orchestra/George Szell.
29.Columbia Symphony/Bruno Walter.
30.Staatskapelle Dresden/Herbert Blomstedt.
31.London Philharmonic/Klaus Tennstedt.

Which is my favorite? I think all these recordings have their points, but if forced to choose it would be the earliest: the white hot Victor de Sabata, and the latest: the second Frans Brüggen recording, though his first was equally good, a sovereign, glorious recording, the first Beethoven period recording that showed that a period orchestra could play as well as the Berlin Philharmonic.

[jaybee]

I'm a fan of the Andrew Manze version with the Helsingborg Symphony on Harmonia Mundi...

[Seán]

Thanks for the feedback.

You definitely picked a complex piece considering the thousands of recordings of Eroica.

Indeed I did and that is the beauty of this music.

By coincidence I happened to listen to the Third Symphony several times this past week. It is a peculiar version: Mengelberg conducting the Concertgebouw in the recent Decca set (seemingly from the Italian Decca branch). The sound was a bit muted as the engineers had cut off the higher frequencies, but there was something magical about the pace and the way the orchestra played. Part of the impression of this recording was linked to knowing that it was performed as the Netherlands was recently occupied by the Germans. The recording date is November 1940 and it seemed that there was a certain anguish and melancholy embedded in the way the orchestra performed. Perhaps it was part of my imagination, but I certainly felt it in my mind's eye.

Now, that is a very interesting recommendation, thank you.

[Seán]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 3

And now for two of my favourite interpretations.

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert van Karajan - conducting

From 1962 this is a truly wonderful performance in a box set that is consistently good and deserves all the praised heaped on it. It is priceless. Everybody should have a copy of this cycle.


Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
André Cluytens - conducting

I have Fergus to thank for drawing my attention to this superb cycle by Cluytens and the Berliners, it was recorded a few years before the von Karajan cycle. This set was a revelation to me when I first heard it and the Eroica is gorgeous, it gets better with repeated listening. Everybody should have a copy of this cycle too.

Staatskapelle Dresden
André Cluytens - conducting

I really like this performance. This is a consistently good set, Blomstedt delivers a lovely Big Band performance by the Dresden based orchestra, hugely enjoyable.


Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Nikolaus Harnoncourt - conducting.

A good performance, not the best in this very fine set.

A few more to go.

[Jose Echenique]

I also have the Cluytens cycle, I forgot about it.

[Jose Echenique]

Anyone interested in the Eroica should watch this film. It´s very enjoyable though of course highly debatable. I love Haydn´s faces in the rehearsal, one can only wonder what he thought of Beethoven´s mischief. And of course it´s great to see poor Ferdinand Ries being bullied by obnoxious Herr Beethoven.

[Jared]

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
MAESTRO Claudio Abbado - conducting.

This is a splendid recording and I have returned to it again and again. Abbado brings out the best in the BPO with their beautiful, colourful sound particularly in the reeds and woodwind, I love it.

I'm not a connoisseur in the same way that you guys are, and this would be my most oft listened to version.