Taking stock: Beethoven's Eroica.

[Jose Echenique]

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.

It´s superbly played and conducted Jared, so it is indeed a very desirable recording.

[Seán]

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.

Now that does interest me Pepe, thanks for that.

[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.

Now that does interest me Pepe, thanks for that.

Quite an unusual film Seán, it´s about the first rehearsal of the Eroica, and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique performs the whole symphony but without Gardiner on the screen. I strongly doubt that the first rehearsal was as splendidly played as the ORR does here, but it´s very well made. Joseph Haydn arrives just before they start rehearsing the last movement! Maybe not a film for everyone, but absolutely indispensable for the Classical Music aficionado.

[Seán]

and now for the last of the Eroica's:

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 3

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Yevgeny Mravinsky - conducting.

I was a wee bit disappointed with this performance in that I expected to be hugely impressed by it and I wasn't. I will return to it.

New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein - conducting.

This is an enjoyable big band approach by Bernstein and the NYPO.

NBC Symphony Orchestra
Arturo Toscanini - conducting.

The recording quality is even inferior to the Reiner/CSO recording yet it is a hugely enjoyable performance and all movements are taken at a rather measured tempo for Toscanini, I mean.

Orchestra of the 18th Century
Frans Bruggen - conducting.

This is a very enjoyable and interesting performance and gives us an indication of how the music might have sounded in Beethoven's day. That said, I prefer to listen to modern instrumentation in Beethoven's symphonies.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Mackerras - conducting.

This is a little gem. Mackerras takes it at a brisk tempo, but it's not rushed, there is a real energy and passion to the music that is infectious, yet another delight in this splendid set.

That's it.

Am I missing something special?

[fergus]

Just to add my thoughts on the Bruno Walter version from this box set....





The conducting in the opening movement is so forceful that one can almost hear the lashes of the conductor’s whip. The funeral march is solemn and grand. The Scherzo is energetic but not frantic. In the final movement the music making is very strident and earnest and played with passion and commitment. This recording was made in 1949 and the remastering did a good job of restoring it.
There is a bonus CD in this set and one of the works on it is a 1941 version of Symphony No. 3. In this earlier version the recorded sound is not quite up to the same standard as the later 1949 one but it is far from poor; it just sounds older. The overall interpretation did not change in the intervening 8 years between the two recordings. Walter had obviously fixed on an interpretation. Interestingly, there is only a difference of 17 seconds over the 48 minutes or so between the two recordings!

[fergus]

Another offering; this time Wand....





This is a very dignified, solemn, stately and well measured performance, yet there is still plenty of tension built up by Wand; a most enjoyable performance....the slow movement was especially pleasing.

[Jose Echenique]

Another offering; this time Wand....





This is a very dignified, solemn, stately and well measured performance, yet there is still plenty of tension built up by Wand; a most enjoyable performance....the slow movement was especially pleasing.

That is a very sound performance, from a man that knew his trade.

[fergus]

That is a very sound performance, from a man that knew his trade.

That is so very true Pepe; it is a very well thought out and constructed performance where Wand obviously thought long and hard about his approach. I find that a lot with any of the conducted performances that I have of his (I like his Bruckner). For me he was a great conductor.

[Seán]

Just to add my thoughts on the Bruno Walter version from this box set....





The conducting in the opening movement is so forceful that one can almost hear the lashes of the conductor’s whip. The funeral march is solemn and grand. The Scherzo is energetic but not frantic. In the final movement the music making is very strident and earnest and played with passion and commitment. This recording was made in 1949 and the remastering did a good job of restoring it.
There is a bonus CD in this set and one of the works on it is a 1941 version of Symphony No. 3. In this earlier version the recorded sound is not quite up to the same standard as the later 1949 one but it is far from poor; it just sounds older. The overall interpretation did not change in the intervening 8 years between the two recordings. Walter had obviously fixed on an interpretation. Interestingly, there is only a difference of 17 seconds over the 48 minutes or so between the two recordings!

Yes, I am doing my utmost not to be lured into purchasing that set.

[fergus]

Yes, I am doing my utmost not to be lured into purchasing that set.

And it in glorious mono and well remastered too!!