Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Started by BachQ, April 06, 2007, 03:12:18 AM

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Mark

#664
November 19, 2007, 03:55:44 AM
Quote from: D Minor on November 13, 2007, 10:35:03 AM


BEETHOVEN, Violin Concerto; Violin Sonata No. 9 "Kreutzer"
Vadim Repin (violin); Martha Argerich (piano); VPO / Muti
Deutsche Grammophon- B0009663-0(CD)


CLASSICS TODAY REVIEW: "Repin produces a big yet sweet tone married to lovingly delicate phrasing. There is backbone in his performance, but some listeners might well feel that there's not enough. Interpretively, Repin comes closer to the heartfelt lyricism of Perlman than to the more aggressively virtuoso stance of Heifetz, though both of these artists engage the emotions more than Repin does." 


When faced with choosing between this and Faust on Harmonia Mundi, Rob Cowan (one of very few reviewers whose opinions I do respect) went with Faust. And though I've not heard Repin's account of either work, I'm prepared to go with Cowan on this, as his description of the DG recording sounded ominously like that God-awful, drawn-out Vengerov/Rostropovich reading on EMI that I'm forever lambasting. ;D

Renfield

#665
November 19, 2007, 04:06:53 AM
Quote from: Mark on November 19, 2007, 03:55:44 AM
When faced with choosing between this and Faust on Harmonia Mundi, Rob Cowan (one of very few reviewers whose opinions I do respect) went with Faust. And though I've not heard Repin's account of either work, I'm prepared to go with Cowan on this, as his description of the DG recording sounded ominously like that God-awful, drawn-out Vengerov/Rostropovich reading on EMI that I'm forever lambasting. ;D

And the Faust account is quite wonderful on its own right, too! :)

karlhenning

#666
November 19, 2007, 10:13:52 AM
Quote from: www.classicstoday.com
Interpretively, Repin comes closer to the heartfelt lyricism of Perlman than to the more aggressively virtuoso stance of Heifetz, though both of these artists engage the emotions more than Repin does.

Oh, statements like this inspire a rolling of the eyes, they do.  I've heard Repin play the Shostakovich First Concerto, and his playing "engages the emotions" just fine, in my experience.

Mark

#667
November 19, 2007, 12:31:11 PM
Quote from: Renfield on November 19, 2007, 04:06:53 AM
And the Faust account is quite wonderful on its own right, too! :)

Absolutely. Sounds just perfect to my ears. 0:)

BachQ

#668
November 26, 2007, 03:08:34 AM
Two takes on Carlos Kleiber's conducting the finale of LvB 7

Carlos Kleiber - Beethoven symphony No.7, Op.92 : mov.4
Bavarian State Orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/v/19L5lqpmM2w

Compare:

Carlos Kleiber -Beethoven symphony No.7, Op.92 : mov.4
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/v/VLkZvsp62iU&feature=related

BachQ

#669
November 26, 2007, 03:16:21 AM
Releases 11/20/2007



1.  Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102 "Double" by Johannes Brahms
Performer:  Thomas Zehetmair (Violin), Antonio Meneses (Cello)
Conductor:  Kurt Sanderling
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra

2.  Symphony no 6 in F major, Op. 68 "Pastoral" by Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor:  Kurt Sanderling
 
3.  Fantasia in C minor, Op. 80 "Choral Fantasy" by Ludwig van Beethoven
Orchestra/Ensemble:  USSR Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra,  Russian State Academy Chorus


BachQ

#670
November 28, 2007, 03:04:02 AM
2nd International Beethoven Competition for Piano in Bonn, December 3-13, 2007


A generously endowed piano competition in honor of Ludwig van Beethoven, to be held every two years in Bonn, will take place for the second time in 2007, beginning next week on December 3d. Pianists, born between 1975 and 1987, from all over the world are invited to take part in the 2nd International Beethoven Competition Bonn for Piano.  This top-level competition focuses on works by Beethoven from every phase of his creative life. One of the special aims of this competition is to place these works into a programmatic context that underlines the composer's outstanding importance as a creative and innovative source of ideas for the international music world.




In 2005, Henri Sigfridsson from Finland was the winner of the first prize, endowed with EUR 30,000, in the International Beethoven Competition for Piano staged for the first time in Bonn in 2005.

2005 2d prize EUR 20,000

2005 3d prize EUR 10,000


BachQ

#671
December 04, 2007, 09:51:52 AM
December 4, 2007, New York Times
Music Review
Beethoven's Violin Sonatas as a Series of Dialogues
By ALLAN KOZINN

The 92nd Street Y is smitten with the idea of Beethoven cycles this season. In September the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio played all the piano trios in chronological order in an all-day marathon. Now the violinist Christian Tetzlaff and the pianist Alexander Lonquich are playing the Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Mr. Tetzlaff and Mr. Lonquich are in less of a hurry: Having played the first four sonatas on Thursday, they picked up with the fifth — "Spring" Sonata — as well as the sixth and seventh on Sunday afternoon, and will play a concluding concert tonight.

The Beethoven of the "Spring" Sonata was 30 and no longer the feisty Haydn acolyte he had been three years earlier, when he wrote his first violin sonatas, nor was he the iconoclast he would become in another four years. In this work's opening movement, at least, he sounds atypically at ease and willing to pour melodic balm on his listeners. In fact, except for the teasing syncopations in the Scherzos of this work and of the Sonata No. 7 (Op. 30, No. 2), he maintains this uncharacteristic gentility right up to the "Kreutzer" Sonata, the ninth in the set.

Mr. Tetzlaff and Mr. Lonquich seemed disinclined to see the works quite that way, but they weren't ready to discard the possibility entirely. So if their brisk reading of the "Spring" Sonata's graceful opening sounded oddly aloof, they compensated in the slow movements of all three works and in the rich variations that close the Sonata No. 6 (Op. 30, No. 1).

In these Mr. Tetzlaff produced a warm, singing tone, acknowledging the music's lyricism without veering into sentimentality. He tended to use dynamic suppleness rather than vibrato as an expressive engine, and when he used vibrato, it was lavish enough to make a phrase blossom, but not so wide as to call attention to itself.

Mr. Lonquich's contribution was a crisply articulated, extroverted piano line that was never subservient, even when it had only accompanying figuration. That said, Mr. Lonquich never stepped on Mr. Tetzlaff's lines, and Mr. Tetzlaff adopted a similar approach: When the piano was in the spotlight, Mr. Tetzlaff's accompanying lines were shapely and full of character.

The most pleasing aspect of this collaboration was the degree to which Mr. Tetzlaff and Mr. Lonquich played this music as a series of dialogues, with phrases shaped as questions and rejoinders, assertions and rebuttals, and stretches in which the pleasure of agreement created its own energy and pushed the conversation forward.

BachQ

#672
December 05, 2007, 08:23:29 AM
Barenboim's masterclass about Beethoven (PART 1) Chicago 2005, Symphony Hall

http://www.youtube.com/v/40q4P-dyn0o

BachQ

#673
December 05, 2007, 08:24:23 AM

Barenboim's masterclass about Beethoven (PART 2)

http://www.youtube.com/v/-a_5qkIr8bc

BachQ

#674
December 05, 2007, 08:25:26 AM
Barenboim's masterclass about Beethoven (PART 3)

http://www.youtube.com/v/gF0xTTf_OMI

BachQ

#675
December 07, 2007, 07:21:43 AM
Mammoth effort brings out the best in Beethoven
07 Dec 2007

A professor of music has spent 10 years examining every note of every authentic source of every Beethoven piano sonata to produce what he feels is the truest representation of the composer's work.
Barry Cooper from The University of Manchester has published a revised version of all 35 sonatas - including three little-known pieces printed when the composer was 12 - for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Based at the University's School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, Professor Cooper, who is one of the world's leading Beethoven experts, has published the work in three volumes.

He is widely known for completing the first movement of Beethoven's unfinished tenth symphony, premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in 1988.


The thousands of notes examined for his latest work are accompanied by over 150,000 words of detailed commentary.

He said: "What I've done is try to reproduce what Beethoven actually wrote - and what he meant to write - more accurately than in any previous edition.

"For example, one note in particular has been the subject of debate ever since it was first published in the early 19th century - an A sharp in the opus 106 Sonata in B flat major known as the "Hammerklavier".

"Beethoven probably forgot to cancel the sharp and an 'A natural' makes more sense.

"And what I've also done, which has not been done before, is to relate what Beethoven wrote to what we know about the notation and performing styles of his day, wherever there's any uncertainty.

"This detailed commentary should be of great help for all performers.

"If you know the sonatas well, you'll certainly be able to tell the difference."

He added: "All other recent editions have 32 sonatas. The three extra ones are normally omitted as they were very early works written when Beethoven was 12.

"I feel there is no reason to omit them as they are full scale works.

"Moreover, the first complete edition of Beethoven's piano sonatas, published by Beethoven's friend Haslinger, did contain the extra three.

"As Beethoven himself may have been involved, it suggests he would have approved."

Leslie East, Executive Director: Syllabus & Publishing for ABRSM, commented: "The new edition of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas is a landmark in the history of music scholarship and publishing.

"Professor Cooper's remarkable forensic examination of the history and sources of this essential canon of the piano literature is matched by the immensely practical and educationally valuable insights he brings to issues of interpretation and performance.

"ABRSM Publishing is proud to be the publisher of an edition that provides a definitive text alongside such a uniquely comprehensive picture of these extraordinary works."

NOTES FOR EDITORS
Professor Cooper is available for comment

The official launch was at the Wigmore Hall on 7 December presented by John Suchet, newscaster and Beethoven devotee who has written several books on the composer.

Professor Cooper will talk about his approach to the edition.

BachQ

#676
December 12, 2007, 03:31:29 AM
Says Bruce Hodges about the Vänskä/Minnesota Beethoven Ninth:


*** I am really wowed by that Beethoven.  Vänskä adopts some tenets of the HIP movement (obviously without using a HIP ensemble) and comes up with a happy medium.  As just one example, in the last movement, the tympani strokes are very quick and clean--not quite "gunshots" but more crisp than most.

It's a very brisk performance, on the transparent side, and very beautifully played and recorded.  I like the soloists in the last movement, all of whom are new to me, who sing with lots of punch and vigor.  (Some people may not go for this.)  I must have about ten recordings of the Ninth, and this one will probably be somewhere near the top of the list, after exploring it awhile.

          --Bruce


karlhenning

#677
December 17, 2007, 07:33:22 AM
Happy Anniversary of Beethoven's Baptism!!!

BachQ

#678
January 06, 2008, 03:19:44 PM



100 classical albums you must hear

Bewildered by the ever-growing catalogue of classical music on CD? Let our music critic Michael Kennedy be your guide with his choice of 100 essential recordings

by Michael Kennedy, Telegraph.co.uk

***

BEETHOVEN

Symphony No 3 (Eroica); BBCSO; Barbirolli Society

An excellent example of Barbirolli's direct and honest way with the Beethoven symphonies. This studio recording followed a 1967 live performance which drew superlatives from the critics.

Symphonies Nos 5 and 7; Philharmonia Orch; EMI

Otto Klemperer's Beethoven cycles at the Festival Hall in the 1960s were crowd-drawing events and these performances, imbued with granite-like grandeur and energy, explain why.

Beethoven Symphony No 9 (Choral); Bavarian Radio SO; Philips

A perennial challenge to all its performers, especially the chorus, the Ninth is superbly performed under Sir Colin Davis, with soloists Helen Donath, Trudeliese Schmidt, Klaus König and Simon Estes.

Violin Concerto; Berlin PO; Dutton

Recorded in 1936 by Georg Kulenkampff and conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, this was regarded as a classic from the start, although the style of playing is not today's.

Piano Concerto No 3; NBC Orch; Naxos Historical

The interest in this Toscanini performance is his choice of soloist, the English pianist Dame Myra Hess, who was popular in America and is in rapport with the fiery Italian.

Piano Concerto No 5 (Emperor); Staatskapelle Dresden; Philips

The Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, a Beethoven specialist, gives a towering performance of this emperor of concertos, with Sir Colin Davis providing ideal support. From 1984.

Piano Trio in B flat (Archduke); EMI

Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals in 1928 in an evergreen account of this wonderful trio deservedly included by EMI in its Great Recordings of the Century.

Piano sonatas; Philips

Several great pianists have recorded all 32, although ideally one needs more than one artist in this range. The last five masterpieces are wonderfully played on two discs by Mitsuko Uchida.

String Quartets; Harmonia Mundi

Same applies to these, but you must have the three Rasumovsky quartets, Opus 59, and I recommend immensely satisfying performances by the Tokyo String Quartet recorded two or three years ago.

Fidelio; Royal Opera House Orch; Testament

Otto Klemperer conducted this thrilling live performance at Covent Garden in 1961 with the unbeatable combination of Sena Jurinac and Jon Vickers as Leonore and Florestan





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