Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

[Ten thumbs]

From The New Yorker February 23, 1839 Vol VI page 538

BEETHOVEN.

A stately and a solemn song,
Such as the evening winds prolong
   In some cathedral aisle,
When holy hope and lofty thought,
From the soul's deep recesses brought,
   Attend the hymn the while.

There mingle with thy glorious strain
No common fancies light and vein ;
   Thy spirit was enshrined
Thy chords were thoughts—thy notes were given
To all that links this earth with heaven,
   Musician of the mind !

L. E. L.

[Brahmsian]

Listening:  The complete string quartets.

A mixture of performances between the Italiano and the Takacs.

Op. 135 on multiple repeats. 

[Mandryka]

Anyone got a view on this book?

[aquablob]

Anyone got a view on this book?

Not an easy read, and perhaps a bit heavier on the semiotics jargon than it needs to be, but it's an insightful book. The first chapter on the slow movement of the "Hammerklavier" was eye-opening to me.

You can get a sense for what Hatten's all about here: http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/semiotics/cyber/hatout.html (links to the 8 lectures are at the top and bottom of the page)

[torut]

I like the version of the Corydon Singers. I believe it's on Hyperion, but I'm not at home to check it out. Very nicely done though.



edit: Yes, here it is at Amazon. Christ, the price is through the roof! 

[asin]B000002ZY0[/asin]

I downloaded FLAC from Hyperion site and I am listening to it now. Thank you for your recommendation. Both the composition and the performance are very good.
CD will be reissued in August on Helios.
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55479&vw=dc

[Brahmsian]

Listening to this magnificent disc!

[asin]B0000041MM[/asin]

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Very interesting review of the new Jan Swafford book, Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph - 1,077 pages! (book, not the review) in this weekend's WSJ, C5+. "The madder B. got, the more lucid his musical intelligence became..."

[Florestan]

Listening to this magnificent disc!

[asin]B0000041MM[/asin]

Quintessential Beethoven in humble disguise and resplendent performance!

[Brahmsian]

Quintessential Beethoven in humble disguise and resplendent performance!

It is magnificent! 

[Florestan]

It is magnificent! 

A desert island disc, no doubt!

[springrite]

I like the version of the Corydon Singers. I believe it's on Hyperion, but I'm not at home to check it out. Very nicely done though.



edit: Yes, here it is at Amazon. Christ, the price is through the roof! 

[asin]B000002ZY0[/asin]

I got it at BRO. It is still there.

[aquablob]

A desert island disc, no doubt!

Agreed. The bagatelles are great, and that Brendel disc is my favorite recording of them. Funny: according to my iTunes play count, it's my most-listened-to Beethoven album.

[Uatu]

Very interesting review of the new Jan Swafford book, Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph - 1,077 pages! (book, not the review) in this weekend's WSJ, C5+. "The madder B. got, the more lucid his musical intelligence became..."

I'm curious if it's necessary to have yet another LvB bio (especially at 1077 pages).  If you've already got the Lockwood, Cooper, Marek (my personal fav) and the Thayer/Forbes bios is this worth reading?  I would really like to have the Thayer updated - that would be really great.

http://lvbandmore.blogspot.com/

[Uatu]

A young South Korean pianist who released a "complete" cycle in 2012 (controversially she left out the Op.49 sonatas...well, a controversy in this forum anyway ) She isn't well thought of here (Brian's Musicweb review is scathing) although a few of us like her. Her interpretations tend toward the manic (sometimes her technical reach exceeds her grasp) but are great fun when listened to in small quantities.

http://www.youtube.com/v/CH19qS0VTNE

[asin]B007OYFCVC[/asin]


Sarge

Oh wow, I've been so out of the Beethoven scene I didn't even know HJ had finished her complete cycle!  The first time I heard her Hammerklavier I was blown away and asked her immediately to record a complete cycle.  I am appalled that she never notified me that she'd done this! 

Reading other comments here it looks like she is a bit controversial.  That's awesome.  Beethoven was considered a total madman on the keys so she's in good company.  Richter and Annie Fischer will probably always be my "definitive" Beethoven piano interpreters but the world needs people like HJ LIm (and Patricia Kopatchinskaja - another young interpreter with similar instincts, except on violin) to keep the music alive.

I'm pretty positive if Beethoven were alive today he'd be playing synthesizers through distortion pedals and giving Stockhausen a run for his money.

Anyways, ordering the Lim cycle posthaste...

http://lvbandmore.blogspot.com/

[calyptorhynchus]

Someone has just alerted me to the issue in the 5th symphony, where many conductors take the opening motif and play it as though the first three notes are a triplet on the second beat (da-da-da-dum), instead of quaver rest, quaver, quaver on the second beat, quaver &c (da-DA-da-dum). Can someone point me in the direction of a recording that consistently has the latter accentuation, as I think those I have fall into the former category.

[Karl Henning]

That's bad.  You want da-da-da-DUM;  and treating the pickup figure as a triplet does risk a sort of DA-da-da-DUM . . . .

[Madiel]

He's saying he wants da-Da-da-DUM.

[Karl Henning]

Well, but that's not right either;  you don't want to feel that note stronger.  Maybe he wants that; but it's wrong

[Madiel]

Well, but that's not right either;  you don't want to feel that note stronger.  Maybe he wants that; but it's wrong

Is it? Why?

The entire point is that the second note is on a beat of the bar, whereas the first and third ones aren't. It's a weaker beat, yes, but it's still a beat. And having 3 undifferentiated notes is more likely to sound like a triplet.

[Karl Henning]

I see your point, and it is debatable.

My feeling is that three undifferentiated notes won't sound like a triplet;  but I know that things sound different to different listeners.