Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

[Scion7]

I am currently rereading "Beethoven: Impressions by his Contemporaries" edited by O G Sonneck. Anyone read it?

Yes!  It's quite good.



^These, along with the extensive article in The New Grove, and a rather long piece by Paul Henry Lang in Music In Western Civilization ç1941 (rev. 1969), are my primary research material on Ludwig Van.

[Heck148]

A fully satisfactory 9th is extremely rare....

Reiner/CSO - magnificent
Toscanini/NBC is great, also...

[(poco) Sforzando]

I am currently rereading "Beethoven: Impressions by his Contemporaries" edited by O G Sonneck. Anyone read it?

I imagine his contemporaries have.

[Que]

I'd add Fricsay and Abbado/Salzburg to that list.

The Fricsay has a strong reputation.
Oddly enough, I don't know it. Should fix that some time soon...

Anyway, I would also want to make some additional recommendations.
Despite a unsuccessful 9th, the other symphonies make Bruno Walter's NY cycle more than worthy for an honorable mention:

[asin]B005HO1WG0[/asin]

Also, I noticed that Klemperer wasn't on Scots John's short list.
My favorites are the "earlier" (mono) recordings, just before Klemperer turned into the granite statue in Mozart's Don Giovanni...

 


Q

[Jo498]

The Fricsay is very good. My slight caveats are substandard sound in the finale (this may have improved in newer remasterings, on my Dokumente disc from the mid-1990s the finale sounds very different from the earlier movements with singers "in your face" and the orchestra sounding small and distant, briefly the finale sounds somewhat like his earlier recording of Fidelio which is marred by similar problems) and a very slow slow movement.

Another favorite ist Karajan from the early 60s. A little "slick" but very strong soloists and overall a good balance of everything, I think (and I am usually not a great fan of this conductor)

[amw]

My favourite 9th is probably Herreweghe's (HM not Pentatone) but the person who asked that question probably won't like it. Also, soloists are not perfect. Fricsay is a decent all-rounder, though has slow tempi and DFD. I like it and I never like grand manner slow tempo Beethoven. Ever. Except Fricsay. So I guess that's a recommendation of sorts >.>

I'm curious about modern 9ths. Chailly was a disappointment after his otherwise good cycle (main reason I didn't bother to get the set). Herreweghe Pentatone I don't know, nor any of the kids (Järvi, Thielemann, etc). The quality of singers nowadays is probably higher than ever before, so you'd think there'd be some good 9ths, even if most of the good singers prefer to spend their time focusing on early music instead (with occasional left-field albums of Poulenc or Cage or fado or showtunes).

edit: by "modern" I basically mean "21st century"

[Drasko]

The 9th that I keep returning to for the last couple of years is Schmidt-Isserstedt. Meat and potatoes, but first class meat and potatoes. 

[Scion7]

[George]

The Fricsay has a strong reputation.
Oddly enough, I don't know it. Should fix that some time soon...

Anyway, I would also want to make some additional recommendations.
Despite a unsuccessful 9th, the other symphonies make Bruno Walter's NY cycle more than worthy for an honorable mention:

[asin]B005HO1WG0[/asin]

I recently got that one! 

[Bogey]

Never cared for Gardiner.  What is your take on him for this set?

[Bogey]

My 9th:



You feeling me, Gurn?

[kishnevi]

Among the recent Ninths, none stand out for me.  I prefer the Chailly cycle overall.  I don't like the second Bruggen because of the male soloists: bad stumble there.   My favorite one off is
[asin]B000001GN4[/asin]
Even though it is 79 minutes...79 minutes of glory.

[Bogey]

Among the recent Ninths, none stand out for me.  I prefer the Chailly cycle overall.  I don't like the second Bruggen because of the male soloists: bad stumble there.   My favorite one off is
[asin]B000001GN4[/asin]
Even though it is 79 minutes...79 minutes of glory.

Slow Beethoven is BEAST when done right and Bohm is a master of pulling this off.  I may have to snag this one.

[Scion7]

Much prefer the original Bohm DG cycle. Shrugs.

[amw]

Among the recent Ninths, none stand out for me.  I prefer the Chailly cycle overall.

I liked the Chailly cycle (Though never quite enough to buy it.) until I got to the 9th, actually. Then the heavy vibrato of the soloists basically killed it.

Currently I'm thinking about Järvi, who has some pretty good soloists (although Matthias Goerne has either lost a lot of his voice since the Harnoncourt St. Matthew Passion, or that recording was just an exceptional fluke) and at least seems to be reasonably good in the rest of the symphonies, though there are no full tracks available for sampling. (30-second samples sound as good as Chailly, but no idea if he holds the structure together as well.) I also need to find Dohnányi again. The CDs disappeared at some point, probably in a move, and I haven't got digitisations. I remember the 9th being good apart from the singers.

Herreweghe II is not really to my taste (nor the rest of the cycle); he's gone a bit Celibidache on us, but with more grace and less power than Mr. Weird Lips himself. On the other hand I suspect for some people that's a recommendation.

[Bogey]

Much prefer the original Bohm DG cycle. Shrugs.

What is the timing on the original?

Grabbed this one off the shelf today for a spin.  Great reviews, but have not listened to it in an age and cannot remember feelings about it:

[Scion7]

What is the timing on the original?

I have the 1977 "Beethoven Edition" of the previous 1972 boxed-set of this 1970-recorded version of the 9th with Boem/Vienna Philharmonic.
The DG labels have no timings listed, neither does the mini-sheets inside the box - the 1972 version had a different booklet, but no timings either.
But according to Discogs for the French edition:

Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125
O    Allegro Ma Non Troppo, Un Poco Maestosos                           16:40
P1    Molto Vivace                                                                 12:10
P2    Adagio Molto E Cantabile                                                16:30
Q    Presto (Mit Schlusschor Aus Schillers Ode "An Die Freude")   27:04
                   Lyrics By – Schiller*

I'm sure these timings are accurate.
   

[ritter]

   My favorite one off is
[asin]B000001GN4[/asin]
Even though it is 79 minutes...79 minutes of glory.

A big +1 on this...a glorious perfomance. It's as if Böhm, in the twilight of his career, said; "I've been conducting this for decades. Now you're going to hear it the way I really want it to sound". Stunning how, with these very distended tempi, the work does not lose any of its tension and shape. Exquisite orchestral response IMHO. And even Plácido Domingo's German pronunciation is better than usual here...

[Scion7]

A big +1 on this...a glorious perfomance. It's as if Böhm, in the twilight of his career, said; "I've been conducting this for decades. Now you're going to hear it the way I really want it to sound".

On the other hand, it may be that his powers were failing in his very old age, and this led to a less-successful performance than the glorious 1970 recording - which, either here or there, seems to be the ones the critics prefer.

[Jo498]

Note that the 1972 is already fairly slow, especially the last movement if that playing time is correct.