Recordings that you enjoy: Beethoven Symphony #9

Started by Gurn Blanston, April 26, 2009, 08:39:39 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on August 12, 2012, 09:36:41 AM
I haven't looked through the thread to see of its been mentioned, but my choice is Leinsdorf with Boston, has been for many, many years.

We spoke briefly of it about 3 or 4 pages back. I like it too, although picking a favorite is no easy task for me since they all have their moments. :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on August 12, 2012, 09:40:42 AM
We spoke briefly of it about 3 or 4 pages back. I like it too, although picking a favorite is no easy task for me since they all have their moments. :)

8)

It's probably a little easier for me to pick a favorite only because I've listened to a far less number of recordings. I dont listen to it often, but it's hard to deny the power and genius of Ludwig Van. Especially no 9.

Lilas Pastia

The Leinsdorf set is there on the shelf, still wrapped. I should get to it in due time. I've enormously liked that team's Prokofieff set. Tart and biting as I like them. Maybe these qualities will spill over in their Beethoven?

I urge anyone who likes the Munch Boston to listen to the concert made the day before the recording - obviously with the same soloists. It's available as a free and legal download on Metrognome blogspot. But beware of another Munch BSO on that same blog. It's from Munch's final concert as MD in Boston in 1962. It is not only ragged in execution but quite badly sung. The 1958 concert is almost 5 minutes faster than the recording made 1 day later  :o. Sound is good broadcast quality. It doen't come more volcanic than this. Absolutely hair-raising.

Bogey

Dohnányi and Cleveland is easily my favorite 9th....but then nothing new for you to hear, Gurn. ;)
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: TheGSMoeller on August 12, 2012, 10:44:03 AM
It's probably a little easier for me to pick a favorite only because I've listened to a far less number of recordings. I dont listen to it often, but it's hard to deny the power and genius of Ludwig Van. Especially no 9.

Yeah, I know what you mean. When I had 2 or 3, it was easy to say "I like this one the best". When I got over 25 it was a lot harder. Now, at nearly 100, it's damn near impossible. :o  I don't care though, I keep listening and enjoying all my favorite bits and the different ideas that people have had over the years as to what that music needs to sound like. There is a palpable evolution in performance/interpretation from my first version of 1929 (Fried) to my most recently performed in 2011(Chailly). Which in itself is very interesting. :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: André on August 12, 2012, 12:03:41 PM
The Leinsdorf set is there on the shelf, still wrapped. I should get to it in due time. I've enormously liked that team's Prokofieff set. Tart and biting as I like them. Maybe these qualities will spill over in their Beethoven?

I urge anyone who likes the Munch Boston to listen to the concert made the day before the recording - obviously with the same soloists. It's available as a free and legal download on Metrognome blogspot. But beware of another Munch BSO on that same blog. It's from Munch's final concert as MD in Boston in 1962. It is not only ragged in execution but quite badly sung. The 1958 concert is almost 5 minutes faster than the recording made 1 day later  :o. Sound is good broadcast quality. It doen't come more volcanic than this. Absolutely hair-raising.

I have this one that you mention;



RCA / Sony   1958   Boston SO/Munch, Charles   
New England Conservatory Chorus/Cooke de Varon, Lorna   
Price, Leontyne   
Forrester, Maureen   
Poleri, David   
Tozzi, Giorgio

and it's a pretty fine effort. Easy to see using these soloists for something else as long as they are there! Thanks for the tip on that, I need to go look it up. 

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Bogey on August 12, 2012, 12:10:50 PM
Dohnányi and Cleveland is easily my favorite 9th....but then nothing new for you to hear, Gurn. ;)

Indeed not, Bill. You were the one who pointed me at it. It's on my top shelf, albeit with company. Nice performance all around. :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Bogey

Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on August 12, 2012, 12:46:24 PM
Indeed not, Bill. You were the one who pointed me at it. It's on my top shelf, albeit with company. Nice performance all around. :)

8)

That is the key for me. It let it be known that I would never rec. that one owns, well, only one. :)
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

jlaurson

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on August 12, 2012, 09:31:50 AM
My favorite of the four: Dohnänyi...not only my favorite Cleveland performance, my favorite MI version period.

Sarge

Seconded, with the caveat that I've not heard the Maazel and that, as great as this is, it's not my favorite MI version.
At least Fricsay and Abbado/Salzburg are ahead of it.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: jlaurson on August 12, 2012, 03:55:49 PM
Seconded, with the caveat that I've not heard the Maazel and that, as great as this is, it's not my favorite MI version.
At least Fricsay and Abbado/Salzburg are ahead of it.

Fricsay is on MY short list too. I noticed today when I was checking the Munch earlier that one of the reviews called it the first great recorded 9th. I think that laurel goes to Fricsay. The stereo is just a bonus; the performance is superb!   :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

mjwal

#370
Quote from: André on August 12, 2012, 12:03:41 PM
The Leinsdorf set is there on the shelf, still wrapped. I should get to it in due time. I've enormously liked that team's Prokofieff set. Tart and biting as I like them. Maybe these qualities will spill over in their Beethoven?

I urge anyone who likes the Munch Boston to listen to the concert made the day before the recording - obviously with the same soloists. It's available as a free and legal download on Metrognome blogspot. But beware of another Munch BSO on that same blog. It's from Munch's final concert as MD in Boston in 1962. It is not only ragged in execution but quite badly sung. The 1958 concert is almost 5 minutes faster than the recording made 1 day later  :o. Sound is good broadcast quality. It doen't come more volcanic than this. Absolutely hair-raising.
- Unfortunately, that Munch #9 was hosted on fileserve  :(  - but the blog author says he will re-up it.
I haven't listened to this lately, but hope to re-ignite my youthful enthusiasm some time soon - for some years now it has been a problematic work for me. The 1942 Furtwängler is my point de repère or reference recording; I liked the Schuricht recording, too, and the live Gielen I once heard.
The Violin's Obstinacy

It needs to return to this one note,
not a tune and not a key
but the sound of self it must depart from,
a journey lengthily to go
in a vein it knows will cripple it.
...
Peter Porter

DavidRoss

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on August 12, 2012, 09:31:50 AM
my favorite MI version period.
?
Modestly Informed?
Mainstream Interpretation?
Monstrously Insane?
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: DavidRoss on August 13, 2012, 08:54:09 AM
?
Modestly Informed?
Mainstream Interpretation?
Monstrously Insane?

Modern Instruments. Here at GMG, we no longer use the term HIP. It is hopelessly outdated. Performances are either P(eriod)I or MI. Always on the cutting edge...  :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

DavidRoss

#373
Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on August 13, 2012, 09:52:22 AM
Modern Instruments. Here at GMG, we no longer use the term HIP. It is hopelessly outdated. Performances are either P(eriod)I or MI. Always on the cutting edge...  :)
Let's not forget PIMP -- Period Informed Modern Performance.

Having just visited the previous few pages of this thread, I was scoping out Abbado's recordings on Amazon when I noted that my favorite PIMP LvB cycle was available on DVD at a remarkably modest price: Abbado's "Rome" BP cycle, for $30, delivered. I scarcely hesitated to one-click it! As with operas these days, I'm bewildered by marketing/pricing decisions that have multi-DVD sets with audio-visual recordings plus extras selling for less than audio-only CDs.

I also one-clicked the BP-Salzburg recording that Jens and Renfield recommend so highly. Have you heard that one yet?

"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

The Raven

#374
bernstein's with Bavarian RSO, LSO, DS, NYPO, OdeP, Kirov & Dresden Children's Choir, fricsay's with BPO and kletzki's with Czech PO are the best for my taste among my 40+ 9th recordings

DavidRoss

Quote from: The Raven on August 13, 2012, 10:12:37 AM
bernstein's with Bavarian RSO, LSO, DS, NYPO, OdeP, Kirov & Dresden Children's Choir, fricsay's with BPO and kletzki's with Czech PO are the best for my taste among my 40+ 9th recordings
Thanks! Guys like you and Gurn help me to convince my wife that 20+ isn't especially insane!
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: DavidRoss on August 13, 2012, 10:11:44 AM
Let's not forget PIMP -- Period Informed Modern Performance.

Having just visited the previous few pages of this thread, I was scoping out Abbado's recordings on Amazon when I noted that my favorite PIMP LvB cycle was available on DVD at a remarkably modest price: Abbado's "Rome" BP cycle, for $30, delivered. I scarcely hesitated to one-click it! As with operas these days, I'm bewildered by marketing/pricing decisions that have multi-DVD sets with audio-visual recordings plus extras selling for less than audio-only CDs.

I also one-clicked the BP-Salzburg recording that Jens and Renfield recommend so highly. Have you heard that one yet?

Yes to both those. I have derived great enjoyment from the DVD cycle most of all, as I actually like to watch a concert on TV as I listen. Thousands wouldn't admit it... ::)  And the BP-Salzburg has given me a new appreciation for Abbado. He really is a good conductor!

Terminology-wise, I personally grew tired of the endless debate over whether this or that performance was or wasn't HIP, even though it used modern instruments. "Scherchen was the first HIP conductor..."  ::) . So in the interest of pointing out that my real enthusiasm is for period instruments, I only use PI for just what it is any more. Let others argue.  :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

The Raven

Quote from: DavidRoss on August 13, 2012, 10:18:29 AM
Thanks! Guys like you and Gurn help me to convince my wife that 20+ isn't especially insane!

I've been there. The only solution I'd recommend is to divorce her before it's too late  ???

DavidRoss

Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on August 13, 2012, 11:01:40 AM
Yes to both those. I have derived great enjoyment from the DVD cycle most of all, as I actually like to watch a concert on TV as I listen. Thousands wouldn't admit it... ::)  And the BP-Salzburg has given me a new appreciation for Abbado. He really is a good conductor!
He might be my all-time favorite. First-rate in an astonishing wealth of repertoire.

Last year I bought a Roku device for the TV, partly because it featured a classical music performance channel. Seeing some of Abbado's Lucerne Mahler performances, I learned that I enjoyed watching as well as hearing them. I even bought a pair of decent speakers and hooked them up to an old amplifier so as to improve my "home concert hall" experience.

Roku promptly discontinued the classical music channel. Neither Netflix nor Amazon offers much in the way of non-pop music videos and for some reason I've never particularly enjoyed opera videos (though I keep trying!). So I am looking forward to seeing whether this DVD set rekindles the magic. If so, my buying habits may change!
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

DavidRoss

Quote from: The Raven on August 14, 2012, 03:58:20 AM
I've been there. The only solution I'd recommend is to divorce her before it's too late  ???
It's too late. I love her. I'm committed to our marriage. And she's counting on me. And in her more lucid moments, she seems to recognize that she's not entirely sane, either. ;)
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher