Op 55

[Todd]

Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music.  Among the three HIP sets, this is the slow poke, though Hogwood never truly drags.  The slightly distant sound, the smaller band, and the older instruments result in something close to chamber music reading.  It's not much for intensity or impact, but it's inoffensive.  The Funeral March has a bit of a laid back feel to it, though Hogwood gets the band to generate a bit of heat in the climaxes.  The Scherzo sounds a bit low energy.  Here's a case where a conductor saves the best for last with a Finale that has some snap and pep and color.  Overall, could have been better.

[Todd]

If one looks just at the timing of 15'31", one does not expect the firehose blast of music that starts with the opening chords and doesn't really let up.  Yes, Savall and band let up a bit, but not much, and when they do, the playing retains a tense sense of purpose.  The strings rip, the winds bite, the timps come close to boxing the listener's ears, and with volume cranked, create tactile music.  This is music meant to push boundaries, crush limits, and convey a sense of nearly violent heroism.  The Funeral March comes in at only 12'48", and Savall keeps it super-tight, super-edgy, and super-tense, with the strings often just quickly slashing out some passages in terse, truncated fashion.  When and where appropriate, Savall keeps the rhythm snappy, and in the climaxes, Savall offers HIP playing fully equal in intensity to Kleiber.  The Scherzo maintains the same full-throttle, intense, no holds barred style playing.  Finally, in the Finale, Savall blazes through the music in a cuckoo bananas 10'08".  After dispensing with the theme, it's almost becomes the musical equivalent of an amusement park ride, with the listener hurled this way and that, with horns blaring stage right, then timps thumping in the back, the strings zipping in and out, all the while, the ensemble as whole is delivering on every last bit of promise, and then some, in the music.  This is one of the few recordings where the lopsided nature of the symphony completely slips one's mind.  To call this a great recording is to do it a great injustice.  Nearly octagenarian Savall cedes nothing to younger rivals past and present, and he offers a fully HIP version similar to Adès.  Who could have ever hoped that two blockbuster recordings, comparable to any in the catalog, would be released even in this Beethoven year. 

[Todd]

Moving back to big band one-offs, Wyn Morris and the LSO got the nod.  With an Allegro con brio coming in at over 17'30", one might expect a lumbering movement.  Nope.  While obviously not speedy, Morris keeps the movement moving forward with proper weight and drive.  The string playing sounds rather excellent, and the horns and trumpets blatt out nicely and not excessively.  It's meaty, punchy, dramatic, and the coda is a whopper.  The Funeral March is slow, somber, grand, grandiose, with drama aplenty, and legato enough to make Karajan blush.  After the heavy and lengthy opening movements, Morris makes the Scherzo dance in the opening, before keeping a zippy tempo and cranking the volume to splendid effect.  Finally, the Finale marries old school heft with snazzy, dance-like rhythm and more finely delineated string playing.  Morris, about as much as a conductor can, makes the back half of the symphony an effective counterweight to the first half.  The only drawback to this set is the sound quality, which, while not terrible, does not match up to the best recordings before or since.  Ultimately, that matters little; this is top notch stuff.

[Todd]

Christoph Eschenbach leading the Philly band.  The Allegro con brio opens with satisfyingly punchy chords and moves on to an extremely well paced, very nicely played movement, but curiously, it sounds kind of small in scale.  I made it a point to crank the volume to get the most string sheen and overall impact, and it worked, but it sounds like a moderately scaled up chamber orchestra take.  Eschenbach stretches the Funeral March out about as far as it can go at just over eighteen minutes, yet, somehow, it does not sound particularly slow.  Eschenbach paces the movement just so, sort of melding Beethoven and Wagner, and the movement has a more singing than mournful or deep feel.  Indeed, he even makes some of it have a slow, dance-like quality.  He does ratchet up the intensity, but due to recording style and approach, it does not sear like, say, Kleiber, but the overall impact of the movement is quite something.  It's the highlight of the symphony.  Eschenbach then leads an extra-zippy Scherzo that offers the maximum possible contrast in every way.  Eschenbach likewise keeps the Finale fairly light, and not a little spunky.  It makes for fun listening, but it also makes the symphony even more front-heavy than normal.  This is not a great recording of the work, but it is one of those performance which, despite misgivings, one can't help but dig.

[Todd]

Rafael Kubelik and the Berliner Philharmoniker.  Kubelik is one of the most reliable conductors in my collection, and so it goes here.  He takes the Allegro con brio at a moderate tempo that is more about flow than oomph.  It's also decidedly about balance and detail, especially in the winds.  One can revel in the detailed flute and oboe writing.  Part of this comes from the heavily multi-microphoned, bass light recording, which lessens impact a bit, but part also comes from Kubelik's attention to detail.  The conductor never really goes for outsize gestures or excess dynamic outbursts.  Often, and in lesser hands, this results in a too soft sound, but again this is more about flow, and Kubelik keeps scale sufficiently large.  The slow Funeral March works as well as any slow version can.  It never drags, always sounds serious, and if it lacks full scale dynamic punch of the best current recordings, it packs enough of a wallop.  One is reminded that he is one of the great Wagnerians.  Kubelik takes the Scherzo at a relaxed pace, but leads with enough energy, and when combined with the slightly spacious but perfectly balanced and amply energetic Finale, he delivers a symphony where the back half is not entirely overshadowed by the first half. 

[Todd]

Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin.  Barenboim is an unabashed old-school conductor when it comes to Beethoven.  He's like Thielemann in that regard, but he extracts more precise and better balanced playing.  Barenboim, like Claudio Arrau, believes in observing repeats to a fault, and when combined with his tempo choices, one is in for a long haul.  The Allegro con brio tops nineteen minutes, but it never drags or sounds slow; it has unstoppable forward momentum.  No, it does not match other for ultimate grandeur or intensity, but it please in every way.  The Funeral March takes a similarly extended length of time and includes what surely must count as improper levels of string vibrato, but, gosh darnit, it sounds swell.  Barenboim stays serious throughout and his extensive operatic background comes across.  One detects hints of Siegfried's funeral march, in the best possible way.  The climaxes have power aplenty, the brass bite and cut through the din, and when Barenboim wants the strings to hammer home a point, they do.  Nice.  The Scherzo falls squarely into the realm of standard timing and Barenboim pushes it forward with exemplary drive and oomph.  The Finale is a bit broad, and it starts off almost more Scherzo-y than the Scherzo in terms of a light-hearted feel, and then within the context of broad timing, Barenboim mixes up the variations quite a bit in every regard, and expertly so.  An excellent version.

[Todd]

Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.  Big Band meets HIP in a spectacularly well done performance.  The Allegro con brio is dispatched at a swift pace and played with unsurpassed corporate virtuosity.  Not even Fluffy can claim better playing.  The slightly distant perspective ends up being perfect, allowing Chailly to let the dynamic shifts sound perfectly scaled and realized.  All instrumentalists do essentially flawless work, but the strings lay down the musical foundation with exactitude and fleetness, and textural detail, that simply astound.  It's like a big band melding of Karajan and Adès in some ways.  At just over twelve minutes, the Funeral March is of the quick 'n' punchy variety.  Chailly's long years conducting opera reveal themselves in his ability to punch up the drama in the thundering tuttis, and in the massive attacks in some transitions.  And he knows how to both quickly but gradually picks up the already quick pace to heighten excitement.  The Scherzo nearly scorches the listener's ear, with execution and sonic balance so perfect that one can listen to any instrumental group with ease, and just marvel in the development of the movement.  Chailly then finishes off with a blazing Finale, coming in at just nine-and-a-half minutes.  There's a peppiness, a giddiness to the super-zippy playing.  Chailly creates an almost carnival like atmosphere, delivering a showpiece that betrays the influence of Italian opera working backward in time.  Make no mistake, this is Beethoven, but the sense of theatricality is undeniable.  And perfectly executed.  Wonderful.  One of the great recordings from one of the great cycles.

[Todd]

Josef Krips, in bargain basement guise.  Krips was, of course, a great conductor, and I know this transfer is reputedly the worst available of the cycle, so sound is accounted for.  Basically, in the Allegro con brio, one gets a good, old school reading.  Well paced, weighty, dramatic, with slow passages slowed down a bit and fast passages sped up a bit, powerful climaxes, the whole bit.  It fits right in with Krips' style.  Krips delivers a high octane Funeral March.  He keeps the overall tempo taut, which he amplifies by slightly slowing the slow music to then offer contrast with the fast music.  He really keeps some of the music tense, almost twitchy, with the violins nervously chirping out some of their music, and the climaxes have real power.  It sounds more theatrical than funereal, but that's OK.  The Scherzo despite it's not especially short timing also keeps a tense feel about it as Krips goes for the drama and the drive.  The Finale starts off kind of heavy, but the tempo choice works very well, and then the music proceeds through the variations with pep, rhythmic verve where needed, and a more or less just right feel.  I should probably get a proper release with better sound.

[Todd]

 

Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker for this Beethoven year.  I mean, could it be bad?  Nelsons opts for a repeats in, comfortably paced Allegro con brio, which is not to say it is slow, just that it is not zippy.  Nelsons lets the music breathe a bit, which means that when climaxes hit, and chords are repeated, the effect is all the more effective.  Heft permeates, and the strings use more than a little vibrato and like Thielemann, it sounds old-school, just not as interventionist.  The Funeral March is very slow and deliberate, very solemn, and only in the powerful tuttis does some fierceness appear.  Which is a perfectly fine way to do it.  The Scherzo is fairly conventional in approach, and has all the right traits in the right amounts.  The Finale, while still boasting the overall heft of the rest of the performance, also sounds surprisingly nimble and sometimes quite ebullient.  It makes a fine closer to a fine Beethoven year recording with an august ensemble on a premiere label.  There should be at least one such recording.

[Todd]

Karl Böhm in Vienna.  Here's an old fashioned, old school German Kapellmesiter performance.  I mean that in a good way.  Böhm was a no-nonsense conductor, and whenever I need an unfussy, serious, and unflashy take on Austro-Germanic core rep, Böhm is one of the most reliable conductors on record.  The Allegro con brio is taken at a perfectly measure tempo, with perfectly judged dynamics, and Böhm extracts precise playing the Viennese bad as one would expect.  Böhm changes the center of musical gravity to the long, slow, weighty but not ponderous or heavy Funeral March.  While certainly not the most intense or funereal, it sounds grand.  The Scherzo falls into the broad category, but has enough forward drive to carry it through.  The only less than quibble with the entire recording comes in the Finale, which sounds a bit stodgy and too slow in some of the playing leading up to the coda.  Nonetheless, this recording is a reliable, enjoyable one in perfectly acceptable analog stereo.

[Todd]

Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the WDR Symphony Orchestra.  One notices the nearly eighteen minute timing of the Allegro con brio and one wonders about tempi, but concern dissipates with the opening chords.  The timing results from repeats, not tempo.  Saraste goes for a swift enough opener that has satisfying weight and sounds faster than it actually is.  There's also a sleekness, which itself partly results from the somewhat blended sound.  No excess multi-microphone recording here with excess spotlighting.  This here's highly polished Beethoven.  The Funeral March is conventional in tempo and delivery and takes near-full advantage of modern recorded dynamic range in the climaxes as Saraste leads the band in packing a somewhat sterile wallop.  But the wallop sounds appealing in its wallopness alone.  The Scherzo packs a conventional wallop as well, though both horns and timps stand out nicely.  Saraste closes out with a somewhat quick and sometimes punchy Finale that again benefits from supremely fine execution and sound.  Not one of the greats, but a great recording to just let spin, and to crank up the volume while listening.

[Todd]

Rudolf Kempe and the Munich Philharmonic.  On LP.  A good slab of vinyl, as it turns out.  Kempe opts for a broad opening Allegro con brio, and the multi-miking is obvious with some of the highlighting, but the quiet surface and surprisingly good playback dynamic range means that Kempe's fluid style and very fine transitions yield truly satisfying climaxes, aided by ample horn blatt.  There's something of the unyielding forward drive of Klemperer or Giulini on display.  The Funeral March follows a similarly broad approach, and Kempe again does an exceptionally good job of letting the music unfold at a comfortable pace while maintaining tension and ample power in the climaxes.  It has a weighty, almost Wagnerian feel to it.  Kempe then turns around and pushes his band in a fast and energetic and tight Scherzo, with playing not substantially bettered by anyone.  Nice.  The Finale comes off fairly standard, with ample energy, but here Kempe displays a mastery of big band direction approaching that of Karajan in how he gets the different sections to meld so wonderfully, while extracting a more colorful and tangy sound, both from the violins and the winds.  LP sound really does compete with older and lesser digital recordings; basically, only SOTA recordings sound materially superior.

[Todd]

Walter Weller and the CBSO.  On LP.  With a bacon and eggs surface.  Weller starts off with a grand, slow Allegro con brio where nothing goes wrong and everything sounds quite fine.  He's kind of like Karl Böhm with a lesser band.  Unsurprisingly, the Funeral March also comes off as broad and grand, with at least adequate dynamic contrast and punch.  The Scherzo is well behaved, and the Finale includes a bit more drive and grit, especially from the low strings.  Nice enough overall.

[Brass Hole]

Chopin's Nocturnes are among my favorites of the complete classical music repertoire and when Chopin's 2 Nocturnes Op 55 are concerned I prefer:

[Todd]

Simon Rattle and Berlin.  In his second go-round, Simon Rattle exceeds expectations.  In the Alegro con brio, the two opening chords let the listener know what's coming: fast and punchy playing.  The timing indicates the repeat is intact, so one gets as much music as possible.  While not hyper-detailed, the level of executive brilliance rates among the better sets, and if not the deepest or most profound, the unyielding energy and forward drive more than compensate.  The Funeral March comes off tenser than its timing suggests, and man those strings do corporate vibrato well.  And the winds do their thing well.  The tightness of execution becomes one of the main draws in itself.  The climaxes have punch aplenty, if not fierceness, though the super tight timps work splendidly.  The Scherzo is of the tight and punchy variety, with the string work proving incredibly nimble in parts.  Predicitably, Rattle and the band deliver a swift, energetic Finale.  But they go one better in delivering an almost rustic galloping style in some of the playing, while going light and playful in other sections.  Overall, Rattle and crew deliver and exceptionally fine reading.  Dare one call it great?  One can dare.  One can dare.

[Todd]

Béla Drahos and the Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia.  Drahos and his band opt for a comfortable opening Allegro con brio that neither sets new standards for intensity or impact, but that also sounds well drilled, almost like the ensemble recorded it during a dress rehearsal.  Playing is clean, dynamics are nice, textural detail is fine, it just lacks the last bit of energy.  The Funeral March, in contrast, is a bit quick and springy and almost balletic.  Again, maximum impact goes missing, but the effect works, and the winds do nice work.  The Scherzo more less replicates the feel of the opening, while the Finale adds a bit more pep to the mix, and has the same rhythmic bounciness of parts of the second movement.  Not a world beater, but not bad at all.

[Todd]

And finally, Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh band.  Honeck has his band hammer out the opening chords, and then moves right into a high octane, high impact, high energy Allegro con brio.  Aided by some of the very best sound in the survey, the dynamic contrasts really hit home, and Honeck knows how to make them work, though perhaps he telegraphs some transitions.  One hears something else that lasts throughout, namely some most effective brass work on record, tight and bright, and he builds up and builds up to a massive coda.  The Funeral March comes close to matching Erich Kleiber in intensity at times, and emphasizes dramatic impact and forward drive.  (Really, after hearing even Honeck not quite match up to Papa Kleiber, it makes one wonder what resulting recordings could have been like had Kleiber lived another ten or so years.)  The low strings earn their keep here, too, anchoring the music, and Honeck is not afraid of effective vibrato.  He then leads a scorcher of a Scherzo, quick and vital and driving and possessed of wide contrasts.  Honeck then ends with a super-zippy Finale, where variation in style is hampered just a bit by the relentless forward momentum, but the playing thrills, as the brass cut through the music and the timps thwack as fast 'n' furious as any set out there.  A great, high-voltage recording.

[Todd]

Fortunately, in this batch, there was no truly dreadful recording to suffer through, so rather than tiering more exhaustively, I will just list the definitive, objective, all-time top ten list:

Top Ten
Erich Kleiber (RCO)
Arturo Toscanini (NYPO/RCA)
Thomas Adès
Carl Schuricht (Orchestre De La Societe Des Concerts Du Conservatoire De Paris)
Manfred Honeck
Herbert von Karajan (1970s)
Riccardo Chailly
Jordi Savall (2019)
Wyn Morris
Simon Rattle (BPO)