Complete Sets of Beethoven's Symphonies

[Florestan]

I don't know if this has been already mentioned but it's very good. Actually, it's my go-to set. (The sound is simply glorious, despite its age.)



MusicWeb review here: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/Mar/Beethoven_sys_0002672CCC.htm

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I had that in my hand, yesterday, and was wondering. I know I want his Schumann...  It was the older set, which isn't half as pretty, so I opted against it. But I will acquire Konwitschny, sooner or later.
There certainly is/was lots of sleeper-excellence among these GDR conductors. Notably him, Herbig, and Suitner.

[amw]

I enjoyed the 9th. It is closer to Zinman than anyone else I can think of, but that's fine: I like Zinman!

I finally got around to listening to the Fischer 9th. I don't have a strong opinion on the first 3 movements but will say the vocal soloists and choir are very good, better than most of the other recordings of the 9th that I have. I do get the feeling that he was listening to the live Gardiner Missa Solemnis on SDG while he was making the recording though.

[AnotherSpin]

Fischer says something really striking in the booklet, this

Music as invocation. Not arbitrary invocation, but the invocation which the composer aimed for.

And music making as recreation.

And how can you find out what he wanted to "invoke" without historical research? How can you recreate what Beethoven aimed at invoking without letting your performance be guided by what Beethoven intended?  He's not saying he has magic powers and can communicate with Beethoven directly through ouija. He's much more HIP that people are saying.

He thinks his role is to want what the composer wanted, because he's found that this is the best way of getting the commitment of the musicians and the audience's support. The conductor has to believe in what he's doing, and he has to be informed to know the composer's intentions and he has to be flexible enough to embrace those intentions. He's the composer's advocate now.

It's a bit like a lawyer saying that the most successful defence is one where you believe in the innocence of the defendant. It's like he thinks that the conductor is a bit like Beethoven's advocate today.

Let me tell you something. I've been to a performance of the St Matthew Passion by Adam Fischer. It used modern instruments, but it did something ultra-hip. He believed that Bach would have expected the audience to join in the chorales, so the audience was asked to arrive half an hour before the start of the performance so he could rehears us in singing the chorales, and we all sang along in the concert. He gave us a little welcoming introduction, got us all onside, he said that he believed that it was great music and that to appreciate it more fully we should have an active role etc, and that he wanted our experience now to be similar to Bach's audience's experience then. This is maybe touching on what invocation is.

And what could be more HIP that that?

During years spent in India, before spiritual path was ended, I often heard very similar things about the relationship between devotee and Master. Perhaps with the subtle nuance that by getting rid of the importance of personal history and containing the desires of the individual ego, the devotee can become one with the Master.

[DavidW]

In the past few months I've been listening to Kletzki a lot.  And wow this set is just so rhythmically driven, so tightly performed.  But it doesn't sound like he is just racing to the finish line like some modern sets do.



Anyone else like this set?

[prémont]

Yes I do. I consider these interpretations to be a more human variety of the superhuman Klemperer approach.