Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 Symphonien
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Free Music Notes for Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 Symphonien
Free Music Review: Beautiful, but wrong.
Hit: 4 Stars
I'm a horn performance major, and I bought this box set because I needed recordings of all of Beethoven's symphonies but at a low cost. Now first off, yes, they sound great. However, I've noticed a problem in the first movement of the fifth symphony: Karajan changes Beethoven's orchestration! Allow me to explain:
The horn players at the time would have been using valveless horns -- instruments bound to the overtone series. On the "natural" or "hand" horn, pitches that fall on the overtone series can be played without adjustment (like a bugle) but any other note must be bent into tune by using the right hand to close off the bell. This technique was effective in allowing the horn to play most chromatic pitches, however, the "stopped" notes have an entirely different tone color; most composers favored "open" pitches, especially for symphonic works.
In the exposition, the second theme is announced by a call in E-flat by the horns. However, in the recap, the same call must be in the tonic (C), as dictated by sonata form. The horn part is written for E-flat horns, which meant they would have been tuned so that the harmonic series emphasised E-flat major, the relative major. The E-flat call of the exposition falls entirely on partials the hornists can play with no significant adjustment -- they are all "open" notes. However, in the recapitulation, the C call would include two "closed" notes if it were played by the E-flat horn. The horns could change crooks and become C horns, in which case the call would again be all open partials, but Beethoven does not do this; I am uncertain whether he wanted the horns in E-flat for the transition, leaving them no time to change, or if it was simply not yet common practice to change crooks in the middle of a movement. For whatever reason, Beethoven left the horns in E-flat and rather than writing the call in the horns again, which would include stopped pitches and have a very different sound, Beethoven moved the call to the bassoons.
In Karajan's recording, the second theme is announced by the horns in both the exposition and the recapitulation. Granted, if Beethoven had been writing for our modern valve horns, he might have written both calls in the horn section. There is no way to prove for certain that this is the case, however. It strikes me as very arrogant to "correct" Beethoven's instrumentation, and I feel that a respect for historical accuracy by preserving the master's writing is a more prudent performance choice.
Free Music Review: Only half of the story
Hit: 2 Stars
Okay, this is the Beethoven set everyone is talking about. And I am a big Karajan fan. Then why such a poor rating? In short, this cycle is entirely missing some important sides of Beethoven symphonies.
First of all, these performances are way too string-dominated. The woodwinds and brass of Berlin Phil, no matter how refined they sound, are restrained in the back seat. The result is a complete loss of humor and characterfullness that attract me to Beethoven's music. Karajan's smooth approach has no bite or edge although I have to admit it has a plenty of drive. It's a feeling of driving a BMW on a well-paved road. But Beethoven's music, at least to me, needs to be a bumpy ride with some wild turns.
Sure, the playing is glorious, lush, and as large scaled as it can be. The 9th benefits greatly from this larger-than-life sound (I think it's a breathtaking performance). Lyrical passages are so refined they almost sound like parts of Tchaikovsky's ballet music! But I do not think one should think of this as a set doing justice to Beethoven's music, which is very multi-faceted. Conductors like Harnoncourt, Zinmann, Hogwood, Abbado, Walter, Kleiber, and most noticeably, Bernstein wonderfully proved that in their own way.
I believe Karajan is a hundred times better conductor when he is on Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Ravel, Debussy, Bruckner, or Mahler, all of which he handles admirably.
Free Music Review: One style of Beethoven playing at its apex
Hit: 5 Stars
I can see why some reviewers want to rebel against the prevailing opinion, now over 40 years old, that this is the best stereo Beethoven cycle of all. Since 1963 we have become used to leaner textures and faster tempi in this music. But it's worth noting that in its day this was "modernized" Beehtoven, in that Karajan avoided Furtwangler's spiritual heavy lifting and concentrated on sheer power, propulsiveness, and virtuosity of execution.
Of its kind, no one has excelled him, even Karajan himself achieving nothing better in his two later cycles, which as reviewers note became too slick and smooth. The 1963 cycle does NOT show evidence of that tendency. The major drawback for me is the sonics, which are fairly boomy and rough at times, with loss of detail and some microphone shatter at climaxes. I believe that the most recent hybrid-SACD pressing has solved some of those problems, though this set will never be a model of excellent sound.
For listeners who would like Karajan's Beethoven in leaner mode, his mostly mono 50s set from EMI with the Philharmonia is excellent, also.
Free Music Review: Slick
Hit: 4 Stars
I always recommend this set to people I know who want to own the Beethoven symphonies but aren't particularly committed to classical music. They sound great and the execution is flawless. These folks tend to especially respond to the low price. They're generally not so enamored of the works that they feel a need to shell out 60 or 70 bucks.
This set seems to serve the same function the RCA Toscanini set did back in the early LP era. No home with a presumption of culture was without those, and few visitors--scanning through the bookshelf--were made uncomfortable by an unfamiliar name. Every college grad knew of Toscanini. Until fairly recently, any graduate of any of the "better" schools who had immersed themselves in the 101 Western Music survey course knew the name of von Karajan and could hum the first bars of Mozart's 40th symphony. This set, a Vivaldi Four Seasons, and maybe the Three Tenors LP and you were set for life. Cultured.
Nowadays, in this ultra-sophisticated time, we don't even bother with the pretense. Irrelevant music of an oppressive culture composed by a dead white male. Or worse, in this ADD afflicted, caffeinated world, just boring stuff. I can't get any young person to sit still long enough to get through Dance Macabre, let alone Beethoven's Third.
It all makes this set, and any critique of it rather irrelevant. For those of us who really appreciate this music, who've explored far and wide, we've generally found better--Fricsay doing the Ninth, old Kleiber on the Third, Furtwangler, Cluytens, Kempe, KLEMPERER, and a host of others. Old-school conductors who saw Beethoven's music as the height of civilization; people who truly understood what the word "civilization" meant. Karajan is note perfect, and even dramatic and often moving, but it lacks something these crusty and less refined conductors bring to the music. Don't get me wrong, these are fine performances and I like some of his other recordings. However, the two sides on this issue will never agree.
Free Music Review: Why you should own this set!
Hit: 5 Stars
There have many reviews here good and bad and hope to tell you exactly why this is a great set, great cycle and a great buy.
1)Karajan... This is Karajan at his finest and most dramatic. I, unlike others, do get the sense that this is music that Herbert Von Karajan was very pasionate about and was recorded in Karajans prime. He solicits great dynamics from the Berlin Philharmonic Orhestra; from very quiet moments of suspense to great outbursts that put you in mind of stories of the older impaired Beethoven conducting, leaning forward to hear while and then bringing the orchestra to its full forces.
2) Sound quality... The sound quality is brilliant and dont let the fact that it is an analog recording fool you. Analog is a different way of recording sound and was the standard for 30 years. Analog recordings are not inferior by nature and that is certainly not true of this set of recordings. The Berlin Philharmonic sounds powerful and warm here and was certainly recorded in a better sounding venure than the later digital recordings. Pay attention to how resonant the strings are in the lower registers among the basses. There is such great continuity of sound quality in the set that one gets the sense that the microphones never moved throughout the two years of recording.
3) Performance... The perormance is stunning and uniform throughout. Most notable are horns in the third movement of the Eroica and the third movement of the 8th. As mentioned before the basses sound wonderful and add great depth as well for the string playing in general. The gentle playing that rises into great emotion in the second movement of the 7th is exceptional. The 1st symphony is light and airy and is one of my favorites in the whole set. My favorite is perhaps the underloved 4th symphony of Beethoven. This was the one I owned on vinyl that compelled me to buy the set on CD. The 9th takes the first movement a little slower than I prefer but the ensuing scherzo is in sharp contrast being quite quick. Again the depth of the string playing and the rich bass add to the slow third movements early romantic nature. The finale is very good indeed with soloists and chorus being in balance in the recording giving you a sense of being there. Much power here. The 6th is a very good reading as well and again benefits from the depth of sound in the strings that runs throughout the whole cycle. The 5th is just sheer power and drama alternating with moments of reserve and subtlety.
Overall this is big Beethoven. This is not period Beethoven but I have never been a period fan myself. Recorded in the early 1960s this a great example of the height of recorded analog sound that in some ways still surpasses many early digital attempts. I have owned this set for a long time and I always go back to it. And you cant beat the price either. And if you had to own just one set of the Beethoven symphonies this might be the one... but who wants to own just one anyway.