Celebrating Simon Rattle: 1995 Beethoven Symphony Cycle

[Petrushka]

They are being quite definite that the recordings haven't been heard before. Mind you, that could mean that the performances were broadcast live, and recorded for a future broadcast that never happened.

(I can't remember the exact words of the trailer - do they say that the recordings have never been broadcast, or the performances?

I'm pretty sure that had these been broadcast before I'd have remembered it. As you say, the BBC are quite definite about this and I've no reason to doubt. However, it's bugging me as to why they went to all the expense of recording the complete cycle and then never even broadcast it. Did Rattle embargo it for some reason? It wouldn't be for the first time. When I met him after a 1989 Prom performance of Mahler 7, I asked Rattle when they were recording it and he said they were doing so the following day (Sept 4 1989). However, Rattle wasn't satisfied with it and it presumably still lies in the EMI vaults.

Stanley Stewart: I was present at that 1998 Rattle CBSO Mahler 2 and have it on my own DVD. This is another case of a stunning Rattle recording that's never been issued (though it was broadcast the once on Channel 4 - yes you read that right, Channel 4). What is going on?

JLW: No noticeable sound problems in the Eroica via Freeview as far as I could tell.

[edashtav]

The performances definitely have not been broadcast anywhere before - the CBSO engaged Floating Earth to record them in 1995 (in Frankfurt), in the hope of selling the recordings to German Radio, or the BBC. At the time nobody was interested, so they have been sat in the CBSO archive ever since. My predecessor as Chief Executive, Ed Smith, reminded me and Roger Wright about them early last year, and the plan for this week came out of those conversations.

Capital response! Welcome, Stephen.

[Petrushka]

The performances definitely have not been broadcast anywhere before - the CBSO engaged Floating Earth to record them in 1995 (in Frankfurt), in the hope of selling the recordings to German Radio, or the BBC. At the time nobody was interested, so they have been sat in the CBSO archive ever since. My predecessor as Chief Executive, Ed Smith, reminded me and Roger Wright about them early last year, and the plan for this week came out of those conversations.

Many thanks for letting us know this. Good to have the information straight from the horse's mouth, as it were!

[Stephen Maddock]

Happy to be of service

[Nick Armstrong]

Happy to be of service

It makes a huge difference to be able to get the facts like this, so I add many thanks!

[Petrushka]

The performances definitely have not been broadcast anywhere before - the CBSO engaged Floating Earth to record them in 1995 (in Frankfurt), in the hope of selling the recordings to German Radio, or the BBC. At the time nobody was interested, so they have been sat in the CBSO archive ever since. My predecessor as Chief Executive, Ed Smith, reminded me and Roger Wright about them early last year, and the plan for this week came out of those conversations.

Any more interesting tapes stashed away in the CBSO archive?

[Stephen Maddock]

Not much that we own and / or hasn't been broadcast before, but we do plan on having a thorough trawl through it all in advance of our centenary in 2020....

[Petrushka]

Not much that we own and / or hasn't been broadcast before, but we do plan on having a thorough trawl through it all in advance of our centenary in 2020....

[Flosshilde]

The performances definitely have not been broadcast anywhere before - the CBSO engaged Floating Earth to record them in 1995 (in Frankfurt), in the hope of selling the recordings to German Radio, or the BBC.

Interesting - the trailer gives the distinct impression (at least, it did to me) that they were recorded by the BBC, & had been languishing in their vaults (should know better, really, given the BBC's habit of wiping tapes).

[french frank]

However, it's bugging me as to why they went to all the expense of recording the complete cycle and then never even broadcast it.

So we have the answer now (thank you SM for stepping in and settling it!): they weren't BBC recordings.

It sounds as if RW must be thanked (come on, let's hear it! ), though, for the part he played. A lesson to our new controller that a bit of digging about and asking questions might pay dividends - especially as he says he attended the very concerts at the time. And a lesson to those who possess important tapes of unbroadcast concerts to offer them to the BBC.

[silvestrione]

For me, a cracking good 'Eroica': terrific drive to first movement, the coda rising to a thrilling climax. Then plunged into darkness for the funeral march, really dark and impassioned. Scherzo brought things back to life, with the horns' final cadences very affecting. Last movement had great moments, including a superb 'peasants' dance' variation, and marvellous from the piccolo in his or her variation. Slow chorale-like variations not as moving as can be, but nevertheless a wonderful performance overall.

[JFLL]

I'm pleased to see that in the concert tonight, between Syms 4 and 5, Rattle is conducting the Funeral March from Leonora Prohaska, a late work (1815) based on the slow movement of the Piano Sonata op. 26. I always find this rather moving, and it should be played more, IMHO.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It all sounds so much better than his VPO cycle of more recent times.

[tigajen]

It all sounds so much better than his VPO cycle of more recent times.

Iquite agree.Am thoroughly enjoying the performances so far.Now the BBC has broadcast them do they qualify for issue on BBC Legends?

[Petrushka]

It all sounds so much better than his VPO cycle of more recent times.

Yes indeed. the quality of the music making and the interpretive imaginative flair that we are hearing in this cycle is quite extraordinary. There are masses of detail, especially in the woodwind, that I appear to be hearing for the first time.

Memo to Stephen Maddock: This cycle must be issued on CD. Please!