Indispensable recordings 10.08.2024. Proms Composer 4: Beethoven

[Pulcinella]

Saturday 10 August 2024
2.15 pm
BBC Proms Composer Beethoven

Mariner Frolova-Walker joins Andrew to discuss five indispensable recordings of BBC Proms Composer Beethoven and explains why you need to hear them.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not necessarily indispensable but listened to them hundreds of times

1.String Quartets Quartetto Italiano Phillips
2.Klemperer Fidelio EMI
3,Symphs 1-9 Karajan BPO 63 vintage I think DG
4. Kempff Piano Sonatas - the sixties DG recording
5.Brendel sixties Turnabout recording of the Complete Variations for Piano

[Pulcinella]

Just spotted that we have a seafarer doing the choosing for us:

Mariner Frolova-Walker

[smittims]

Furtwangler 9th symphony
Solomon Hammerklavier
Busch Quartet op. 132
Cortot/Thibaud/Casals Archduke
Furtwangler 1950 Salzburg Festival Fidelio.

Yes I know they're all over 70 years old but I'd be hard-pressed to replace them with anything more recent. For example, Carlos Kleiber's fifth has been much-praised but is it really 'indispensible'? Karajan? Hmmm...

[LMcD]

Opus 18 String Quartets (Kodaly Quartet). A joyous start to a remarkable musical journey.
Violin Sonatas Opp. 24 and 96 (Zukerman/Barenboim) The first tunefully optimistic, and the second full of a blessed serenity.
.

[smittims]

Haven't heard those, but the Kodaly Quartet were excellent in Haydn and John Lill is, I think, underrated, so I can undertsand your choice. .

[oliver sudden]

Furtwangler 9th symphony
Solomon Hammerklavier
Busch Quartet op. 132
Cortot/Thibaud/Casals Archduke
Furtwangler 1950 Salzburg Festival Fidelio.

Yes I know they're all over 70 years old but I'd be hard-pressed to replace them with anything more recent. For example, Carlos Kleiber's fifth has been much-praised but is it really 'indispensible'? Karajan? Hmmm...

Ah but which Furtwängler Beethoven 9? (For me it might have to be the 1942…) I’m also not sure I would have room for Kleiber in an ‘indispensables’ list unless it were quite long. For me Badura-Skoda is truly indispensable in the sonatas. Busch likewise in the quartets but the lack of any Große Fuge (let alone one in the right place, which is as the culmination of the op. 130 quartet) is a serious error. (Goodness me, though, their Cavatina…)

For me this is absolutely indispensable (yes, the DG LP rather than the film).

https://youtu.be/4ngPztlc-oc?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/GFl7uwLBK7I?feature=shared

I made a concert version of this version a few years ago for my ensemble to play. I think it worked out quite well. It certainly means that Kagel casts his shadow over all those Beethoven works whenever I’ve heard them since, about which I have precisely no regrets.

[vinteuil]

absurd, obviously.

For me, I should want something from -

1. The Quartets
2. The Piano Sonatas, the Diabelli Variations
3. The Piano & Violin, Piano & Cello Sonatas
4. The Piano Concertos
5. The Symphonies

there are so many 'essential' choices of all and each of these that selecting 'one' - "for ever" - is beyond ridiculous.

(I can live without the violin concerto, Fidelio, the Missa Solemnis &c)

I wd hope someone might put a word in for the works for mandolin....

.

[Sir Velo]

absurd, obviously.

For me, I should want something from -

1. The Quartets
2. The Piano Sonatas, the Diabelli Variations
3. The Piano & Violin, Piano & Cello Sonatas
4. The Piano Concertos
5. The Symphonies

there are so many 'essential' choices of all and each of these that selecting 'one' - "for ever" - is beyond ridiculous.

(I can live without the violin concerto, Fidelio, the Missa Solemnis &c)

I wd hope someone might put a word in for the works for mandolin....

.

I agree (except for the VC!) and would want those recordings which make absolutely contemporary for all time this astonishing music, viz:

1. Misc late quartets Chiaroscuro Qt
2. Complete solo piano sons Ronald Brautigam
3. Kreutzer sonata Faust/Melnikov.
4, Piano Concerti Bezuidenhout/Freiburger Barockhorchester/Heras-Casado
5. Symphonies Le Concert des Nations/Savall

[pastoralguy]

I’ll start with the violin concerto. I’ve made a point of collecting CDs of the Beethoven violin concerto over the many years I’ve been buying CDs and I think the current total is around 140! There could be others buried in ‘big boxes’.

However, my absolute favourite is Perlman’s live recording with Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker on EMI. It is, imho, absolutely incandescent.

[pastoralguy]

I’ve always had a soft spot for John Lill’s Piano Concerto cycle with the SNO under Sir Alexander Gibson on CfP. They were my introduction to this music and they still stand up well against more glamorous cycles.

[LMcD]

I’ve always had a soft spot for John Lill’s Piano Concerto cycle with the SNO under Sir Alexander Gibson on CfP. They were my introduction to this music and they still stand up well against more glamorous cycles.

I have John Lill's piano sonatas cycle on ASV, which I believe has been reissued both on Brilliant Classics and Sanctuary Classics.

[hmvman]

Yes I know they're all over 70 years old but I'd be hard-pressed to replace them with anything more recent. For example, Carlos Kleiber's fifth has been much-praised but is it really 'indispensible'? Karajan? Hmmm...

Well, yes, I wouldn't be without that Kleiber recording of the 5th, nor Karajan's 1963 'Eroica'.

[Mandryka]

op 131 - Brooklyn Ryder
op 131 - Calvet
op 131 - Diotima
op 131 - Lindsay - their first recording
Op 131 - Quartetto di Cremona

[oliver sudden]

My ‘indispensable’ Beethoven violin concerto isn’t particularly well known or even outstandingly well played… it’s Thomas Zehetmair with Ensemble Modern conducted by Ernest Bour. When Ensemble Modern had done a couple of things with Bour they asked him what was one thing he had always wanted to do but never had the chance. His reply was the Beethoven violin concerto at the right tempi! I’ve forgotten whether his thoughts on the matter were influenced by Kolisch’s article in which he sets out his ideal speeds. What you get is a first movement in a gently flowing 2, a similarly flowing Larghetto, where the tempo is set by the orchestral material and the solo decoration is clearly decorative in preference to ‘time standing still’, and a blistering rondo in which for once I don’t get tired of the tune.

You will probably already know whether you want to hear this! If you already love the piece you probably won’t. But if you’ve never been able to crack it, this might be for you.