Indispensable recordings 10.08.2024. Proms Composer 4: Beethoven

[cloughie]

1 Sym 3 PO Klemperer 1955
2 Sym 6 BPO Cluytens 1956
3 PC4 Gilels PO Ludwig
4 Archduke Trio Oistrakh Oborin Knushevitsky
5 Spring Sonata Fuchs Balsam

[LHC]

These recordings aren't necessarily indispensable and won't be to everyone's taste, but I've chosen them because they are all special to me, and I wouldn't want to be without them.

Fidelio - Klemperer, Ludwig, Vickers.
Symphony No 3 - BPO, Karajan, 1963
Piano Concerto No 5 - Arrau, Colin Davis, Dresden Staatskapelle
Violin Concerto - Grumiaux, Colin Davis, RCO
Piano Concerto No. 3 - Pires, Harding, Swedish Radio Symphony

An honourable mention goes to the Piano Concertos with Robert Levin and JEG, which were revelatory for me at least when they were first released.

[richardfinegold]

The recordings that imprinted me when I first discovered Beethoven will necessarily take pride of place. Why is this? Are there neural circuits created at a tender age and lots of dopamine release still associated with those particular recordings?

1) VC-Oistrakh/Cluytens
2) Fifth Symphony-Szell/Cleveland
3) Razumovsky Quartets-the Hungarian Quartet
4) Ninth Symphony-Toscanini/NBC
5) Pathetique, Appassionata, Moonlight-Badura-Skoda

The last two are in mono and I heard them both recently for the first time in decades PB-S probably 40 years). I was transported…
I will add the Suk Trio Archduke as an honorable mention

[richardfinegold]

These recordings aren't necessarily indispensable and won't be to everyone's taste, but I've chosen them because they are all special to me, and I wouldn't want to be without them.

Fidelio - Klemperer, Ludwig, Vickers.
Symphony No 3 - BPO, Karajan, 1963
Piano Concerto No 5 - Arrau, Colin Davis, Dresden Staatskapelle
Violin Concerto - Grumiaux, Colin Davis, RCO
Piano Concerto No. 3 - Pires, Harding, Swedish Radio Symphony

An honourable mention goes to the Piano Concertos with Robert Levin and JEG, which were revelatory for me at least when they were first released.

I was thinking when I wrote the previous post that one reason the moldy oldies still to me reign supreme is because of the rise of the HIPP movement. Last night I was listening to a recording of the Ninth by a group from Potsdam. It has many virtues but the power and the mystery of the beginning of I is completely lacking. I did a mental inventory of my HIPP collection and I can’t think of any that convey that sense of scale. Same with the Levin PCs-every time I hear a fortepiano in these marvelous works I keep thinking “The player is marvelous. When he or she grows up hopefully their parents will buy them a real piano”

[makropulos]

Five indispensable Beethoven recordings is an incredibly tough challenge. But just sticking to a few historical favourites...
Rasumovsky Op. 59 No. 3, Busch Quartet (Warner)
Eroica, Erich Kleiber, Vienna PO (Decca)
Sonata Op. 109, Guida (Decca) or Annie Fischer (Warner)
Piano Concerto No. 3, Solomon, Boult, BBCSO (HMV/Dutton)
Leonore No. 3, Bruno Walter, Vienno PO (HMV/Naxos)

[Mandryka]

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.

When I was into this sort of music I remember thinking that Zehetmair/Bruggen was the only Beethoven violin concerto I needed. I've never heard of the Bour - I'll remember it if I ever feel like hearing the concerto again

[Mandryka]

Op 110 - Pletnev
Op 110 - Ernst Levy
Op 110 - Zhukov
Op 110 - Edwin Fischer
Op 110 - Hamelin

[CallMePaul]

Op 110 - Pletnev
Op 110 - Ernst Levy
Op 110 - Zhukov
Op 110 - Edwin Fischer
Op 110 - Hamelin

August's Gramophone has a disappointing consideration of this sonata - only the Fischer of Mandryka's choices was even listed. My own favourite in this sonata (and a lot of the others) is Paul Badura-Skoda on a selection of fortepianos, which did not even get a look-in! Only one fortepiano performance - Lubimov, which I agree is very good - was mentioned and there was no discussion of period performance in general.

Back on topic, my five essential performances would be: -
Symphonies - Mackerras/ SCO (1-8), Philharmonia/ Edinburgh Festival Chorus (9). I suspect that the Philharmonia was chosen for the ninth to balance the full Edinburgh chorus with a larger orchestra
Cello sonatas (esp op 102) - Adrian and Alfred Brendel
Appasionata Sonata - Paul Badura-Skoda, or Rudolf Buchbinder on a modern piano (Salzburg Festival recording 2014)
An die ferne Geliebte - Goerne/ Trifanov
Violin Concerto - Faust/ Abbado

[Mandryka]

August's Gramophone has a disappointing consideration of this sonata - only the Fischer of Mandryka's choices was even listed. My own favourite in this sonata (and a lot of the others) is Paul Badura-Skoda on a selection of fortepianos, which did not even get a look-in! Only one fortepiano performance - Lubimov, which I agree is very good - was mentioned and there was no discussion of period performance in general.

On fortepiano I think I'd plump for Trudelies Leonhardt.

[oliver sudden]

Five indispensable Beethoven recordings is an incredibly tough challenge. But just sticking to a few historical favourites...
Rasumovsky Op. 59 No. 3, Busch Quartet (Warner)
Eroica, Erich Kleiber, Vienna PO (Decca)
Sonata Op. 109, Guida (Decca) or Annie Fischer (Warner)
Piano Concerto No. 3, Solomon, Boult, BBCSO (HMV/Dutton)
Leonore No. 3, Bruno Walter, Vienno PO (HMV/Naxos)

A lot of No. 3s here, makropulos! And the only one that isn’t is Sonata No. 30…

[oliver sudden]

My own favourite in this sonata (and a lot of the others) is Paul Badura-Skoda on a selection of fortepianos, which did not even get a look-in!

I am unable to stop my inner pedant pointing out that he does as far as I know only use one piano per sonata!

As far as I’m concerned that sonata set is absolutely tremendous. (I’m referring to the Astrée set, as you presumably are too, but I suspect richardfinegold upthread is not!) For me he has just the right amount of looking for what the music needs and the instruments can only just do, whether it’s fragile cantabile or the kind of heaven-storming moments in op. 57 or op. 106 where you fear for the instrument’s well-being.

For a long time that box was hard to find and I still remember the whoop of joy I let out when I saw it on a shelf at the late lamented classicmania in Luxembourg!

Here’s a historical piano approach I haven’t managed to investigate yet…

https://www.insidethehearingmachine.com/

[CallMePaul]

I am unable to stop my inner pedant pointing out that he does as far as I know only use one piano per sonata!

As far as I’m concerned that sonata set is absolutely tremendous. (I’m referring to the Astrée set, as you presumably are too, but I suspect richardfinegold upthread is not!) For me he has just the right amount of looking for what the music needs and the instruments can only just do, whether it’s fragile cantabile or the kind of heaven-storming moments in op. 57 or op. 106 where you fear for the instrument’s well-being.

For a long time that box was hard to find and I still remember the whoop of joy I let out when I saw it on a shelf at the late lamented classicmania in Luxembourg!

Here’s a historical piano approach I haven’t managed to investigate yet…

https://www.insidethehearingmachine.com/

Sorry for any confusion - I was referring to the complete set when I referred to "a selection of fortepianos". The last three somstas are played on a Graf; I think it's from 1824 but posibly from 1826 - I' ve not checked but he uses both in his Beethoven and Schubert cycles.

[oliver sudden]

Please be assured that there was no actual confusion! Merely that I was amused at the thought of him flitting from piano to piano mid-piece.

[Opinionated Knowall]

August's Gramophone has a disappointing consideration of this sonata - only the Fischer of Mandryka's choices was even listed. My own favourite in this sonata (and a lot of the others) is Paul Badura-Skoda on a selection of fortepianos, which did not even get a look-in! Only one fortepiano performance - Lubimov, which I agree is very good - was mentioned and there was no discussion of period performance in general.

It was a strange one, wasn't it? The comments on each recording read like an Associate Board examiner’s report: ‘Good observation of dynamics, phrasing a little wooden, last movement rather too steady tempo’. And much as I like and admire the chosen pianists, odd that they were all ‘historical’, Lubimov apart.

[Retune]

An impossible task, of course. My list will probably be very different tomorrow (except Op.111). Limiting myself to different genres, which absurdly prevents me picking any Hammerklavier, or choosing which Richter Appassionata, or selecting the VPO/Böhm Pastoral, or deciding on an Eroica, or agonising over a 'best' 4th or 5th Piano Concerto. And no room for the Missa Solemnis or the Diabelli Variations, or that iconoclastic Kopatchinskaja/Say Kreutzer Sonata, or...

Symphony No. 9, Op.125 - ORR/Gardiner (1994). I will resist the urge to call this a typically punchy performance from JEG. Choice inspired by hearing them in an electric concert at the Proms in the 90s.

Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 - Kempff/BPO/Leitner. My introduction to the Beethoven concertos, and an excellent one.

Violin Concerto, Op.61 - Schneiderhan/BPO/Jochum. Very beautifully done, with the cadenzas adapted from Op.61a, which I always miss in other versions.

String Quartet No. 13, Op. 130, with Grosse Fugue, Op.133 - Alban Berg Quartett (1983). I think this speaks for itself, but would not argue with anyone who prefers another great performance of this extraordinary work.

PIano Sonata No. 32, Op.111 - Artur Schnabel (1932). A desert island disc for me. I have yet to hear a reading of the Arietta that moves me like this one. Or indeed any other piece of recorded music that does.