Five Essential Beethoven Recordings

[Barbirollians]

Natasha Loges’ third choice on RR this morning epitomises what is so wrong with Radio 3 - almost being ashamed of classical music and a desperate to be down with the kids.

What would your five be ? Not necessarily your favourites but five you think everyone should hear ?

PC 5 Fischer/Furtwangler
Op111 Solomon
Op130 Busch Quartet
Symphony 9 Philharmonia/Furtwangler - Lucerne
Symphony 3 VPO/Erich Kleiber

[Master Jacques]

Natasha Loges’ third choice on RR this morning epitomises what is so wrong with Radio 3 - almost being ashamed of classical music and a desperate to be down with the kids.

I guess you speak for very many of us. I also guess that Ms Loges was merely being "provocative", though Andrew McGregor sounded suitably indignant (methinks) on our behalf. Choosing such infantile dross tells us more about the person selecting the disc than it does about Beethoven, for sure.

As for "five essentials" ... for me, the very concept itself tells us what's wrong with the channel. I feel ashamed and sad for the BBC itself, and sorry for the many people working behind the scenes at Radio 3, who desperately try to maintain artistic standards.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Natasha Loges’ third choice on RR this morning epitomises what is so wrong with Radio 3 - almost being ashamed of classical music and a desperate to be down with the kids.

What would your five be ? Not necessarily your favourites but five you think everyone should hear ?

PC 5 Fischer/Furtwangler
Op111 Solomon
Op130 Busch Quartet
Symphony 9 Philharmonia/Furtwangler - Lucerne
Symphony 3 VPO/Erich Kleiber

I started off hating that jazzed up Pathetique but ended up quite liking it. But a classic Beethoven recording - come off it , In the feature film of 1984 (1956) there’s a very clever Muzak version of the Pastoral in the background of one of the scenes showing the depths of Eurasia’s cultural degradation. Quite prescient really…

Like your list to which I would add
5 Kleiber VPO

[RichardB]

PC 5 Fischer/Furtwangler
Op111 Solomon
Op130 Busch Quartet
Symphony 9 Philharmonia/Furtwangler - Lucerne
Symphony 3 VPO/Erich Kleiber

I've only heard one of those (the quartet) but I find it a bit startling that all 5 of these "essential Beethoven recordings" were made in or before the early 1950s. It surely can't be right that nothing recorded in the last 70 or so years is worthy of inclusion in such a list!

[Alison]

Don’t forget to tweet your ONE essential recording for next weeks programme!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've only heard one of those (the quartet) but I find it a bit startling that all 5 of these "essential Beethoven recordings" were made in or before the early 1950s. It surely can't be right that nothing recorded in the last 70 or so years is worthy of inclusion in such a list!

That was my reaction too. I do think the VPO/Kleiber Eroica is outstanding though.
But lists like this are reminiscent of the likes of Kirsty Alsop’s selections on Channel 4.

[richardfinegold]

Natasha Loges’ third choice on RR this morning epitomises what is so wrong with Radio 3 - almost being ashamed of classical music and a desperate to be down with the kids.

What would your five be ? Not necessarily your favourites but five you think everyone should hear ?

PC 5 Fischer/Furtwangler
Op111 Solomon
Op130 Busch Quartet
Symphony 9 Philharmonia/Furtwangler - Lucerne
Symphony 3 VPO/Erich Kleiber

Interesting question.
1) Piano Sonata Op 31/3-Artur Rubinstein
2) Ninth Symphony-Tosccanini/RCA
3) Razumovsky Quartets-Hungarian Quartet
4) Op. 111 Sonata-Gary Graffman
5) Emperor Concerto-Perahia/Haitink


None from this century. There have been many releases this century that I enjoyed, but being of a certain age, I tend to go with the old favorites.

Why don't we make it Your Top 5 of the Twenty First Century?

[smittims]

Barbirollians, thank you. I approve of all your choices. It's difficult to limit the choice to five, without a long process of comparing many recordings. Here's a few I thin are essential Beethoven listening:

Solomon Hammerklavier

Busch op. 132

Furtwangler 5th (1943 recording, an apocalyptic performance)

Klemperer 7th 1955

Cortot/Thibaud/Casals Archduke.

As for its being 'startling' that these and yours are all very old recordings, no, it doesn't mean that all recent recordings are poor, but I do think the master artists of the early 20th century were closer to the essence of the music , for various reasons. Their lifestyle was closer to that of Beethoven's time , and they were able to take longer to consider interpretation.

[smittims]

Thank for Gary Graffman, richard. He was marketed as a heaven-storming titan of the keyboard, which did him no favours. I was plleasantly surprised to find what a sensitive and philosophical pianist he was.

[Parry1912]

1. Kleiber’s 5th
2. Kovacevich’s ‘Pathetique’ (EMI)
3. Karajan’s ‘Choral’ (1977)
4. Perlman/Ashkenazy ‘Spring’ Sonata
5. Op. 131 Belcea Quartet

[ardcarp]

Natasha Loges’ third choice on RR this morning epitomises what is so wrong with Radio 3 - almost being ashamed of classical music and a desperate to be down with the kids.

Agreed. I only continued to listen (as I was sipping tea in bed with a one-time Papagena...vis first ridiculous 'item' on RR)) to confirm my despair at the whole lot. As far as 'the Five Essentials' were concerned, I guess Paul Lewis was OK, but why start such a masterpiece in the middle if the idea is to suggest to 'the average listener' what they might want on their shleves? Or on a desert island.....

[Lordgeous]

I thought the Paul Lewis sounded fresh and interesting. Made me interested again in a work I heard so often in my youth that I thought I'd never want to hear it again! Shame it's not available outside the boxed set. As for the other choices in the programme, some interesting items but surely not 'essential' Beethoven?

[kuligin]

I just turned off, I have always been suspect of her gushing Wikipedia type reviews, but this was the final straw. The whole idea of 5 recordings is of course banal, but even so she could have come up with some recordings that have stood the course of time and meant something to her.

[Master Jacques]

As for the other choices in the programme, some interesting items but surely not 'essential' Beethoven?

To give credit to Ms Loges, I'd agree with her that Christa Ludwig's 'Abscheulicher' with Klemperer is matchless. Having said which, jumping in at the serene part of the scena takes away the sturm und drang context which gives it depth, and reduces it to Classic FM blandness. It's a bit like jumping into the Grand National with one fence to go.

[Mandryka]

I think most of Beethoven’s music is irredeemably horrid and bombastic barnstorming bluster. So I can’t say any recordings are essential, but here are five bearable recordings


1. Mödlinger Dances on Naxos
2. Op 12 violin sonatas with Ryo Terakado and Boyan Vodanicherov
3. Symphony 6, Pfitzner conducting
4. Op 109, Afanassiev, the live recording issued about 5 years ago

Actually that’s it.