Beethoven Symphony Cycles

[Braunschlag]

Late to this thread. Didn't know about the Clutyens set but at £8.99 its a no-brainer. Duly ordered!

A quid a symphony, that’s a bargain

[pastoralguy]

Late to this thread. Didn't know about the Clutyens set but at £8.99 its a no-brainer. Duly ordered!

I bought these as a teenager in the 1970’s on CfP. Lovely performances. A bargain!

[cloughie]

Thanks Cloughie. There are few times that I think about sitting down and listening to a Beethoven Symphony these days, but this discussion has awakened my interest. Of course I have them all in seperate discs by different performers collected over the years. I even conducted one once - the Eighth - in Bonn, would you believe! With a British youth orchestra. Sorry Ludwig!

As an aside, would anybody know if there's any difference, audio-wise, between the Testament or EMI re-issues of the Gilels/Ludwig B'hoven 4th pno conc?

I’m not sure but I think that if it the EMI CD was issued after the Testament it could be the same mastering. I may well still have both - I’ll hunt the shelves to check and let you know.

[Petrushka]

There are few times that I think about sitting down and listening to a Beethoven Symphony these days...

I never tire of them and have been known to play two or three complete cycles in quick succession! I very much enjoyed listening to Bruno Walter's mono NYPO set (though with the Philadelphia Orch in the Pastoral) the other week.

[BBMmk2]

I never tire of them and have been known to play two or three complete cycles in quick succession! I very much enjoyed listening to Bruno Walter's mono NYPO set (though with the Philadelphia Orch in the Pastoral) the other week.

How many cycles do you have?

[Petrushka]

How many cycles do you have?

I make it 32 complete sets on CD plus three more off-air and many single issues where I could cobble together a few 'Frankenstein' cycles.

Probably a low count compared to some on here!

[Barbirollians]

The Cluytens Eroica also a favourite here.

[Lordgeous]

One of the joys of this site - discovering new delights.

[richardfinegold]

Not at all. I similarly found Norrington to be the unmusical equivalent of an early Casio digital watch.

A friend of mine who plays with the NY Phil and and the Orpheus CO said that when (S)Norrington guested with the NYP he held a stopwatch, rarely looked at the players, but became very upset if things weren't up to his schedule. The Orchestra met after the rehearsal and voted on a demand for management never to engage him again. Really, with the numerous HIPP releases of Beethoven since Norrington's time, what may have seemed refreshingly revolutionary in the day now seems hopelessly anachronistic

[Bryn]

A friend of mine who plays with the NY Phil and and the Orpheus CO said that when (S)Norrington guested with the NYP he held a stopwatch, rarely looked at the players, but became very upset if things weren't up to his schedule. The Orchestra met after the rehearsal and voted on a demand for management never to engage him again. Really, with the numerous HIPP releases of Beethoven since Norrington's time, what may have seemed refreshingly revolutionary in the day now seems hopelessly anachronistic

As to tired third party stopwatch anecdotes, I would refer you to Richard Osborne's Gramophone piece from May, last year regarding the 'Eroica':

"The best period-instrument accounts of the Eroica are closely edited studio recordings. Live performances, such as Frans Brüggen’s large-scale, combative account with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, were generally too poorly tuned and executed to bear repetition. A classic example of the record-maker’s craft is Christopher Hogwood’s recording with the Academy of Ancient Music, an exquisitely groomed affair whose only omission is a sense of the sheer scale and danger of the piece. John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique deliver those qualities in spades with pacey, virtuoso playing. Alas, the speed of delivery in the outer movements makes it virtually impossible to hear the music. By the stopwatch Roger Norrington is just as quick, but his relish for the music’s inner content – salient detail turning up like sixpences in an old-fashioned Christmas pudding – is thrilling to hear, as is the superlative playing of the London Classical Players."

[cloughie]

I make it 32 complete sets on CD plus three more off-air and many single issues where I could cobble together a few 'Frankenstein' cycles.

Probably a low count compared to some on here!

Trombone time for me - 77 - almost 78 but unfortunately Celi did not do No1 but all the others in his Munich recordings!

[Alison]

Nice one Nethersage.

[Bryn]

Nice one Nethersage.

Except, who puts sixpences in Chrismas puddings? Old silver threepenny bits surely?

[Dave2002]

Live performances, such as Frans Brüggen’s large-scale, combative account with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, were generally too poorly tuned and executed to bear repetition.

Clearly not like the genuinely live performance I heard of the 5th by FB a few years before he passed on.

[Bryn]

Clearly not like the genuinely live performance I heard of the 5th by FB a few years before he passed on.

That was Richard Osborne's assessment, not mine. I was quoting from his Gramophone piece.