BaL 24.12.22 - Beethoven: Symphony no. 9 in D minor

[richardfinegold]

My first was Koussevitsky and Boston from the 1940s, on well preserved 78s my parents had. Next was Klemperer on Vox,then Toscanini. Probably the first stereo for me was Szell, not a particularly loved recording. Furtwangler from Stockholm in 1942 will raise the hairs on the back of your head

[cloughie]

And we are lucky to have such a variety of performances and interpretations to suit all personal whims (and the ability to hit the stop button after the third movement!).

…and treat it like Beethoven’s Unfinished!

My first Choral was HaguePO/ Otterloo on Philips Classical Favourites GBL5548.

[Petrushka]

My first was Koussevitsky and Boston from the 1940s, on well preserved 78s my parents had. Next was Klemperer on Vox,then Toscanini. Probably the first stereo for me was Szell, not a particularly loved recording. Furtwangler from Stockholm in 1942 will raise the hairs on the back of your head

Mention of Boston reminds me of the Leinsdorf recording with the Boston SO, interestingly coupled with the Schoenberg A Survivor from Warsaw. It's a fine, forthright performance, recorded in 1969, and I much enjoy it. Not one to be lightly dismissed though the field is, admittedly, a crowded one. Apparently, (I've not heard it), the rest of the cycle isn't up to the level of inspiration found in this 9th.

[Barbirollians]

Oh yes the Leinsdorf is another good one.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I wonder if this (rather good ) Building An Essential Library will pre-empt things by choosing an essential Beethoven 9?
They’ve just played the Schiff / Serkin Mozart 2 Piano D major Sonata. Sorry but the Josef and Rosa Lhevinne version is way better - one of the greatest piano recordings ever made …

[Ein Heldenleben]

Ooh I ought to get into share day trading ..they are doing precisely that - the always excellent Marina Frolova-Walker has chosen Gardiner who’s taking the Adagio at a bit of lick - pretty near the metronome marking ?

[Bryn]

I wonder if this (rather good ) Building An Essential Library will pre-empt things by choosing an essential Beethoven 9?
They’ve just played the Schiff / Serkin Mozart 2 Piano D major Sonata. Sorry but the Josef and Rosa Lhevinne version is way better - one of the greatest piano recordings ever made …

Your thought was their command, it seems. JEG did not function as a revelation to me. He was comparatively late to the field (October 1992).

[Bryn]

Ooh I ought to get into share day trading ..they are doing precisely that - the always excellent Marina Frolova-Walker has chosen Gardiner who’s taking the Adagio at a bit of lick - pretty near the metronome marking ?

Not quite there. The following discussion showed a distinct lack of awareness of the tempi Beethoven called for. Also, the first Brüggen was recorded after the JEG (the following month, indeed), not before it.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not quite there. The following discussion showed a distinct lack of awareness of the tempi Beethoven called for.

It’s a crotchet a second in the score so 15 bars should take a minute . After a minute JEG hit bar 13 …

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not quite there. The following discussion showed a distinct lack of awareness of the tempi Beethoven called for. Also, the first Brüggen was recorded after the JEG (the following month, indeed), not before it.

Yes I was surprised no one mentioned the quite clear metronome marking ! Also interesting that one critic more or less admitted she can’t sit through the whole piece. Mind you I’m not sure I can any more …

[Bryn]

It’s a crotchet a second in the score so 15 bars should take a minute . After a minute JEG hit bar 13 …

Just worth remembering that Beethoven's metronome markings were only intended to apply strictly to the opening of the movements to which they applied. Some artistic variation from them as the movement progresses is part of the role of the interpreters.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Just worth remembering that Beethoven's metronome markings were only intended to apply strictly to the opening of the movements to which they applied. Some artistic variation from them as the movement progresses is part of the role of the interpreters.

Yes but in the case of this Adagio opening the intro woodwind bars benefit from a slightly slower tempo ( in my view ) than the main violin tune. With a slight rit to emphasise that sinister G flat in the celli maybe.

[richardfinegold]

I suppose because they being both realised that symphonic thought should maybe even could
only develop through song and the voice:
Maybe Wagner isthe true picker up of the gauntlet thrown down by the 9th
Finale . Even the opening theme of Mahler is 1 was song originally - oddly similar to
to An Die Freude and in D major.

Mozart and Chopin were both heavily influenced by the voice in their instrumental music.
Beethoven was simply the first to include actual voices in a Symphony. Technically, wouldn’t Mendelssohn have been the second?

[smittims]

Hi, richardfinegold, I was intrigued by your reference to a Koussevitzky recording. I wonder if you are confusing it with the Missa Solemnis. I can't trace a Koussevitzky Ninth, but he did do the Mass on 78s (the first available recording I think) and Klemperer's Vox discs were also the Mass, his first commercial Ninth being his famous Philharmonia recording.

[Bryn]

Mozart and Chopin were both heavily influenced by the voice in their instrumental music.
Beethoven was simply the first to include actual voices in a Symphony. Technically, wouldn’t Mendelssohn have been the second?

Peter von Winter beat Beethoven to it by a decade.