BaL 5.11.11 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

**Nick Armstrong** · 28-10-11, 12:10

Excellent, it will be interesting to see how my Cluytens/BPO version fares, in the set newly acquired thanks to the Dvorak 8 thread

Cluytens's "Pastoral" seems to be regarded as one of the very best.

I have always clung to Bruno Walter with the Columbia SO - it breathes and flows and sings like no other I've heard, and there's something about the way he shapes the very first phrase, with a slight pause after, that's like opening a door and taking in the first lungful of fresh spring morning air...

Ahem, I wax lyrical.

The French CD critics programme considered the piece last year. The blind tasting consisted of 7 versions, Kleiber fils being chosen as the best:

VERSION NO 1
Orchestre Philharmonique de Berlin
Direction : Claudio Abbado
[Enregistré à l’Académie Nationale de Sainte-Cécile de Rome en février 2001]
DGG 00289 477 5864

VERSION NO 2
Orchestre Philharmonique de Vienne
Direction : Wilhelm Furtwängler
[Enregistré au Musikverein de Vienne, les 24 et 25 novembre 1952]
EMI CDH 7 630342 MONO

VERSION NO 3
Orchestre du Concertgebouw d’Amsterdam
Direction : Erich Kleiber
[Enregistré au Concertgebouw d’Amsterdam, en 1952]
DECCA 417 637-2 MONO

VERSION NO 4 VERSION CHOISIE****
Orchestre de l’Etat de Bavière
Direction : Carlos Kleiber
[Enregistré en concert à l’Opéra d’Etat de Bavière à Munich, le 7 novembre 1983]
ORFEO C 600 031 B

VERSION NO 5
Orchestre de Chambre d’Europe
Direction : Nikolaus Harnoncourt
[Enregistré à la Stefaniensaal de Graz (Autriche) le 1er juillet 1990]
TELDEC 2292-46452

VERSION NO 6
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Direction : John Eliot Gardiner
[Enregistré à Londres en octobre 1992]
ARCHIV/DGG 439 900

VERSION NO 7 VERSION EXCELLENTE***
Orchestre de la Tonhalle de Zurich
Direction : David Zinman
[Enregistré à la Tonhalle de Zurich les 25 et 26 mars 1997]
ARTE NOVA 74321 49695

The Carlos Kleiber did indeed sound pretty spiffing but I wasn't tempted to invest over and above my beloved Bruno Walter

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 28-10-11, 13:14

It should be interesting, as the reviewer is something of a Beethoven expert.
Of the recordings I own, I have a particular affection for the VPO/Abbado.

**Biffo** · 28-10-11, 14:44

There are so many excellent Pastorals available it is odd (perverse?) of the French critics to choose C Kleiber, you only have to listen to his father for a better performance. If pushed I would say Bohm but probably only out of habit, he might be a bit on the slow side for modern tastes. Like Caliban I have a strong affection for Walter/Columbia (coupled with an equally good No 4). In the recent much discussed Chailly set the Pastoral is one of the highlights but I don't much care for what I have heard of the rest. Cluytens is also excellent.

**silvestrione** · 28-10-11, 15:44

I am left almost speechless that CD Review are doing the 'Pastoral' again, when I can remember some of the detail of the last programme, it was so recent (for example, the VPO/Bohm was only not chosen because of a bad edit; Abbado's Berlin BPO version was chosen), and they have still not done the 'Eroica' for, it must be at least over 25 years.

Nevertheless I shall be all ears. My favourites are Karajan EMI Philharmonia, and the Toscanini live version with BBC Sym. Have a soft spot for Furtwangler's post war performance, very slow and heartfelt.

**silvestrione** · 28-10-11, 15:44

I am left almost speechless that CD Review are doing the 'Pastoral' again, when I can remember some of the detail of the last programme, it was so recent (for example, the VPO/Bohm was only not chosen because of a bad edit; Abbado's Berlin BPO version was chosen), and they have STILL not done the 'Eroica' for, it must be at least over 25 years.

Nevertheless I shall be all ears. My favourites are Karajan EMI Philharmonia, and the Toscanini live version with BBC Sym. Have a soft spot for Furtwangler's post war performance, very slow and heartfelt.

**Barbirollians** · 28-10-11, 15:56

That was a lousy BAL as I remember - Bohm and Klemperer airily dismissed and far too much Zinman ! so maybe that is why they are doing it again .

I suggest they get RO in to do the Eroica especially after his response to the Chailly .

Bohm , Boult, Cluytens and Furtwangler for me . Though I hear very good reports of the Kletzki .

**Biffo** · 28-10-11, 16:13

I have retrieved the Carlos Kleiber Pastoral from the archives and played it again. The first movement is very brisk, possibly too fast for Allegro ma non troppo but there is a highly dramatic storm and a faster than usual Finale (with the occasional obbligato coughing). The case bears a sticker 'Preis der deutschen Schallplaten Kritik' so they liked it as much as the French; I seem to remember our local critics were fairly tepid.

It is always disappointing/annoying when a favourite is ignored or casually dismissed but BaL is very subjective. Last year when they reviewed Wagner's Ring over four programmes with a different critic each leg, Keilberth came out on top in Rheingold and Siegfried but was dismissed with barely a mention in the other two parts.

**Chris Newman** · 28-10-11, 17:30

I heard Sir Adrian conduct this symphony twice (with the LPO and BBCSO) and have never since heard such a gratifying mixture of gentle sunny bucolics and passing power. For me most others get too loud and try to plumb emotional depths that this symphony never seeks. I imagine Davis, Haitink or Mackerras would achieve similar pastorality with chamber orchestras but have not heard them yet.

I do have a soft spot for Walt Disney's version with Stokowski. My Gran took me to see Fantasia when I must have been about six or seven. I never saw the Rite of Spring sequence until I was 21 years old and the film re-released. In the early 50s the film was a U classification in the daytime where children were admitted whilst evenings were X classification and the Rite was shown. But Boult is the man for me.

**Parry1912** · 28-10-11, 18:10

Bohm, Walter or Ashkenazy for me.

**Barbirollians** · 28-10-11, 18:23

I have not heard the Ashkenazy - I was very fond of his recording of the 7th though.

As for the Carlos Kleiber the recording quality is pretty ropey but I like the performance a lot. Very invigorating.

**Bryn** · 28-10-11, 18:41

I recall buying an LP of the Pastoral conducted by Boult back in my early youth. The purchase was made in Woolworths and the disc was of their own bargain basement label IIRC. The orchestra was named as something like the 'London Philharmonic Festival Orchestra'. It was a very fine recorded performance, as I recall.

Ah, this must be it, the 'Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra of London':

Amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphony-No-Boult-Ludwig-Beethoven/dp/B0009PLM58/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1319823718&sr=1-7

**Roehre** · 28-10-11, 19:24

Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post

As for the Carlos Kleiber the recording quality is pretty ropey but I like the performance a lot. Very invigorating.

The original recording has badly deteriorated. For the bits which were beyond repair a cassette tape in possession of the Kleiber family has been used. That explains the recording quality.
I think it is one of the most naturally developing and evolving pastorals, pity of that ropey recording indeed.

**Colonel Danby** · 28-10-11, 20:21

I think that we all have a soft spot for our earliest purchases in classical music: I still play Colin Davis's account of the "Pastoral" with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, but I will always plump for Roger Norrington on EMI Reflexe: this is an excellent issue that I always return to. It will be interesting to hear our critic's choice tomorrow, but I reckon it will be probably be Kleiber. Just a hunch...

**Alison** · 28-10-11, 20:31

No mention of the Rattle version there, Colonel ...

BaL 5.11.11 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

BaL 5.11.11 Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

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