BaL 1.03.14 - Beethoven Symphony no. 7 in A

[waldo]

Never understood the appeal of this symphony. Certainly one of my least favourite Beethoven pieces. A stompy, thumpy, monotonous affair with a lovely, but over-familiar, second movement.......

Do any of you actually like it? I mean, like it enough to actually listen to all the way through?

[Sir Velo]

What remotely possible justification is there for doing No. 7 again,

Last on 2 October 1999; 14+ years ago.

when the Eroica has never been done in modern times?

Possibly because there are even more versions to consider than for the A Major.

[Sir Velo]

A stompy, thumpy, monotonous affair with a lovely, but over-familiar, second movement.......

You're not Tommy Beecham are you?

[Thropplenoggin]

Never understood the appeal of this symphony. Certainly one of my least favourite Beethoven pieces. A stompy, thumpy, monotonous affair with a lovely, but over-familiar, second movement.......

Do any of you actually like it? I mean, like it enough to actually listen to all the way through?

If played just so (Konwitschny/GLO, Kleiber Jr/VPO (for all its overfamiliarity)) that first movement should soar with real majesty...pick you up and hurtle you through space...give you this overwhelming sense of being aloft...of massiveness and grandeur...'take your breath away' stuff...definitely a contender for the 'Music of the Spheres'.

[waldo]

If played just so (Konwitschny/GLO, Kleiber Jr/VPO (for all its overfamiliarity)) that first movement should soar with real majesty...pick you up and hurtle you through space...give you this overwhelming sense of being aloft...of massiveness and grandeur...'take your breath away' stuff...definitely a contender for the 'Music of the Spheres'.

Really? I've always thought of it as one of his earthier works. Much of it sounds like a gigantic peasant dance.

Perhaps I should give it another crack. It's been a while since I've tried it. And I don't know the Kleiber/VPO version, either.......

[Richard Tarleton]

Do any of you actually like it?

Absolutely my favourite Beethoven symphony. Well said Throppers....my ideas on this work were heavily influenced by an hour-long talk on Beethoven's metronome markings by Peter Stadlen in the early 70's (I've mentioned this before )- in the scherzo and trio Toscanini on the money, Klemperer (at half B's markings) not.

I was at the 2005 LSO Live/Haitink performance, though the coupling on the CD is different - it was the violin concerto at the concert, not the Triple Concerto.

The recording I wish Rattle had made was with the OAE - I was at an unforgettable performance in the RFH about 15 years ago. If only he had done a cycle with them instead of yet another with the VPO

As well as Toscanini and Haitink I have Kleiber/VPO - otherwise I just wait for live performances to turn up.

[Thropplenoggin]

As well as Toscanini and Haitink I have Kleiber/VPO - otherwise I just wait for live performances to turn up.

Which Toscanini do you have, Richard? I don't own either of his sets. Perhaps I should rectify this.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Do any of you actually like it? I mean, like it enough to actually listen to all the way through?

Oh, yes. One of my favourite pieces of Music - I'm taken completely out of the mundane and feel that this is how life can and should be like. I always feel "better" listening to it and for several hours (in a really good performance, read "days") afterwards.

Funny how tastes differ, innit

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

...pick you up and hurtle you through space...give you this overwhelming sense of being aloft...of massiveness and grandeur...'take your breath away' stuff...

One of those works that manages to make feel simultaneously humble and magnificent.

(One of Xenakis' favourite work, too - "Not a piece of Music but a force of Nature")

[gurnemanz]

I do like this symphony and I suppose I usually grab Kleiber if I want to listen to it, but I've just played three other versions more or less at random to get myself in the mood. Klemperer/Philharmonia 1955, early Karajan/Philharmonia 1951 (sound a bit tinny) - both good. Lastly, I went for The Gewandhaus with Masur, which tends not to be highly thought of. I hadn't played it for a while but really enjoyed it - good sound, if a bit distant, beautifully played, every detail audible and an honest affectation-free interpretation.

[Richard Tarleton]

Which Toscanini do you have, Richard? I don't own either of his sets. Perhaps I should rectify this.

I have the NBC SO 1951 one, a live broadcast - I'm not sure which of his is reckoned to be the best, the acoustic is very dry but a valuable document nonetheless.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Of Karajan's many versions, it's his final one (the 3rd - digital - BPO) DG one that I find the most exciting.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Of Karajan's many versions, it's his final one (the 3rd - digital - BPO) DG one that I find the most exciting.

Interesting, Alpie - that was one of my very first batches of CDs back in 1985 (bought from Covent Garden Records on Charing Cross Road). The sound was really poor in that first incarnation - the rhythmic detail of the second movement in particular was very blurred - which I thought was a pity, as the Finale had real pizazz! The 1977 version remains my own favourite of the six recordings that I know by Karajan. I have vivid memories of a conversation he had with Richard Osborne on Record Release when the set came out in the UK. RO started to sing the opening of the second movement in a traditional Adagio pace. Karajan pounced: "But that isn't 'Allegretto'!"

[pastoralguy]

Of Karajan's many versions, it's his final one (the 3rd - digital - BPO) DG one that I find the most exciting.

I recently picked up that set in a charity shop for £2.99 and passed it on to a friend who didn't have it. (I'm sure many have it as the bribe to join a 'record club' in days gone by!) We listened to the 7th and loved it! Yes, very exciting indeed.

I have to admit that the modern trend for playing every possible repeat in the 3rd movement is one I could do without. A friend in the RSNO told me of a conductor who, had he had his way, would have made it last 15 minutes!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have to admit that the modern trend for playing every possible repeat in the 3rd movement is one I could do without. A friend in the RSNO told me of a conductor who, had he had his way, would have made it last 15 minutes!

"Modern" as in "dating from 1813?

A pretty poor conductor - if he'd took as much care with Ludder's metronome markings, it wouldn't take much longer than about 8mins 30secs with all repeats. (8min 13sec in the wonderfully lithe Krivine recording.)