Beethoven listening blog 2020

[BBMmk2]

I'm incapable of Jayne-esque reviews but I've been greatly enjoying the Quatuor Ébène's LvB cycle in episodes, courtesy of Tidal, but, now having the box with physical CDs, I'm enjoying it even more. Great booklet, setting out the background to the project, views from the point of view of their first violinist et al on the music and anecdotes about what they experienced in cities as varied as Nairobi, Tokyo and Philadelphia. The performances have moved me greatly, especially in view of current times. I hate any kind of superlatives but I'd be struggling to think of music which better .... how can one put it? .... feeds the soul.

Concur! JLW is the Queen!

[jayne lee wilson]

Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 4 in G Major Wallisch/Haselbock/Orchester Wiener Akademie

I just had to try one of these, after all the enthusiasm. I loved the piano and the piano playing, and the rapport with the orchestra, and the overall sense of involvement.

But....I didn't warm to the sound of the orchestra nor the orchestral playing per se. It's probably that I don't listen to much HIPP/original instruments orchestras. But it is disconcerting when the after the opening piano solo, the strings don't come in, instead there's a viol consort....no, sorry, that's naughty...but it is one of the great moments in music, and the hushed string sound is probably in my DNA by now. Then I know much is made of how in smaller HIPP orchestra performances there is transparency and you can hear all the wind detail, etc. But not this much, please! The oboe seems to be wailing loudly at times. Give me back the sound weighted towards, but not dominated by, the strings, any day. Mind you, the strings are very effective in the slow movement, where a more aggressive attack is needed.

Of course I am not practising like-with-like comparisons (I don't accept the concept). I have in my ears Karl Bohm conducting the VPO in the wonderful Pollini version, developing forward motion, symphonic propulsion, from the word go, out of the hushed strings. Is it to do with the sense of a grip on the phrases?

But I will go back to listen to Wallisch again, sweetly poetic and freshly imagined, with the runs up and down the keyboard, and the trills, especially memorable.

I've had one listen to Sym 4, but must have another, before I say anything!

All I meant with like-for-like is scale and instrumental character/sonority, really.... well, perhaps with a certain attitude towards interpretation or its relative absence.... but very, very glad someone else is listening to these....and finding them stimulating to ears and mind....maybe they'll find a way to the heart too, eventually....
As I said above about OWA....

"Sometimes not as tightly disciplined as you’d like, they tend not to stun you with virtuosity a la AAMB, Freiburg Baroque etc.
So, rather like the modern-instrument Vienna orchestras of the 1950s, they have a very distinctive tonal character & way of playing, and just want to get the musical message across simply and directly"


And I love wailing oboes! (If not perhaps the term I'd use...) AND sound weighted towards.... the winds and horns in such a spacious acoustic .....still so, so glad you liked the Bayer piano itself so much.....the Grafs used elsewhere in the cycle are even finer....

[Bryn]

. . . "Sometimes not as tightly disciplined as you’d like, they tend not to stun you with virtuosity a la AAMB, Freiburg Baroque etc.
So, rather like the modern-instrument Vienna orchestras of the 1950s, they have a very distinctive tonal character & way of playing, and just want to get the musical message across simply and directly"
[/I]

And I love wailing oboes! (If not perhaps the term I'd use...) AND sound weighted towards.... the winds and horns in such a spacious acoustic .....still so, so glad you liked the Bayer piano itself so much.....the Grafs used elsewhere in the cycle are even finer....

Perhaps the relative lack of ensemble (which I do not find that distracting) contributes to its overall authenticity, given the reports of the performance on 22 December 1808.

My ear-opener for this concerto was PB-S's with Collegium Aureum, back in the '70s. As mentioned recently in another thread, the BBC 2 programme with Brautigam and Hazlewood is another I return to. I do not dismiss this Wallisch/Orchester Wiener Akademie/Haselbock recording. I just don't find it particularly revelatory after PB-S, and the various Brautigam recordings of the work. The Wallisch & co. Op. 61a is another matter. It really makes the case for the arrangement.

[Barbirollians]

Inspired by today’s repeated BAL to dig out the Czech PO/Kletzki recording of the First Symphony. RC reminded us of its qualities in Gramophone recently. It really is charming.

[Goon525]

Musicweb have rather surprisingly published a second review of the Hough Beethoven:-


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Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770 - 1827)
The Piano Concertos
Piano Concerto No.1 in C major Op.15 [33.18]
Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat major Op.19 [28.17]
Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor Op.37 [36.39]
Piano Concerto No.4 in G major Op.58 [35.10]
Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat major ‘Emperor’ Op.73 [38.53]
Stephen Hough (piano)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Hannu Lintu
rec. 2019, Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki
HYPERION CDA68291/3 [3 CDs: 172.17]

It seems impossible for Stephen Hough to play a dull bar, and anything he touches has unique qualities of insight and controlled emotion. One looks forward to any performance with a sense of keen anticipation, so I was delighted to receive this set in my monthly allocation. It demands attention, and it belongs among my most treasured cycles. The question, however, is whether it is a first choice.

So many great pianists and conductors have given us so many insights, and these works have so many riches, that perhaps it is a foolish quest to seek a ‘best’ – doing so can lead to think that a given way is the only possible approach, and to miss the treasures others can give us. I have some reservations about the set, and, though these are small to me, might be more worrying for others.

My main concern was with the orchestral playing. The Finnish Orchestra is very good, and Hannu Lintu – fine conductor as he is – strikes me as not always the most comfortable Beethoven accompanist, compared with, for example, Haitink, Belohlávek, Menges, Leitner or Klemperer. Some phrasing is a little awkward when picking up from the pianist. Compare, for example, the orchestral accompaniment of Herbert Menges and the Philharmonia in Beethoven recordings with Solomon, and the unity of mind with the soloist is extraordinary.

The highlight of the set, at least for me, is the C minor Concerto; and the new performance goes straight to the top of my list (no reservations about the orchestra here). Changes of mood and character are superbly caught, and repeated listening has not dulled my attention or enthusiasm. The set is worth its price for this performance alone, very well captured by the engineers.

Some people love the Fourth Concerto, while it is the one I enjoy least, and I left it until last. Oddly, it was the first I encountered, many years ago, on an old recording by Artur Rubinstein, and the first I heard performed live, by Daniel Barenboim with Boult standing in for Klemperer, in 1968. When I listened to Hough, I was delighted to find my fears put to one side. There was no romantic lingering in the surprise opening bars, and the remainder of the first movement was akin to discovering the work for the first time. An interesting detail is that Hough arpeggiates the first chord. According to Czerny, Beethoven did the same, and the change in character, while subtle, gives new insight. Best of all was the Andante con moto second movement. In too many performances the piano-taming -the -ruffian orchestra is taken prosaically, as if Beethoven had just had the single idea in his head. Not so here: Hough reveals subtleties, obiter dicta, missed by too many others.

Performances of the other three concertos are powerful. Those who prefer period performances might find the First and Second a touch disappointing in their approach: Hough here, as elsewhere, can be forthright, fully conscious that our ears and sensibilities are thoroughly 21st Century - and that, we cannot alter. These interpretations look forward rather than back, I think, and are to be appreciated on those terms. Cadenzas are an issue with both concertos. Beethoven’s 1808 version of the cadenza for the First Concerto is incomplete, and Hough chooses the first – and much shorter - of two versions written for Archduke Rudolph in 1809, a version that does not outstay its welcome. In the Second Concerto, Hough provides his own version, and it is very fine, in keeping with the themes of the movement, expressive and in character, without any self-indulgence.

In general, Hough – characteristically – eschews anything which is simply showy. But there are important matters of detail. In the ‘Emperor’ there is an arresting detail straight away. The piano plays the first chord with the orchestra, following the Bärenreiter edition, as edited by Jonathan del Mar (2015). There is an indication in the manuscript, just the number 5 above the score, that Beethoven intended the effect. (Not my scholarship here – see the interview with Stephen Hough in the May 2020 edition of Gramophone). The performance of the whole piece is robust and a strong competitor with other versions.

I suspect I shall return to this recording very often, but most often for the Third and Fourth Concertos. Whether it will replace my first love, Barenboim/Klemperer, it will be interesting to see. But the performance of the Third is a triumph, the Fourth scarcely less so, and Hough’s invention and insight are gripping.

Michael Wilkinson

[richardfinegold]

BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO NO.2. BEZUIDENHOUT/Freiburg Baroque/HERAS-CASADO/HM 24/96 via Qobuz-S.

Far more “interpreted” than Wallisch, with its micromanagement of phrase and dynamics, sudden stresses, rhythmic leaps and bounds, so lively as to be quite startling at times. At first, hard to fault on its own interventionist terms (if at times a bit too emphatic - I have this problem with Bezuidenhout’s FB Mozart too), brilliantly played & recorded, but I missed the serene flow of Haselbock’s orchestra, Wallisch’s pianism and the spacious setting, from the very start. It says something that I enjoyed Bezuidenhout's cadenza in (i) more than the rest of the movement - time to reflect, slow down a bit...

I feel Wallisch is a more natural and subtle pianist too, with a more flowing style, and in the adagio this really tells:
Wallisch/Haselbock achieve a serene, beatific atmosphere that seems not to be on Bezuidenhout/H-C’s agenda really, more concerned as they are to emphasise individualised interpretive points. Closer balance in the latter too, underlining that feeling of engaging virtuosity rather than the OWA’s more “objective” i.e. less personalised musical beauties.

But then the Bezuidenhout finale…. rushed, jumpy, with more sudden sharp accents and mannered phrasing…. for me the continuity was lost, it didn't even work well on its own terms. I think they were aiming at a species of kittenish playfulness, but….a rather annoyed, restless kitten.
You might take it as a live one-off, but on record?

The performers are foregrounded in the one, the music in the other. There is a lovable Viennese essence to the OWA which seems simply to serve the music itself; offering it up to the grateful listener. But I have conceived a great passion for this CPO set over some weeks now, and my own bias should be taken into account.


There’s something enjoyably piquant in how, in the recent Beethoven releases I’ve heard, the least high-profile performers - (Cycle on CPO though you can hear Op.58 and Op.61a on the Alpha Beethoven Resound series via Qobuz etc) are those those who have truly conquered my heart.

I had listened to the Second a few days ago. I can’t add much to your description

[lsl131]

Firstly, thanks for the shout about the Wallisch/OWA/Haselbock concerto cycle. I managed to get a good deal on the CDs, which arrived at the weekend. So far, I’ve listened to the first four concertos and enjoyed their poise and flow. These performances are certainly not dull and I appreciate that points can be made without excessive underlining. I think that they will grow on me. I do have 2 other PI cycles (in part at least) to compare. Bezuidenhout’s is exciting and he does have a different approach. I do take on board your reservations and do wonder how much I will enjoy these performances over time. I am a little disappointed with Brautigam’s 2nd cycle. Firstly, the sound of his piano appeals much less than those of the other two and, for me, the phrasing seems clipped and less flowing. I still like some modern instrument cycles, particularly Bronfman/Zurich/Zinman and Fleisher/Cleveland/Szell, but it has really been an eye-opener to listen to a well thought out and played PI cycle. Thanks again for interesting and thoughtful comments.
Best wishes, Louis.

[Bryn]

Firstly, thanks for the shout about the Wallisch/OWA/Haselbock concerto cycle. I managed to get a good deal on the CDs, which arrived at the weekend. So far, I’ve listened to the first four concertos and enjoyed their poise and flow. These performances are certainly not dull and I appreciate that points can be made without excessive underlining. I think that they will grow on me. I do have 2 other PI cycles (in part at least) to compare. Bezuidenhout’s is exciting and he does have a different approach. I do take on board your reservations and do wonder how much I will enjoy these performances over time. I am a little disappointed with Brautigam’s 2nd cycle. Firstly, the sound of his piano appeals much less than those of the other two and, for me, the phrasing seems clipped and less flowing. I still like some modern instrument cycles, particularly Bronfman/Zurich/Zinman and Fleisher/Cleveland/Szell, but it has really been an eye-opener to listen to a well thought out and played PI cycle. Thanks again for interesting and thoughtful comments.
Best wishes, Louis.

For a real 'double-take sit up and listen', try the Schoonderwoerd/Crisofori survey.

[jayne lee wilson]

Absolutely with Bryn about the Schoonderwoerd/Cristofori, found them immediately compelling - a real challenge, yes, but stand up very well on revisits...

Thanks to lsl for the comments..... I was all but listened out with Orchestral Beethoven by the Summer, but a brief revisit confirmed my disappointments with the OWA 3rd and 9th Symphonies, live very roughshod affairs.

I do look forward to hearing all the others and the concertos again, maybe deep into the Winter. For now, the Violin Sonatas (Seiler/Immerseel, Zimmerman/Helmchen) are food for the Beethovenian soul...

Just a reminder there's yet another cycle out....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/beethoven-complete-symphonies-marek-janowski-wdr-sinfonieorchester-koln/pit9patwrmk2a

[lsl131]

Thanks Bryn and Jayne for mentioning Schoonderwoerd/Cristofori. Must investigate. The critic David Hurwitz has a channel on YouTube on which he has been posting reviews and summaries of repertoire over the last few months. Interestingly, he was scathing about Schoonderwoerd’s cycle, but then he makes no secret about his general dislike of period performances in repertoire after the baroque. This would not deter me.

For the violin sonatas, I have a soft spot for Faust & Melnikov and Dumay & Pires. I have heard good things about Gatto & Libeer.

Once I have listened to Wallisch, my Beethoven listening will take in the string quartets (Quatuor Ebene will feature).

BTW, and unrelated, thanks again Jayne for mentioning a while back on another thread the Beermann/Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie cycle of Schumann symphonies. I did get hold of it shortly afterwards and the performances did live up to expectations. cpo is an interesting label.

Best wishes, Louis

[Barbirollians]

Been listening to Arrau/Galleira in PC 1 and 2 from the Icon box. Arrau was an extraordinary pianist , sometimes time just stands still and he has you on the edge of your seat- but they are rather slow especially the First movement of the first concerto.