BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES NOS 7, 8

Beethoven: 11 Dances, "Mödlinger Tänze" - 12 German Dances -

Beethoven and Hummel’s relationship was one of fractious beginnings, but ultimately true friendship. Between 1825 and 1835 Hummel arranged his contemporary’s Symphonies Nos. 1-7 and Septet, Op. 20 for his favored combination of pianoforte, flute, violin, and violoncello. Beethoven would surely not have objected- arrangements were, after all, a perfectly normal part of the 19th-century musical landscape. To audiences today his symphonies need little introduction but, thanks to the musical sensitivity and sheer brilliance of Hummel’s arrangements, it is possible to experience the thrill of hearing these extraordinary pieces afresh.

Also available on Blu-ray

None other than Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz has been engaged for the stage direction of the new production of Fidelio from the Theater an der Wien. There, at one of the oldest opera houses in Vienna, L.v. Beethoven was what one would call today a composer-in-residence. And he was this in two respects: here he lived for two years in an apartment in the wing of the building. And it was here that he premiered many of his most famous orchestral works, symphonies and his only opera: Fidelio. In his third opera production Waltz brilliantly stages the second version of the opera in the breathtaking set designed by the German-American architectural practice Barkow Leibinger. The abstract staircase landscape in the form of a double helix, symbolizing prison, extends space into the back theatre and is infinitely changeable in the cinematic lighting concept of Hollywood regular Henry Braham. Manfred Honeck at the rostrum of the dynamic Wiener Symphoniker leads a superb and versatile cast of “vocally oustanding“ (Der Standard) singers: Nicole Chevalier bewitches vocally and dramatically on her stage debut as Leonore, Eric Cutler gives Florestan a powerful voice. Christof Fischesser, Gábor Bretz, Mélissa Petit complete the strong ensemble. But the production, which was sold out months before, never saw its stage premiere, as the Theater an der Wien sadly had to shut down due to the Covid 19 pandemic a few days before. Thanks to an incredible effort by all participants, the opera house was converted into a film studio at short notice so that Christoph Waltz’s “convincing production” (Die Zeit) of Beethoven‘s flaming musical plea for freedom and humanity could be preserved for posterity. “An ingenious, enigmatic direction” (Münchner Merkur)

Die Ruinen von Athen (‘The Ruins of Athens’) was composed to celebrate the opening of the new German theatre in Pest in 1812. Designed to accompany the play of that name by August von Kotzebue, its incidental music is substantial enough to form a kind of one-act Singspiel and is full of attractive arias, duets and choruses and includes the famous Turkish March. Though the work’s theme was rooted in Greek mythology, in reality it was explicitly political in nature, celebrating Pest as ‘the new Athens.’ This is the first ever recording of the work with full narration.

Arthur Schoonderwoerd and his Ensemble Cristofori are taking on Beethoven’s Symphonies but in a very different style. Tempo, accentuation, phrasing, or structural architecture are not the first thing that strikes us when we listen to Arthur Schoonderwoerd’s performances of Classical orchestra music for the first time. Instead, the first thing we notice is that the music sounds different. The orchestra is unusually small. Ensemble Cristofori plays as an orchestra- string quartet, double bass, and winds- and the effect is stunning. The orchestral sound is present, but each voice can be heard specifically as well. Arthur Schoonderwoerd is a well established pianist and powerful conductor, and is widely known as a consistent advocate for Early Music performance. He is also a powerful conductor of 21st century music.

This truly fantastic live set of the complete Beethoven symphonies plus select overtures as played by the Philharmonia Orchestra in Vienna in 1960 under the direction of the legendary conductor Otto Klemperer has now returned to the Andromeda catalog in completely re-mastered, superb 24bit/96kHz sound, taken directly from the original master tapes. It always a fascinating pastime to compare Klemperer’s live performances with his studio recordings of the identical works from the same period, as these come from around the time of his famous EMI late-‘50s recordings with the same orchestra.

In celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year, Sony Classical is pleased to release the internationally renowned Juilliard String Quartet’s recordings of Beethoven’s String Quartets recorded from 1964-1970.

This stunning mid-price box set will be the first ever release of the Juilliard String Quartet’s 1964-1970 Beethoven cycle, in a single 9-CD edition. 6 LPs featured in the box set appear for the first time on CD, remastered from the original analogue masters using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology. The booklet includes a with new essay by string expert Tully Potter and full discographical notes.

The Juilliard String Quartet, which was founded in 1946 is one of the world’s most prestigious string quartets in the world. In February 2011, the quartet received the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award for its outstanding contributions to recorded classical music.

REVIEW:

Writing about the outstanding American pianists who came to international attention during the post-war years, my late colleague Harris Goldsmith cited interpretive characteristics such as clarity over sensuality, a preference for “crew-cut” brilliance of definition, a certain high-powered (some call it “driven”) intensity, and a hard-grained approach to sonority. These words easily apply to the Juilliard Quartet’s 1964-’70 Beethoven cycle. To collectors weaned on 1950s Beethoven standard-bearers like the Budapest, Hungarian, and Végh quartets, the Juilliard’s impact was akin to being tossed into a cold shower.

Contrary to Sony BMG’s claim, this release does not mark the 1964-’70 cycle’s first integral CD edition; Sony actually brought out a limited import box in 2002, which I have not heard. But the label’s new transfers from original tape sources consistently reveal a more robust, less monochromatic string sonority in relation to the flintier treble-oriented LPs in my collection.

For example, the slow-moving chords and shimmering trills in Op. 59 No. 3’s introduction sound slightly drab and wan on my dog-eared vinyl pressing, yet gain a subtle yet haunting degree of tonal nuance on CD. The same holds true for the opening pages of Op. 132’s extraordinary Heiliger Dankgesang movement, where the ensemble’s rapt, long-lined concentration surpasses its faster, less inward earlier RCA recording. Heightened timbral allure also uncovers a sustained tension that I did not initially appreciate in the Juilliard’s broad reading of Op. 18 No. 2’s Adagio, which contrasts to the faster and relatively facile (though equally well played ) RCA Guarneri Quartet recording.

Because the acoustics of Columbia’s legendary high-ceilinged 30th Street Studio are more apparent than before, rapid cascading passages such as those in Op. 18 No. 1’s Finale and in the Op. 127 Scherzo now emerge as playful rather than wiry. Indeed, the late quartets abound with memorable details. Here the ensemble captures the quirky whimsy of Op. 135’s opening Allegretto with a genial and conversational demeanor that differs from their slightly mechanical earlier RCA version and the faster, more aloof live remake from the Library of Congress. Similarly, the tempo relationships and tricky points of balance in Op. 131’s long theme and variations movement appear more internalized and assiduous in the present recording in comparison with the earlier and later Juilliard traversals. While unrelenting abrasiveness is appropriate for the Grosse Fugue, I favor more breathing space and tender respite in the slower passages (i.e., the Takacs Quartet).

Perhaps Beethoven’s combative temperament and the Juilliard Quartet’s acerbic, tensile profile fuse best in the middle quartets, and these clean yet impassioned interpretations easily explain their erstwhile reference status. That said, the Juilliard’s less superficially perfect digital remakes of Op. 59 No. 3 and Op. 95 arguably dig deeper. I prefer the former’s heftier, more inflected slow movement, pronounced subito dynamics, and observance of both repeats in the first movement. And while ferocity has its place in the Op. 95 Allegro con brio, the slightly slower live traversal’s wider scope of dynamics and articulations brings forth a newfound sense of yearning and desolation below the music’s petulant surface.

Needless to say, there are many ways to approach the Beethoven quartets, and I would not want to be without my reference Alban Berg, Smetana, Végh, and Takacs cycles. Nor, for that matter, that of the Juilliard Quartet, whose 1964-’70 recordings infuse these amazing works with freshness, vitality, and meaning. Special mention should be made of Tully Potter’s insightful annotations.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)

This is the best Ihave ever written - so far, said Beethoven about the string trios op. 9. It is performed here by one of the most prominent chamber ensembles in the Nordic countries. The string trio ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen was formed in 1999 and is constantly exploring the compelling string trio repertoire, seeking as well to expand it by commissioning works. The trio frequently collaborates with other chamber musicians in forming various quartets and other ensembles. It has played with Bengt Forsberg, Per Tengstrand, Mikael Helasvuo, Christian Ihle Hadland, Martti Rousi, Christoffer Sundqvist and Martin Fröst, among others. In addition to it's own concert projects, the trio has performed at a variety of chamber music festivals. In Sweden, it has been a guest at the Lappland, Junsele, Båstad, Linköping and Grythyttan festivals, as well as at the special music events "Tengstrand 06" in Växjö and "MADE in Umeå" in Umeå. It has also played at the Åland, Turku and Korsholm festivals in Finland and at Bergen and Kristiansand in Norway.

The three works here included are arrangements of two trios by Beethoven and of his Horn Sonata. These were made by the Bohemian virtuoso oboist Carl Khym, whose name sometimes appears as Chym. He was born about 1770 and was thus a more or less exact contemporary of Beethoven and seems to have been in the service of the Emperor. Little is known of his life, but he left a number of chamber music compositions and competent and effective arrangements of works by other composers, with the string quintet version of Beethoven's Clarinet Trio, Op. 11, appearing in Vienna and Pest in 1810/1811, and of the Horn Sonata, published in Bonn by Simrock in 1817. The arrangement of the Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 2, seems to date from 1815. Nothing is known of Khym after 1819. In 1795 Beethoven published a set of three Piano Trios, dedicated to Prince Carl Lichnowsky, in whose house they were first performed, in the presence of Haydn, who had reservations about the possible reception of the third, an implied criticism to which the composer took exception. The second of the group, the Piano Trio in G major, Op. 1, No. 2, makes a convincing string quintet. The first movement starts with a slow introduction, with the more decorative melodic elements now allotted to the violin, which opens the Allegro Vivace with a lively first subject leading to a reasonable division of labor between the other instruments of the quintet. The first violin introduces the second subject in the sonata-form movement, with it's repeated exposition, development and recapitulation. The characteristically sustained piano melody of the original work in the slow movement is aptly transferred to strings, it's opening theme repeated an octave higher, after which the first violin leads on to a secondary theme, both themes soon to return, with a brief excursion into the tonic minor key before the closing section. The Scherzo is introduced by the cello, joined at once by the other instruments, and framing a B minor Trio. The final Presto opens with the rapidly repeated notes of the violin, as in the original, with some modification of the original piano imitation of the theme, in a sonata-form movement, it's exposition again repeated, before the central development and recapitulation.

Intelligent performances from one of the most celebrated and long-lived of all string quartets. Some things work more successfully than others, and fast movements generally fare better than slow ones (the dashing finale of No. 5 is especially well done). It’s a shame that a few more repeats aren’t observed, but the playing is so well-blended and civilised that I’ll forgive them. The 1951/52 sound is clean rather than especially vivid.

-- Stephen Maddock, BBC Music Magazine

Beethoven: Cello Sonatas Nos. 3 & 5

Beethoven: Sonatas - Appassionata, Les adieux, Pathétique &

To this day, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in the world. But what is it about this global hit? The film charts the success of the symphony around the globe and encounters passionate amateur musicians and musical personalities. Watch as Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis works on Beethoven’s Ninth with his ensemble, MusicAeterna. Follow Chinese composer and Oscar winner Tan Dun as he creates a new composition inspired by the great Beethoven symphony. Experience the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they play the Ninth. Visit a favela in Brazil, where Beethovens’s music helps people get off the streets. Be amazed as a choir of 10,000 in Japan sings the final chorus of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with great enthusiasm. Learn how Paul Whittaker helps make Beethoven accessible for deaf people. And find out how British DJ Gabriel Prokofiev performs a symphonic remix of Beethoven’s Ninth.

Triumphing over deafness and turbulent political times, Ludwig van Beethoven singlehandedly changed the course of music history, laying down the foundations for the Romantic era. His nine symphonies grew out of the forms established in the time of Mozart and Haydn, but show a remarkable evolution which embraces heroic grandeur in the Third Symphony, patriotism and innovation in the Fifth Symphony, countryside imagery and narrative in the Sixth Symphony, and choral inspiration in the Ninth Symphony, the "Ode to Joy" from which has become the Anthem for Europe.

Even Beethoven couldn’t entirely escape the influence of Mozart, and this lineage can be traced in the melodic grace to be found in the symphonies as well as the concertos. Imposing in their stature, the five Piano Concertos are filled with lively inventiveness as well as some of the most beautiful music ever to emerge from this genre. Beethoven’s single work in the popular symphonie concertante form is the "Triple" Concerto, but it is the distinctive nobility of the Violin Concerto which has seen it gain an unassailable position as one of the greatest works in the repertoire.

Beethoven considered music "a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy", with greatness of conception and painstaking craftsmanship his hallmarks. The Overtures are no exception in this, reflecting the drama and excitement of the theater and including the opening of his only opera Fidelio.