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Lorin Maazel (RIP) was never highly regarded as a Beethoven conductor.... And I was not familiar with his performance of the B-2 with Cleveland.... But in listening, I will say it's maybe the best performance of this piece by the Cleveland Orchestra on commercial recording. (Never cared for Szell's performance of this work.) A very competent read, and devoid of strange mannerisms or "stiffness" that often plague Maazel Beethoven performances. (The tempi were mostly dead-on. Maybe slightly fast in the 3rd movement.) The virtuosic "snap" of Cleveland is in full force. (John Mack's oboe tone is unmistakable.)
This was from the commercial release. Audio only.
Follow Ups:
what did you not like about Szell's? and which other performances do you prefer?
Harnoncourt's CD 1990 actually was good but he tends to have mannerisms and intentionally goes slow and fast sometimes. Strange to me.
I own Szell, Krips, Bohm VPO, Marriner ASMO (excellent), etc. Haven't played some for a while.
Szell's Beethoven Two is also on YouTube (link) ..... It's decent.... My main gripe about Szell's read is he tended to obscure the melodies in favor of details from the harmony. (Maazel tended to do this too, but not nearly as bad with the B-2.) Szell in his studio performance also uncharacteristically slows down in tempo as the opening movement progresses. (This was chronic problem with another MD, Christoph von Dohnanyi.)
If I had to describe Szell's B-2, it's "boring" and somewhat "stiff". Almost as if a robot conducted it.
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