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It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Yes, there are lots of 'em!

The whole HIP thing has had a HUGE impact on Beethoven symphony performance over the past few decades, so that by now, even the "mainstream" interpretors of LvB tend to incorporate some HIP influence. In general, this has meant more adherence to Beethoven's metronome markings, vibrato-free strings, smaller string choirs, frequent use of "hairpin" changes in dynamic levels, and the use of period instruments.

If you want to see what a purely HIP Beethoven performance is like, I would recommend Gardiner. He ueses period instruments, adheres strictly to the metronome markings (which means tempos will be much faster than you may be used to), etc. His complete cycle is well worth having, but if you just want to get your feet wet, there's a disc called 'Beethoven: The Revolutionary' that has 3 and 5. The 5's a bit mechanical, IMO, but the 3's very good. I would rate Gardiner the best of the fully HIPs.

An even better Beethoven interpretor, however, is Harnoncourt, who uses many of the ideas of HIP (a 'movement' he helped to found) but isn't as doctrinaire about it as Gardiner--ie, there is more flexibility in the tempos, and he uses a mix of modern and period instruments. Though the vibrato-free strings and quick tempos will throw some people, I find H's cycle very convincing, and would rate it one of the best of the past couple decades.

Other than Bruggen, none of the other strictly HIP folks are of much interest to me--Norrington and Hogwood I would avoid.


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  • Yes, there are lots of 'em! - M. Lucky 09:03:52 04/24/07 (0)

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