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Beethoven 5th Review (4 SACD's compared)

Posted by SnaggS (A) on July 5, 2007 at 03:35:40

Beethoven 5, 1st movement

Karajan, straight out of the starting blocks. Wow, he doesn't need to warm up. Deep throaty orchestra. Sound quality on these SACD remasters seems great, and I remember somebody saying the CD's weren't that crash hot? $70 for the box set from HMV Japan? Worth it! Back to the music, I love the strained sound of the brass section. This crazy pace is relentless and unsettling!



Now Furtwangler.. slower... more like ominous rain clouds... a darker performance, the dah dah dah dah's are so evil, where Karajan's 5 is a spectacular, Furtwangler is telling a story. In the end.. Furtwanglers has to be heard, his brilliant moments are more brilliant, variation of tempo so emotive, but Karajan takes the checkered flag for a relentless and consistent reading.

Next on the block.. Szell with Cocertgebouw-Orchester Amsterdam (1966). A different reading... strings are sharper.. very tight, but sometimes sounds a little metronomic.. grandeur instead of running fear (Karajan) or brooding evil (Furtwangler). A dignified performance, and he does nail one moment with the reed instrument better than any.. I suspect he will come into his own in some the later movements.. we shall see?! Sound quality is great, best of all 3 so far. Im now 2/3's through, you would think I would have switched disks and prounounced it banal.. but for some reason I still really enjoy his more light-hearted interpretation.



How about Ozawa? More delicate.. after these other recordings, the Telarc doesn't sound as good as I remember thinking it did. I like Ozawa, but after listening to the other 3.. this is the also ran performance. The BSO is just not in the same class. Yes, I did skip to the next track.

2nd Movement

Starting with Ozawa, he seems to like everybody floating on clouds, slowly bouncing up and down.. This could be somebody elses cup of tea, I'm just finding it a bit ponderous.

Lets go back to Szell! I think he's in his element here... expressive wind section, slower pace, like Ozawa, but sounds totally different, he fills in all the gaps between music.. the COA makes large modulations in the strength of their playing.. and there is always one instrument in the orchestra which holds a faster paced thread to tie it all together. This performance is really in another league.

Now I'm curious about the Furtwangler... ahhh...... sweet, is this really the man who chucked the Orchestra around the room during the Coriolan? His reading of this piece is not disimilar to Szell.. however noisy bits are more strident.. soft parts are more romantic. He does wear his heart on his sleeve. Its lovely, and once again, there are some Furtwangler flourishes which distinguish it.. but I think Szell has the 2nd, it all depends on Karajan...

I'm expecting the adrenaline hasn't worn off yet.. not really... he seems to have calmed himself down whilst the CD player switched from track 1 to 2. Lovely round sound.. now he does it.. I don't like those crescendo's dagnamit.. take a chill pill Karajan. Its ok, but he's killed the moment and lost me.

Final order.. Szell No.1, Furtwangler a good second.. a space... then Karajan.. and lastly Ozawa and the BSO.

That was really interesting...!

• http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/2688   (Open in New Window)

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