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Hey there. I'm not a big symphony guy, not even very deep into Classical music. But sometimes, LVB No6 is the perfect piece to listen to. I have a Bohm version that sounds very good to me (but then, what do I know?)
What recordings do you recommend? CD only, unfortunately.
If you factor in sound quality in addition to performance merit, would that change your picks?
Thanks,
Aram
Follow Ups:
the best I've heard, IMHO. Recording is late '50s and a bit limited but the performance is perfection.
Bohm/VPO second, Haitink third.
Now OOP but available JIT from arkivmusic.com.
CDs show up used on eBay, as does a DMM LP version.
You can hear it on Steinway Streaming, and also Tidal.
FWIW & YMMV!
john marks
Thanks, everyone!
Aram
I really liked this recording as an Amazon Prime mp3, so I ordered the whole set on SACDs--it's in the mail.
I know that people tend to stereotype Haitink as a placid and dull interpreter, but these recordings are anything but...
During my heavy SACD phase, I acquired much of the Haitink LSO Beethoven cycle - there used to be a subscription site where you could get SACDs for some ridiculously cheap price, like $5 per month. There wasn't a great selection, but heck. The first LSO Live SACD conducted by Haitink that I received was the Brahms 4 recording - which was a truly terrible recording of a boring performance - didn't bode well for future Haitink recordings. I decided to take a chance on another as it was coupled with the Triple Concerto, and I wanted to have that on SACD. If memory serves properly, it was coupled with the 7th, and I was surprised, nay shocked, by how vital a reading this was of the 7th. I picked up a few more of these and was equally impressed. And somehow the sound was better than in the Brahms 4 (which unfortunately reproduces the acoustic of the Barbican with great accuracy). Anyway, this set does show that Haitink isn't always the boring conductor that we think. I don't have the entire set - I think I have maybe 3 of them? But what I have heard is good.
n
I've also got the first Masur/LGO set on SACD too (i.e., the 70's quad set originally on Philips and reissued on Pentatone). In many ways, it's the opposite of the Haitink/LSO in that the sheer beauty of the orchestral playing is emphasized, tempos are very moderate (not really slow, just moderate), and the East German engineering promotes a spacious, less detailed (but more holistic!) sound picture. Some listeners call this approach "upholstered Beethoven" - I guess Barenboim is another exponent of it - lol! (Maybe Andy Evans would call this a wallowing approach!) Nevertheless, I like the Masur set (which I scored for $16) very much too - indeed, every bit as much as I like the Haitink.
The Romans used to say, "Omnes viae Romam ducunt" (all roads lead to Rome), but at some point, this saying was joined by the amended "Multae viae Romam ducunt". As with most pieces in the classical repertoire, including the Beethoven symphonies, I feel that many roads DO lead to Rome. ;-)
I am personally not fond of the Bohm recording - in fact I find his entire Beethoven symphony set to be a disappointment - four-square and slack. I posted my detailed observations over on the vinyl asylum, maybe a year ago. I found a pristine set of the vinyl for $4.99.
My top three would be Reiner CSO (a surprisingly lovely and affectionate reading reading given that conductor's reputation), the Walter Columbia Symphony, and the Vanska Minnesota. Karajan's 62 recording is also quite good, if you accept his tempo for the 1st movement, which is quite brisk.
Maybe 18 months I had the occasion to listen to the Toscanini set of Beethoven symphonies back to back, and besides being surprised by the variability of the readings (and the sound - the tremendous performance ot the 5th is betrayed by truly poor sound, for example), I was also surprised to hear, as Paul Henry Lang said in his High Fidelity survey of Beethoven symphonies (that was published back in 1970 - makes for entertaining reading), that Toscanini misjudges the climax of the Pastorale and his recording ends on a flat note.
It's a strange ending IMHO, similar to the endings in many movements of the Bruckner symphonies which I feel are poorly judged in their musical rhetoric - a compositional eccentricity which one almost never encounters in Beethoven's music (except for the end of the Pastoral!).
Now that it's available as a hi-rez multi-channel download, I guess I've got to get and re-check the Vanska/Minnesota set! ;-)
(I had one or two of the Vanska SACD's, but I don't remember them very well. The whole set is available for a "bundle" price on the eClassical site.)
First, on Vanska - I have owned the SACDs since first issuance. A few years back I tuned into KDFC during the first movement of the Pastorale, and thought to myself, wow, the tempo, the phrasing, the balance is PERFECT, and was unsurprised to hear at the end that it was Vanska and Minnesota.
On Toscanini - Lang says first, about the last movement (in general)"the final movement rises to a magnificent climax. Beethoven pushes to the base of the peak, but only on the third try does he scale it; this is an unforgettable moment" and then says about the Toscanini performance "the great climax, which Toscanini did so magnificently in the concert hall, does not come off", a judgement with which I concur.
If I read my Dover score correctly, this comes about 35 bars before the end of the symphony, and the rest of the music is a simple wind down that climax - kind of a restful coda, almost like a prayer. Not a big bang ending to this symphony.
But IMO, not like Bruckner, which just seems to stop with two final chords.
Check out the manuscript available at IMSLP. Just like Bruckner! ;-)
That isn't the climax. Actually, the last note is a rest with a fermata.....so it ends in silence.
Notes are not rests. ;-)
Right?
I am sure there is some kind of Zen saying that the rests (or not playing) are as important as the notes. What you don't play is as important as what you do.
Take Satie, for example. Or Cage.
Kind of kidding, of course. To me there is almost no correlation between Beethoven and Bruckner. Might be a blind spot.
. . . do you wait an extra few seconds after the last chord and imagine the conductor's hands still up in the air? That's probably the most Zen way to listen of all! ;-)
My reply about the fortissimo last chords was in answer to your assertion that there is not a big bang ending to the symphony. My contention is that there IS a big bang ending to this symphony, but, in a similar manner to the endings of some Bruckner symphony movements, it's not entirely satisfying. I'm not taking issue with your observation that the climax in the movement is 30 or 40 bars back.
Others I can vouch for include the Walter/Columbia Symphony (as jdaniel mentions below), the Reiner/CSO, Kempe/Munich SO, Kubelik/Orchestre de Paris (demerits for the engineering though), Dorati/LSO, Giulini/LAPO (again demerits for the engineering). . . lots more. It's funny that the ones I've mentioned mostly come from the 60's and 70's. I seem to be stuck in time with my faves for this symphony - something I've accused my vinyl friends of being. ;-)
.
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