BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 3 (Eroica) and No. 7 – The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam /Erich Kleiber – Pristine Classical

by | Apr 25, 2009 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 3 ("Eroica") and No. 7 – The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam /Erich Kleiber – Pristine Classical PASC154, 78:20 [www.pristineclassical.com] (download or CD-R available) ****1/2:

Beethoven wrote the Eroica (Op. 55) in late 1803 and early 1804; to begin with it was to have been dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte whom Beethoven admired together with the principles of the French Revolution but Bonaparte’s declaring himself Emperor instead of First Consul put paid to that. Ferdinand Ries tells of Beethoven’s great anger at the change of Bonaparte’s title, thinking it would result in his becoming a petty tyrant like all others, and Beethoven’s furious removal of Bonaparte’s name is evident on the title page. Later, he told his publisher “The title of the symphony is really Bonaparte” but it was named “sinfonia eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d’un grand’uomo ("heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man") and dedicated to Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz (Lobkowicz).

The work is substantially longer than Beethoven’s first two symphonies, and longer than any of Haydn’s and Mozart’s. Erich Kleiber, in this recording made on 8 May 1950 in the Grote Zaal of the Concertgebouw, leaves out the exposition repeat in the first movement as was common until more recent times. This is an urgent performance, eschewing grandeur for muscular strength, and the playing is alive and vital. The slow movement is kept moving, its structure intact, and the last movement entirely successful in its build up to climaxes. What this recording lacks in absolute tightness of ensemble, it more than makes up for in giving the sense of a masterpiece created in a single performance.

Kleiber’s later recording. also mono, with the Vienna Philharmonic is better played, but the atmosphere created in Amsterdam is well worth experiencing. I live in hope the stereo tape made in Vienna will one day be discovered despite the story that it was erased by accident.

The Seventh Symphony, Op.92, written in late 1811 and early 1812, was premiered in Vienna in December 1813 at a concert in aid of soldiers wounded at the battle of Hanau. Beethoven himself conducted this and Wellington’s Victory, also on the programme. The orchestra included many well-known musicians of the day –  Schuppanzigh, the leader, Spohr, Salieri, Dragonetti, the most famous bass player of the day, among the strings, and on percussion, Hummel, Meyerbeer on bass drum, and Moscheles on cymbals.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra assembled the very next day after recording the Eroica to set down the Seventh, completed on 8 May 1950. Kleiber is certainly successful with the dance aspects of the symphony. After the sostenuto introduction to the opening movement, the springy rhythms come across naturally. The second movement, allegretto, ends with the pizzicati emulated in Carlos Kleiber’s recording, Erich having researched the manuscript and decided the marking in pencil of “arco” was a later accretion to the score. The scherzo is light and energetic, and the trio, an Austrian hymn tune is contrasted well by Kleiber. The last movement’s rhythms are tightly played, and Kleiber achieves an exhilarating life-affirming finish.

To begin with I sampled the most recent release, the Decca Masters issue with all of Kleiber’s orchestral recordings for Decca. Decca’s transfer sounds quite well, the whiskery strings not too much in evidence. However, next to the Pristine Classical issue, produced from a dub from LP, the Decca produced from the master tape has a scrawny sound. Pristine’s restoration gets the orchestra sounding far more like it does in the Concertgebouw, and complete with its unmistakeable acoustic. Astonishing! The 16 bit ambient stereo FLACs provided excellent sound on headphones, as did the CD-R I made through my sound system. Customers can opt for pure mono FLACs should those be preferred.

Due to a happy accident I was first of all sent 24 bit mono FLACs with which I had some fun finding and using software to burn these to DVD. First off I tried Audio DVD Creator, a relatively inexpensive piece of programming (audio-dvd-creator.com), and found it intuitive to use having used Nero and Burrrn for CD-Rs. Apart from a temperamental burner which is supposed to cope with DVD+-R(W) but wouldn’t finalise either DVD-R or DVD+R of the brand I had at home, I made perfect discs using DVD+RWs.

I also tried out Cirlinca’s DVD-Audio Solo Standard (cirlinca.com) and made both audio DVD and a DVD-A discs. The advantage of this software was producing the DVD-A disc, and the quicker burning time, though at higher cost. Audio DVD and DVD-A produced no discernible difference in sound that I could hear. The sound quality was more than slightly fuller from the 24 bit FLACs, though I wonder whether this is partly due to my player doing a better job playing DVDs than CDs.

What is certain is that in thirty years of listening to Kleiber’s Beethoven I have never enjoyed it more!

— Peter Joelson

Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01