No. 7 Archive
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 & No. 7 – Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Serge Koussevitzky – Pristine Audio
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60; Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 – Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Serge Koussevitzky – Pristine Audio PASC 515, 70:15 [www.pristineclassical.com] *****: Previously unreleased Beethoven performances by Koussevitzky and BSO add significant documents to that conductor’s recorded legacy. “Rare Beethoven Symphony Recordings”: Producer and recording engineer Andrew Rose reminds us the Serge Koussevitzky (1876-1951) led the Boston Symphony in the Beethoven Fourth Symphony thirty-nine times, but until now, no recorded performance had ever been issued. This thirty-third rendition (6 March 1943, broadcast from Symphony Hall, Boston) had been withheld for various technical reasons which Rose catalogues—but the real point lies in the fact that much labor has been expended to correct pitch variations and sonic distortion, along with occasional missing notes—to produce a seamless document that we admirers of the conductor and his splendid ensemble can savor in excellent form. Koussevitzky takes a deliberately slow, lugubrious tempo in the minor mode to open the B-flat Symphony, indeed in what seems an adumbration of a grim event. Of course, what erupts becomes a testament to Beethoven’s epic humor, rollicking and ecstatically thundering at the heavens. The gem, the Adagio, allows the BSO […]
GRIEG: Peer Gynt; SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5 & No. 7 – Dresden Phil. Orch./ Concertgebouw Orch. of Amsterdam/ Hilversum Radio Phil. Orch./ Paul van Kempen – Pristine
GRIEG: Peer Gynt: Suites Nos. 1 and 2; SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 82; Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 105 – Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra (Grieg)/ Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam (Op. 82)/ Hilversum Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (Op. 105)/ Paul van Kempen – Pristine PASC 514, 72:43 [www.pristineclasscal.com] ****: Paul van Kempen delivers expertly crafted readings of Grieg staples and two Sibelius symphonies. The recorded legacy of Paul van Kempen (1893-1955) has been restored sporadically, in part by the now-defunct Tahra label and by the Historic-Classic label in Great Britain. A small contribution came from Philips some time ago, when the company issued a fine Tchaikovsky CD of the Fifth Symphony and a stunning Capriccio Italien. Producer and recording engineer Mark Obert-Thorn has already addressed Kempen’s Beethoven—the Second and the Fifth—on Pristine (PASC 327) and on an album devoted to Mahler Rarities (PASC 466). A major contribution, Kempen’s 1955 Verdi Requiem with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma (for Philips), found restoration through Preiser’s “Paperback Opera” series (20047). Edvard Grieg The two long-familiar suites from Peer Gynt (May 1939 and April 1940) from Dresden receive finely honed but sober treatment from Kempen, with few surprises. […]
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG multichannel SACD 937-1995-6, 73:35 (1/5/17) ****1/2: It is interesting to consider the position of the the Fourth Symphony Op. 60 in Beethoven’s oeuvre. First, consider the adjacent opus numbers, all products of that brief period of happiness and inspiration around 1806. There is the mighty Violin Concerto Op. 61. The three Razumovsky Quartets, Op. 59, each a world unto itself. And then comes the most distinctive of the concertos, the Fourth in G minor. Has there ever been a series of masterpieces lined up like this? All the more reason to ponder the Fourth Symphony, which is perhaps the least performed of the nine. Schumann esteemed it especially highly, calling it “a graceful Greek nymph standing between two Teutonic giants.” Indeed, I think it is the image of the Eroica Symphony that has the most to do with the relative eclipse of the Fourth. That work saw a seismic shift in the dimensions and technical resources of the medium. In the famous moment in the turbulent development section of the massive first movement, Beethoven makes a full-throated declaration of a C-major chord and immediately superimposes a D-minor […]
Furtwangler Conducts BEETHOVEN = Leonor Ov.; Sym. No. 7 & No. 8 – Vienna Philharmonic – Praga Digitals
Praga gives us three Beethoven performances by the veteran Furtwaengler. BEETHOVEN: Leonore Overture No. 3 in C, Op. 72a; Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92; Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 – Vienna Philharmonic Orch./ Wilhelm Furtwaengler – Praga Digitals mono-only SACD PRD/DSD 350127 (1/6/17) 79:22 [Distr. by PIAS] ****: Assembled from Vienna concert and studio performances, 1944-1954, Praga revives three extremely potent readings of Beethoven by Wilhelm Furtwaengler (1886-1954), of which the Beethoven Eighth Symphony (8 August 1954) from Salzburg eluded – as had the performance of the Second Symphony (10/3/48 from Vienna) – collectors for many years. The disc opens with a June 2, 1944 reading of the Leonore Overture No. 3, a symphonic poem of 1806 in its own right that precludes any need for stage drama. Besides possessing a grand leisure, the performance moves with regal authority in all parts, as luminous as it can be sudden and fraught with intimations of the abyss of Florestan’s unjust imprisonment. Furtwaengler builds a terrific tension that at first culminates in the famed trumpet call that resounds with the urge to political and personal freedom, certainly an ironic commentary on the climate of the occasion […]
* BEETHOVEN: Sym. No. 5 in c; & No. 7 in A – Pittsburgh Sym. Orch./ Manfred Honeck – Reference Recordings
*********** MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH ************
Superb in all respects. Simply superb.
BRUCKNER: Symphonies No. 4, “Romantic”; No. 7 in E; No. 8 – Bavarian State Orch./ Kent Nagano – Farao Classics (4 CDs)
Stunning readings from a conductor that doesn’t often stun—or do I need to rethink this?
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 6 in C Major, “The Little”; Symphony No. 7 (8), “The Unfinished” – Royal Flemish Philharmonic/ Philippe Herreweghe – PentaTone
Herreweghe’s Schubert is first-rate in every way, though PentaTone’s resonant recording won’t appeal to all tastes.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
