Any Beethoven CD Recommendations for Classical Newbie?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Kalnoc, Sep 19, 2013.

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  1. Kalnoc

    Kalnoc Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    The set by Kempff "Piano Concerti 1-5" has some rave reviews, anyone have experience with it. Some reviews said it was mono. If that is the case, is it something I should be concerned about? I couldn't find it on Mog so I haven't heard anything other than the samples on the presto classical site.
     
  2. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Somehow, Kempff had better luck with the engineers at DGG during the mono era than during the stereo era. That said, there is a well recorded stereo cycle of the Beethoven Piano Concerti with Ferdinand Leitner leading the Berlin Philharmonic. I do not see a boxed set for this, the recording of the 4th and Emperor concerti is recommended. Have not heard the mono set with Paul van Kempen leading the Berlin Philharmonic.

    I'd put in a good word here for the Yefim Bronfman cycle with David Zinman conducting the Tonhalle Orchestra on Arte Nova. Very good sound and playing, with tempos nowhere near as hectic as Zinman's Symphony cycle, also on Arte Nova.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2013
  3. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    To be honest, Kempff is one of the last pianists I would recommend for the Beethoven Concertos. His style favors beauty over brawn and to me, Beethoven's music requires more excitement and power than Kempff brings to the table. The two pianists I mentioned earlier, Serkin and Sherman do a lot better. Sherman is more romantic and costs less. Serkin had the benefit of TONS of experience playing the concertos when he recorded his set for Orfeo. Both sets have superb sound.

    But don't take my word for it: http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-13535/
     
  4. padreken

    padreken Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego
    My favorite performances of the 1st concerto is with Arturo Michelangeli with Giulini/Vienna Philharmonic on DG, paired with a nearly as great 3rd on CD.
     
  5. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    My favorite performance of the first piano concerto is Richter/Munch.
    For the third I adore Annie Fischer and Fricsay
    For the fourth I love Arrau and Haitink
    For the fifth I prefer Pollini and Bohm
     
  6. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    Agree about Fischer in the Third, Arrau in the Fourth. Do not recall the Richter/Munch recording. There's so many really fine recordings of the "Emperor" concerto it's impossible to pick a favorite version.
     
  7. I have at least eleven complete Beethoven symphony cycles, and my favorites change daily. Right now, I'd lean toward that set for "original instrument" performances, and the Barenboim/Berlin and Haitink/London for more standard "big orchestra" versions. If you have a multichannel system, you can get the Haitink on 5.1 SACD -- or you could get lucky and find a used set of the Barenboim on (individual) DVD-As.

    P.S.: Let me correct myself -- I actually have twelve cycles, including the Masur set on Brilliant's earlier 100-CD complete works set. ;)
     
  8. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    The ninth by Masur/Gewandhausorchester was the recording that got me into Beethoven 30 years ago. The Pentatone SACD set was my first complete cycle and it's still my favourite. :)
     
  9. jukes

    jukes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern Finland
    In the old days, Masur wasn't boring yet.

    I also have around one dozen symphony boxes and favourites change... ;) I could go with John Greenwood and recommend the Szell/Cleveland and Klemperer/Philh.Orch. sets - provided that one remembers that also Karl Böhm and von Karajan recorded astonishing cycles. Eugen Jochum's boxed set I sold sometime in early nineties (when I began to get the bloody ceedees) and I still whip myself for doing that: according to some individual Jochum LP's, I never should have give the set away. And there's Erich Kleiber: no complete set, but pick every single father Kleiber recording you can find. They're worth of that - and an interesting comparison to the few recordings of the son Carlos.

    Recently, at least Abbado - critics don't like is set? therefore: a must! - and Chailly have recorded good cycles. Of the HIPs I have Hogwood and Norrington sets: of those only the last one with London Classical Players is listenable. Perhaps Harnoncourt's huge COE box is best "informed" one...? The box includes also the violin concerto played by the great Gidon Kremer (another of the best violinists of his generation, a giant figure in late 20th century playing).

    Beethoven string quartets: again there's something good from the sixties - Amadeus Quartet! Alban Berg Quartet and Quartetto Italiano have good cycles. Gewandhaus Quartett is my favourite, though: no soft/sloppy romanticism, no extravagant intrepretations for the sake of peculiarity, no fancy flashing hocus pocuses, but tradition-bound, truthful playing. And there's LaSalle Quartet for the Beethoven late string quartets.

    Recently I've listened to the Tokyo SQ's Beethoven playing: better that I guessed, a lot. I haven't heard the early quartets, though. And there are, of course, the usual suspects, Juilliard, Takács etc. quartets. Sorry for the long post.
     
  10. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I warned you - too many choices - :)
     
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  11. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I'd forgotten about Abbado. I don't own the set, but our local NPR affiliate airs bits of it with some regularity, and I've liked what I've heard. Incidentally, from what I understand, he did two cycles with the BPO within a few years of each other, and the one that you want is the later set.

    One more note about Masur's sym. cycle: Pentatone has also released his companion set of the complete overtures, also well worth having.
     
  12. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Here's the entire cycle of 9 symphonies conducted by Gardiner for a great price:

    http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sym...79690033&sr=1-4&keywords=beethoven+symphonies

    I have the set and I love it. Not to everyone's taste though.
     
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  13. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    One other thought. If you want to jump in with both feet, you might consider the 2013 Bruno Walter Edition box set (a little over $70 at Amazon, slightly less elsewhere for 39 discs). Bruno Walter's Beethoven cycle is quite good - and his 6th symphony is probably the gold standard for this work. I also have a special place in my heart for his 7th symphony, as the second movement of that performance was arguably the catalyst for my appreciation of classical music. Walter has the reputation of being a composer who favored the warmth and humanity of composers over energy and strength, but things are never that simple. Listen to the energy of his Mozart recordings.

    Moreover the box contains performances of symphonic works by Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, Bruckner, Dvorak, Brahms and Mahler (with whom Walter worked) among others. This would give you the opportunity to do further exploration at a reasonable cost.

    I have the box, but I have not listened to all of it. I have owned Walter's Beethoven on LP and prior CD releases. Recordings are from the 40's - early 60's.
    As is evident from the post in this thread there is no definitive recording of any of these works, so if you are like many of us, your first Beethoven cycle will not be your last.
     
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  14. Jerquee

    Jerquee Take this, brother, may it serve you well.

    Location:
    New York
    I agree about these:

    Carlos Kleiber's 5th and 7th symphonies
    Italiano for the quartets
    Gardiner for the symphonies
     
  15. Robin L

    Robin L Musical Omnivore

    Location:
    Fresno, California
    I first bought Walter's Beethoven symphony cycle [in stereo, there's an earlier set with the NYPO] in the seventies on Odyssey reissues with the treble turned up to ten. This set me on a wild goose chase to find original six-eye Columbia pressings. Truth to tell, if you want Bruno Walter's Beethoven this would be the way to go—I find the more recent transfers of Bruno Walter's to CD to be the best sounding transfers of these recordings with the mastering work bringing out the best in these oldish recordings. Bruno Walter's Mozart, if anything, is even finer than his Beethoven.

    You also could do far worse than the Brilliant Box of the Complete Beethoven. The symphonies are performed by the Dresden Stattskapelle as directed by Herbert Blomstedt. This is a set where the orchestra takes the lead. As this is one of the world's great ensembles, that will be enough for many. Performances are lower voltage than some, but around the same overall emotional "temperature" as Bruno Walter's Beethoven. I really like the string quartets with the Guarneri Quartet for the middle and late period quartets. These are the re-recordings for Philips and are superior to the RCA recordings in every way. The Violin sonatas with Arthur Grumiaux and Clara Haskil are special as performances albiet a bit odd as regards audio. The Cello sonatas with Heinrich Schiff and Til Felner are first rate with more of the aggressive roughness of tone than one usually finds in this music, totally suited to the music's character. Not everything in the box is equally good, but enough is to justify its price of $123—that's less than $1.50 a CD.
     
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  16. feinstei9415

    feinstei9415 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    If you really want to "feel" an emotional response to clasical music and as introduction as to why Beethoven still arouses intense emotional and intellectual responses from humanity, then pickup a copy of the 1942 live performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. Here was a performance by a conductor who was shaken to the core by the events happening around him (Nazi Germany) and himself was a persecuted artist by that regime. And yet, he's conducting the singing of Schiller's ode to peace in the last movement.

    The sound is mono and was recorded on an AEG K1 Magnetofon tape recorder in 1942 so the pretty high-fidelity sound will surprise you (much better than anything produced by the allies in 1942 since the Germans were pioneers in the use of magnetic tape).

    I'm not recommending Furtwangler for a complete Beethoven symphony cycle here, but just urging you to listen to this 1942 performance by a conductor and orchestra that are ripped apart intellectually and emotionally and show it in this performance.

    This is the best transfer of this currently available since it doesn't come from a Russian copy, but rather from the master tape recorded by German radio in 1942.

    http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sym...7&sr=8-4&keywords=beethoven+ninth+furtwangler
     
  17. Kalnoc

    Kalnoc Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    How about this, going with Serkin:

    1) Beethoven: Piano Concertos, Nos 1 & 3 - Rudolf Serkin Audio CD - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BP18RIA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
    2) Piano Concerti 2 & 4 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003CSS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A96CQQZGK78UG
    3) Piano Concerto 5 " Emperor " - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003CST/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

    Anthing I'm leaving out? Would it be better to just a used copy of the "Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1- 5 / Choral Fantasy, Opp. 15, 19, 37, 58, 73, 80" set? Used copies start in the $40 range. I'm tempted to buy the separates due to lower cost of entry ( I doubt I'd buy all at once).
     
  18. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    If you go with Serkin, avoid the Ozawa recordings.He was too old by then and past his peak.

    The earlier stuff with Ormandy, Bernstein (PC 3 and 5), Kubelik (full set) are much better performances.
     
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  19. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
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  20. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Are you certain they didn't compress that set, as they have done with other sets in that series?

    As for the performance, I like Fleisher (as I like Kovacevich and others), but in this crowded field, I like others (Arrau, Serkin, Backhaus, Sherman) more.
     
  21. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I don't own it, so I don't know. The reviews on Amazon are consistently good including overall praise for the sound. Szell's Haydn in that series was a huge improvement over the earlier release I owned.
     
  22. Kalnoc

    Kalnoc Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I found that Serkin Orfeo set new for about $40 new, so I may just go with that.
     
  23. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    OK - although I note that the ClassicsToday review of the Serkin actually identifies Fleisher as the reference recording for the cycle. :)
     
  24. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    You won't regret it. Superb sound and performance!
     
  25. jimsumner

    jimsumner Senior Member

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Thanks for that. The cheapest price on Amazon.com is $248.50. So, that's a big difference.

    But note the release date is 2005. Is this a generally-available new issue? Or did they just find some in a box in a warehouse?

    And amazon.co.uk lists this as unavailable. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Piano-Sonat...5656&sr=1-19&keywords=Beethoven+Annie+Fischer

    So, this doesn't seem like a reissue to me. I'd love to be proven wrong.
     
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