Kleiber - Beethoven 7th
Posted by: Tam on 09 March 2006
For Graham (and, indeed, anyone else who is interested), the 'new' Carlos Kleiber Beethoven 7th which, I think, came out on Monday is in the poll for CD Review listening booth on radio 3 on Saturday:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cdreview/vote/
I for one am curious to see how this account racks up against his classic DG account of symphony with the VPO. That said, if anyone has got this already, I'd be interested to their thoughts on it.
regards, Tam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cdreview/vote/
I for one am curious to see how this account racks up against his classic DG account of symphony with the VPO. That said, if anyone has got this already, I'd be interested to their thoughts on it.
regards, Tam
Posted on: 09 March 2006 by graham55
Tam
It's on order from Amazon Germany, as of earlier in the week.
I believe that it derives from a Munich concert in 1982.
This will make my third CK Seventh, what with the classic Vienna DG performance and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Philips DVD already in my collection.
I wonder if Covent Garden (or indeed elsewhere) ever got a decent taping of his Otello with Domingo.
Graham
It's on order from Amazon Germany, as of earlier in the week.
I believe that it derives from a Munich concert in 1982.
This will make my third CK Seventh, what with the classic Vienna DG performance and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Philips DVD already in my collection.
I wonder if Covent Garden (or indeed elsewhere) ever got a decent taping of his Otello with Domingo.
Graham
Posted on: 09 March 2006 by Todd A
I'm not sure if I want this one or not. For my money, his 7th with the Concertgebouw is better than the VPO reading, and I just don't know if a third version will shed that much light.
Posted on: 25 March 2006 by graham55
My copy turned up this morning and, wonderful as it is, I'm feeling rather short changed.
It was recorded as part of the same concert in which CK conducted the superb performance of LvB's Fourth Symphony, issued by Orfeo (the same record company) some twenty-odd years ago. So, if they were issuing the second half of the concert now, why not issue the first part as well on the same disc? Both CDs are around the 35 min mark, which is pretty poor value by anyone's standards.
Oddly enough, the technical/recording team were completely different in each half of the concert, if the booklet notes are to be believed.
The performance and sound (much 'bigger' than on the DG studio set) are, as I've said, wonderful. If you'd been there on the night and had heard these two symphonies, you'd have been utterly blown away! And yet.....
......yet, I have greater respect for the Wiener Philharmoniker studio account.
The 'live' performance shows that, in his repertoire and on the night, CK was unmatched. But the DG studio set was his attempt, achieved at great effort from himself and orchestra, to set down the 'definitive' account - something that could never be achieved in a single performance. (His 'Tristan und Isolde' is scarily good in this context - that was his last ever studio performance, but his 'Freischutz' is on a par, and that was his first ever.)
I do fear that we have lost the calibre of conductors who could reach for and, occasionally, achieve the perfection that CK reached (for me at least) in his studio work.
Oh, and on my first play through, I don't think that this live account has the divided first and second violins that makes the studio account so remarkable in the last movement.
Graham
PS This posting is in the wrong place, as only a few hardened CK nuts will bother to read it, and I'd like others to debate the bigger issue of live-vs-studio, but there we are!
It was recorded as part of the same concert in which CK conducted the superb performance of LvB's Fourth Symphony, issued by Orfeo (the same record company) some twenty-odd years ago. So, if they were issuing the second half of the concert now, why not issue the first part as well on the same disc? Both CDs are around the 35 min mark, which is pretty poor value by anyone's standards.
Oddly enough, the technical/recording team were completely different in each half of the concert, if the booklet notes are to be believed.
The performance and sound (much 'bigger' than on the DG studio set) are, as I've said, wonderful. If you'd been there on the night and had heard these two symphonies, you'd have been utterly blown away! And yet.....
......yet, I have greater respect for the Wiener Philharmoniker studio account.
The 'live' performance shows that, in his repertoire and on the night, CK was unmatched. But the DG studio set was his attempt, achieved at great effort from himself and orchestra, to set down the 'definitive' account - something that could never be achieved in a single performance. (His 'Tristan und Isolde' is scarily good in this context - that was his last ever studio performance, but his 'Freischutz' is on a par, and that was his first ever.)
I do fear that we have lost the calibre of conductors who could reach for and, occasionally, achieve the perfection that CK reached (for me at least) in his studio work.
Oh, and on my first play through, I don't think that this live account has the divided first and second violins that makes the studio account so remarkable in the last movement.
Graham
PS This posting is in the wrong place, as only a few hardened CK nuts will bother to read it, and I'd like others to debate the bigger issue of live-vs-studio, but there we are!
Posted on: 25 March 2006 by Todd A
I still say give his Concertgebouw performance a shot!
As to the Orfeo Fourth, well, I have a copy, and it is truly among the best yet recorded. (Of course, his Concertgebouw recording of that symphony is pretty good, too.)
--
As to the Orfeo Fourth, well, I have a copy, and it is truly among the best yet recorded. (Of course, his Concertgebouw recording of that symphony is pretty good, too.)
--
Posted on: 26 March 2006 by graham55
Todd
I have all three!
Graham
I have all three!
Graham
Posted on: 26 March 2006 by Tam
Graham,
Thanks for this. However, I think I shall be sticking with the VPO studio 7th, though if they had coupled it properly with the 4th as you suggest, I don't think I would have been able to resist. I think I shall be looking out for the DVDs though.
As to my thoughts on live vs. studio, I think I might start a separate thread for that, in that we get a broader input that the diehard Kleiber fans.
regards, Tam
Thanks for this. However, I think I shall be sticking with the VPO studio 7th, though if they had coupled it properly with the 4th as you suggest, I don't think I would have been able to resist. I think I shall be looking out for the DVDs though.
As to my thoughts on live vs. studio, I think I might start a separate thread for that, in that we get a broader input that the diehard Kleiber fans.
regards, Tam