[jwi]

Beethoven was born 250 years ago. I start the jubilee with the best recording of his 5th symphony, and thus possibly the best recording of a symphonic oeuvre.



Contrary to popular belief, it is Beethoven who has the best melodies, not Satan. Here Hiromi plays from the evergreen 2nd movement of The “Pathétique” sonata.



And best of all:
As the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra is closed for now, they keep their entire back-catalogue of recordings open for free until March 31. This is a unique chance to watch and listen to hundreds of brilliant recordings from the comfort of your own confinement. Let us begin with what many consider to be von Karajan's best recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: “Ode to Joy”
https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/224#

[bigironhorse]

Nice one, my favorite composer by a long shot. Saw Oxford University Sinfonietta play the 5th symphony last year - one of my best ever musical experiences. 

[steveri]

Can I start at the end and put a vote in for the Late String Quartets, op132 please?

You can't miss the 9th off any list [sheds small European tear] - thanks for the tip on the BPO archive. I doubt the roof of Huddersfield town hall has ever been the same since I watched Simon Rattle doing the 7th way back. He made some comment around the time about conducting Beethoven being as hard as coal mining.

You've made me start in on the Missa Solemnis now - first time I've listened to it in years - not conducive to a quiet afternoon editing stuff

[jwi]

Beethoven is a serious time-sink for me.

Can I start at the end and put a vote in for the Late String Quartets, op132 please?

Not 131? In C sharp? “After this, what is left for us to write?”

For now, my list of absolutely unmissable stuff looks something like this:

5th symphony, Carlos Kleiber
8th Piano Sonata, in particular 2nd movement
9th symphony with Herbie von K.
The D major Violin Concert (Mrs Mutter)
Song on the death of Emperor Joseph II, particularly the aria with the choir. (which recording?)
The solemn mass with Herbie K (1958 version)
Hammerklavier (Valentina Lisitsa)
C major Mass (which recording?)
Piano Concerto No.3 (Alice Sara Ott/Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra)
... oh and yes, I forgot
The C sharp string quartet of course.

[Muenchener]

Personally I've always preferred Kleiber's recording of the 7th Symphony, which I have on the same CD, to his 5th.

Tokyo Quartet is my fave recording of op.132 - their Heiliger Dankgesang is incredible

Smetana Quartet Rasumovsky op.59/3 is one of my favourite recordings of anything ever.

And - while it makes a bit queasy to like & recommend anything produced under the Third Reich - the 1944 Furtwängler / Vienna Phil Eroica is breathtaking.

Scanning down my list of five star stuff: a less well known top tip is the Mackerras / Liverpool Phil Pastoral Symphony no.6 (featuring my brother on viola)

[steveri]

op 131 vs 132, oh I don't now! Before I very quickly get out of my intellectual depth, the Heiliger Dankgesang seems somehow apt currently though.
I've got that Eroica on now in a mono Skype headset, hard to believe it's 76 years old.
There's a good chance I've seen your brother, I was going to the Phil a bit in the 80s/90s in the Pesek years. One of my current neighbours used to trombone for them

[Muenchener]

Late 90s was the Golden Age of classical music listening for me. I was living in Manchester. My brother was freelancing regularly for the RLPO and the BBC Phil, and his ex was in the Hallé.  The RLPO and the Hallé were both in a phase of being very good, and via my bro and his ex, as far as I was concerned having to pay for concert tickets was mostly something that happened to other people.

[SA Chris]

Cute Dog, crap movie.

[andy popp]

Can I start at the end and put a vote in for the Late String Quartets, op132 please?

I'm a complete ignoramus when it comes to classical music but I discovered Op. 132 at a time of grief in my life and its power was immense.

[Ru]

Another vote for Symphony no 7. Also Piano Concerto no. 5. Used to love playing the piano sonatas in my teens but was never good enough to play what I wanted (3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata). Used to have a good go crashing through it though.

[Durbs]

This is a rather lovely intimate performance from one of the best Beethoven pianists:

[jwi]

For the connaisseurs of the Heroic Symphony The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra just did a live stream with a wonderful version it:

https://www.berwaldhallen.se/play/beethoven-250-eroican/

Beethoven starts at 26:18

[jwi]

Beethoven 250 years part 4
Beethoven's High Mass is perfect music to listen to when disconnected from the busy comings and goings of the world. It was composed by a completely deaf Beethoven between 1818 and 1824 and partially debuted on the same concert (!) as the ninth symphony. It is similar in scope to the ninth but with more singing and fewer catchy melodies. It is however one of Beethoven's greatest achievement, even the greatest according to the composer himself. I like Herbie von K's recording from 1958, but this is not bad either.

[steveri]

This is quite, quite lovely. I may just be feeling vulnerable...

[jwi]

That seems to be the same orchestration as in the Flashmob arranged by Banco Sabadell, that never fails to draw a smile:

I haven't found out who has done the orchestration. Does anyone know?

The Ode to Joy always reminds me of the wonderful weird anime R.O.D (Read or Die) that I still have on a DVD somewhere. In R.O.D. we follow Yomiko Readman, an agent of the Special Operations Division of the British Library, as she takes on increasingly dangerous super-villains created by cloning some of the geniuses from the history such as Jean-Henri Fabre, Mata Hari and Ikkyu Soujun. The final boss is Ludwig van Beethoven who has created an "Ode to despair", a counter-point to Ode to Joy, that fills everyone that listen to it with such hopelessness that they kill themselves.

[tc]

This is quite, quite lovely. I may just be feeling vulnerable...

Beautiful. Thank you.

[jwi]

Beethoven 250 years, part 5


The Cantata on the death of Emperor Joseph II was composed by Beethoven when he was 19 years old. For unknown reasons Beethoven's composition was never performed during his life. The piece was rediscovered by Johannes Brahms and is considered as Beethoven's first truly important piece.

This was on high repeat during latter part of the quarantine, as I found the first line about how we are reaching for the light perfect for how I felt.

[SA Chris]

Very nice, but reminded me to listen to this again;