Post by Carlton the Barbarian on May 5, 2006 13:09:16 GMT -8
armin said:
It depends on the orchestra, the conductor, the time it was recorded, the edition of the music they used. Too many things. What I do recommend however is checking out the Hanover Band recordings on period instruments. Very interesting ad authentic.brendan said:
I'll actually echo Armin's recommendation of Beethoven's 5th as played by period instruments. I've got John Elliot Gardiner's recording with the orchestra made up of Beethoven-era strings (played with bows of that era as well), natural horns, etc. It's really interesting to hear the comparison of this recording vs. a large modern orchestra like the NY Philharmonic. Maybe I'm just being a subconscious elitist, but to me the recording done on period instruments just sounds more "right"...it's great!jockolantern said:
Bernstein is good if you like your Classical Era music hyper-romanticized. He's definitely not one to listen to for authenticity as far as the periodic appropriateness goes with Beethoven. I'm pretty sure Ludwig would murder Bernstein if he heard his music the way Bernstein conducted it. . . but, that's not to say Bernstein's romantic Beethoven doesn't have its charms. I'm with Brendan on this one though. Perhaps it's just the music major in me, but I really adore listening to classical music the way it was meant to be played. Sir George Solti did some fabulous, fabulous recordings with the Chicago Symphony, ones which are incredibly authentic in terms of the way Beethoven originally wrote them. I was looking to get a new Beethoven cd since I can’t find my old one. I was wondering if I should check out something else besides Bernstein’s NY Philharmonic version. I have grown accustomed to Bernstein’s slower take on the first movement, and other versions just seem too fast for me. It’s amazing how familiarity, or the version one was first exposed to, can affect their outlook on the music. What does everyone here prefers: the slower first movement or the faster one?
Anyway, thanks for all the recommendations. Since I don’t want to buy 10 cd’s with 10 different versions, I was wondering if someone here, (particularly one who has the period pieces), would be willing to do a trade with me… Jocko are you still in Baltimore and have you heard Rozsa’s re-recording of El Cid yet? I could do a Rozsa/El Cid trade with you. I do like hyper-romanticized music, so if you feel free to surprise me with a good version of "Eroica" or Schubert’s Quintet if possible. Armin, Brendan etc. do you all have the same versions? I'm looking to do some trades.
Here’s an excerpt from an interesting article which mentioned the period performances (and interpretations) of the Fifth:
“A fascinating alternative is one of the ‘authentic instrument’ renditions, which use the smaller orchestras, lower tunings, less powerful instruments and wind- and brass-heavy balances of two centuries ago in an attempt to recreate a performance that Beethoven's audiences would have recognized. It's not a mere gimmick - Beethoven wrote the Fifth for the purpose of being performed, with a specific sound image in mind. But rather than settling our historical curiosity, the results raise an interesting question - despite careful scholarship to emulate the original sound, why are the results all so different? The first to be issued (in 1983) by the Hanover Band was warm, leisurely and subtly blended, while of those that followed the London Classical Players (EMI) are swift, inflected and bold, the Academy of Ancient Music (L'Oiseau-Lyre) is rough and aggressive and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique (Archive) is furiously driven (and without repeats would beat Toscanini by over a minute!). An interesting hybrid approach is taken by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Teldec), who combine the power of mostly modern instruments with the recovered techniques of Beethoven's time. Which of these would Beethoven have chosen as the most valid? Ironically, he might have been utterly indifferent; by the time he finished the Fifth, he was largely deaf and so perhaps conceived the work largely in the abstract after all!”
www.classicalnotes.net/classics/fifth.html
-Carlton