Help out Steve: Ludwig van Beethoven, best recorded versions of these works?

If you are willing to spin some 78's (and I have a feeling that you would be) check out:

Toscanini's Symphony #7. This one rocks! It is my all time favorite performance and it is in fine sound on the original RCA 78's. His Symphony #6 from the same period is no slouch either. I would also investigate Sympony #3, that is my favorite of the B's. I'm not sure what performance to point you to, though.

I have several of the string quartets (all the opus 18,1-6) on 78s as well. These are performances from the late 30's by the Cleveland Quartet (again, on RCA). I like these because they give just the right brooding quality to the darker moments. The sound gives up very little against modern recordings. You can tell that they planted one ribbon mike in the middle of everyone.

The Budapest Quartet made some nice recordings of the later quartets at the Library of Congress in the early fifties. I would really like to hear your remaster of these tapes someday.

Richter, I think, took care of the last two piano sonnatas on an RCA Living Stereo lp. The performance is great, although very different from Rubenstein, who has the most familiar renditions. The recording dosn't come off too well on lp, but the 4 track tape is quite good.

Once you catch the B bug, you'll be hooked. The same thing goes for the other two B's, Bach and Brown.

 

Sorry. I guess I should read more carefully. I would still second the nomination for Kleiber's 5th and 7th on DG. As for piano solos, I would recommend Ashkenazy and Katchen. My personal favorite, however, is Backhaus.

 

Don't you mean Bach and Beatles?

 

Who's Brown??

 

James Brown, from a quote by Leonard Bernstein about the three "B's" in music. I can't say I disagree with him.

 

OK I have opinions on each work listed but instead of sending you on an easter egg hunt for everything I am going to make one definitive recommendation. The one money back guarantee recommendation.

Get the Piano Sonatas by Ivan Moravec
http://www.vaimusic.com/CD/1021.htm
http://www.ivanmoravec.net/albums/al-va1069.html
http://www.ivanmoravec.net/discog/discography.html

"Ivan Moravec is one of the great Beethoven players. To those in the know, he is revered almost as highly as Schnabel. The audiophile label VAI has released 2CDs of Moravec's recordings from the 1960s, in demonstration-quality stereo sound. Volume 2 contains the most famous of Beethoven's sonatas - if you're looking for a first disc of these works, this is the one to have. And even if you already have several recordings of the standard warhorses, Moravec is essential."
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/beethoven/psonatas.html

While there is room to argue on some of the sonatas his Moonlight is simply one of the single greatest performances of any piece of music ever recorded. Classical music expert Jim Sjveda called it "impossibly beautiful." If anyone ventures into the world of Moravec I have one warning. be prepared to see other pianists as vastly inadequate. It's like getting a taste of real Belgian chocolate for the first time. Makes it hard to go back to Snickers bars.

 

I thought "B" was Billy Eckstine.

 

Clifford Brown is my favorite jazz trumpeter. But the three Bs are Bach Beethoven and Brahms. Personally I'd toss Bach first. I have to say all in all Beethoven is my favorite composer but Brahms is way way up there along with Elgar and Vaughn Williams. But Bach......yeah, excellent, but I'd take Handel as my first pick from that era. Brahms is often poop poohed for being old fashioned during his time but who cares? Great music is timeless and his music was great.

 

:::sweat beading on my forhead::: I dunno...

 

Hey, thanks for letting me know Ivan Moravec is now available on CD. I used to have some of his sonatas on vinyl and used to love them. I think I am gonna buy a CD or two.

 

Yes, I wish I'd thought of him, but, he's as good as I've heard. I even got a chance to see/here him live here in concert a couple of years ago with my son. We were mesmurized - a term I don't use often.

I believe it's on VAI. A number of his recordings are produced by E Alan Silver, who's known for using two omnidirectional mikes, a rare case of the best performance getting a truly cared-for recording.

Thanks for reminding me. I'll listen to Moravec again tonight.

 

You might want to try "Art of Fugue" or some Marin Marais someday. Not that I'm about to rag on Beethoven's best piece. By far, as emotion itself, with no consideration of such niceties as accurate playing, the Busch Quartet is the one to get. The Yale Quartet did wonderful things with this piece, and the Emerson Quartet is a wonderful note-accurate performance, sneaking in the direction of Historically Informed Performance Practice while playing modern instruments.

Richter and Rostropovich, on the Philips Duo issue.

Love the Alban Berg's first try at the early quartets, it's out there on Seraphim vinyl. Also the Smetana Quartet recordings on Supraphon Vinyl.

The box on "Brilliant Classics" 92229, it's five CDs of Sviatoslav Richter performing live, two-and-a-half is Beethoven. Sound is variable but very good in the op. 111 and more than good enough in the op. 110. Absolutely brilliant playing, hands down my favorite interpretations including Arrau and Schnabel (and Kempff and Brendel and so on. . .)

Richter. On Supraphon, live London 1975, good close sound. Accept no substitutes. Peter Serkin's second recording (on Pro Arte) came in the wake of Serkin recording the work on the fortepiano. Serkin said that playing the work on the the older (and quite different) instrument aided his understanding of the work. The final fugue in this recording comes off like a cross between Bela Bartok and Colon Nancarrow. Well worth seeking out.

I'm partial to Van Cliburn, on RCA.

Arrau slows it down in the final movement, something I find creepy and effective. I'm recalling his earlier, analogue, recording for Philips.

You have to hear Furtwangler do the piece some time, his sense of time is so elastic and natural. Bruno Walter and the "Columbia Symphony Orchestra" (mostly Hollywood studio and L. A. Philharmonic folks) have a great recording that is also (!!!) on a single-layer SACD!!! I'm very fond of Harnoncourt and the COE in this piece (on Teldec). As for Beethoven's Seventh, love Berstein's second commercial recording for Columbia (now on Sony). It was Nineteen-Sixty-Four. Lenny was a star, the Beatles just exploded upon a frenzied N.Y.C. a few weeks before, and spring was in the air . . .

 

How does the "new" RCA Living Stereo SACD of Rubinstein playing the Sonatas (Moonlight, et al) stack up against the Moravec disc from VAI?

Thanks
Jim

 

The Beethoven String Trios are a must in my books...don't know which recordings are still in print...I have a recording with the Vienna String Trio somewhere at the office. Also if you like the Opus 131 String Quartet, there's an orchestral version of it orchestrated by Dmitri Mitropoulos that's worth giving a spin.

 

Bernstein made a rich sounding recording of that transcription with the Vienna Philharmonic, issued by DGG about 15 years ago on CD. There's a transcription of the Op. 127 quartet, performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and led by Murray Perhaia. That recent Sony recording is coupled with Perahia's performance of the Op. 101 sonata (The 28th, in A major), one of the very best performances of that lovely work (along with Arrau, Richter on that "Brilliant" box, Willhelm Kempff and a few others).
Might as well round up recordings of the "Late" sonatas with recordings of the 30th sonata in E major Op. 109. Schnabel is famous for his recordings of the last three sonatas. For many years they were my preferred performances, along with Kempff's recordings of Op. 109 & 110, Arrau's of the last three and Bruce Hungerford's recording of of the last sonata. But the recent issue of live performances of Sviatoslav Richter performing the last three sonatas (along with Beethoven's sonatas #'s 3, 17, 18, 27 & 28, and other works by Liszt and Schubert) has become my favorite recording. At $30 for five CDs, you can hardly go wrong.

 

And no one mentioned Friedrich Gulda....

I think his second complete recording of the Beethoven Sonatas from 1968 is absolutely essential. It came out on Amadeo, now part of Universal (not to be confused with his earlier DECCA-recordings).
He was a great composer and also jazz pianist, and this has effect on his Beethoven too, but in a good way.
This could be my desert-island Beethoven.

Martin

 

A friend with a Masters in music who's also a writer recommended the Tokyo, Berg, Julliard or Guarneri for the quartets, and added that the Budapest Quartet from the 1930s "is the famed group for this set," as he put it. I've heard the Guarneri, I can vouch for those.

Jason

 

Sonically I cannot comment because I have them on LP. Perfromance is always very much a matter of taste. That said the thing about Moravec is that he plays this sonata so much better than others as to make others sound wrong. But his interpretations are very distictive so others may not agree. The thing Moravec brings to this sonata and all others is a rare combination of technical excellence and brilliant interpretation. In comparison to the Moravec the Rubenstein is frankly like paino karaoke. It is technically sloppy in comparison and is far less involving. It's like comparing Aretha Franklin to your garden variety American Idol contestant. Now had I never heard the Moravec I'd probably like the Rubenstein. It's much better than most.

 

In Beethoven's smaller works, I've always enjoyed listening to his solo piano Eroica Variations. These are variations around the melody he uses in the last movement of the Eroica Symphony. I became familiar with that piece through an LP of Claudio Arrau on Philips. I don't know if that version is on CD.

There are some interesting piano transcriptions of his Symphonies - one of Symphony #6 in particular.

 

For classical works generally, check out the Penguin Guide, which is fairly comprehensive but is getting mixed reviews on amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/01...104-5501505-6664748?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Paul

 

bump for LvB

Another series of Beethoven solo piano music to check out are the "Bagatelles" (opus 33, 119, 126). These very short pieces are deceptively complex and really a joy to hear, check out Stephen Bishop's recording on Philips..wonderful stuff.