Review of Beethoven - Symphonies 7 and 8 (DVD Audio) [ENHANCED]

The "reviews" by Dr. Allan J. Lawson were hilarious. I laughed so hard I almost did not make the bathroom in time. The Doctor must have been very busy in his practice the last few years and also possess a "wonderful" stereo not to know or hear the difference between CD and DVD-A.

I have both of the DVD-A's he "reviews" (Beethoven above and Mehta Mahler) and they are superb. The detail, clarity and depth are simply outstanding. The only caveat - if you do not have an excellent audio system, don't bother. You probably won't hear much difference.



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Review of Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-5 (1974)

The old way of playing Beethoven's piano concertos involved large orchestras, lots of rubato and a promiscuous use of the pedals that caused a kind of musical haze. The actual notes played were often not as important as the general effect produced. Artur Schnabel's Beethoven comes to mind, at this point. He was renowned for his clinkers and he wasn't averse to a gauzy effect if it promoted his musical argument. Schnabel is considered one of the greatest interpreters of Beethoven's piano music but his style could never be adopted today. Yet there is something produced in the listener by Schnabel's best recordings, a kind of musical ecstasy, that cannot be explained or duplicated. This kind of leading the audience on a mystical journey is no longer in favor, and that's a shame.

These recordings, filmed in March and April 1974 for the BBC, occurred at the tail end of the old performance era and the very start of the new. Vladimir Ashkenazy was a graduate of the same Soviet school of piano playing that produced Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Lazar Berman and a host of others of that era. There are simularities that unite them, including a broad romanticism, a degree of Lisztian showmanship coupled with periods of introspection, powerful technique that occasionally borders on pounding and an intellectual streak that produces some deeply insightful playing. Ashkenazy was younger than the others, more modern in his playing. He is a transitional figure: less rubato, less use of the pedals, cooler and more detached (some would say dry), less romantic and a harbinger of the clean, crisp style of playing of today. On these recordings we hear all of that and more, for this is the youthful Ashkenazy and his Beethoven is more alive, more passionate than his later recordings. It is grand style Beethoven that is no longer played and for which many of us secretly long, at least occasionally.

All of the concertos are here, with the third, fourth and fifth 'The Emperor' sounding most brilliant and persuasive. The third's middle Largo movement is especially emotional. I found it deeply moving, something not usually associated with Ashkenazy. The first and second concertos are given jaunty performances that entertain rather than enlighten. Accompanying Ashkenazy are Bernard Haitink conducting the splendid London Philharmonic. They are arrayed in the old style: vast numbers spread across the stage like an invasion force. Their playing is exemplary. The sound in both the original PCM mono and the Dolby two-track enhanced mono is clean and full, though not as vivid as modern recordings. The piano is recorded in front of the orchestra and is well displayed. Also recorded on this two DVD set are the Leonore overtures 2 & 3, the Egmont overture and the Symphony no.8. The LPO plays beautifully under Haitink. The total time of the two DVDs is 277 minutes.

These are archival releases, digitally remastered, and allowances must be made for the age of these recordings. If you take that into account, you will soon find yourself drawn into this grand style Beethoven and luxuriate in it. You may even wallow, as I did. Strongly recommended for the memories it evokes.

Mike Birman

Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music)Release Date: 10/04/2007

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Review of Carlos Kleiber - Beethoven Symphonies 4 and 7 (2004)

I had the luck to see and record this concert being broadcast on PBS many years ago. For years I searched and hoped to find the DVD of this magnificent concert and my wish has finally been fulfilled. Oscar Levant unfairly described Bernstein'sconducting as:"He uses music as an accompaniment to his conducting".Similarly while Kleiber's subtly coreographed movements, facial and body gestures keeps the Concergebow players at the edges of their seats, he makes Beethoven's music sound so fresh as if it was written for him to dance to. I have watched many of the greatest conductors on film or live in concert over the last three decades but this one is totally unique for the level of enjoyment, excitement and learning one could draw from watching and hearing it over and over. I wish there were more music videos like this but there aren't many.



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Review of Itzhak Perlman: Beethoven/Brahms Violin Concertos (2005)

A fabulous DVD!

This disc features Itzhak Perlman* playing two of the worlds most famous violin concertos. ( Beethoven and Brahms). They have been recorded in 1992 at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.

There are so many things to like about this DVD... to mention a few

-the audio is simply superb. I'm fortunate enough to have a fairly good sound system and I must say that the audio on this DVD is by far the best I've heard when playing either of these two concertos. The basses are deep and rich and the orchestral passages have a real sense of presence and fullness. Obviously, the acoustics of the theater, along with the sound engineering has resulted in a superior product.

-the video was generally well done; the lighting, camera angles and switching were performed, with a couple of minor exceptions, with skillful timing and good effect.

-the Beethoven is played with smoothness and grace; the grandeur of the opening bars has always been one of my favorite musical passages. The cadenza is played with skill and technique that Mr. Perlman has become famous for.

-the Brahms, to me, is the best I've ever heard and it is different, wonderfully different. The first movement, at times, is played with a sense of primordial passion and well....almost aggression by Mr. Perlman. The notes are seemingly ripped off the instrument with sense of urgency and power. The second movement is the antithesis of the first, played with a quiet sensitivity and beauty that would allow you to hear a pin drop in the audience during one of the brief lulls in the music. The third movement showed unabridged joy and happiness as it pulsed on toward its conclusion.

The only niggling feature (from a strictly video point of view) on the entire DVD was perhaps Daniel Barenboim's conducting style; he appeared very stiff on the podium, almost marionette-like at times.

All in all, an opportunity to add another masterpiece to one's classical library. Highly recommended!

*Mr Perlman plays the Soil Stradivarius (pronounced 'shwah') made in 1714; many consider it to be the finest Strad ever made.



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Review of Barenboim on Beethoven - The Complete Piano Sonatas Live from Berlin (2007)

It is truly unbelievable what Daniel Barenboim did in the lapse of three weeks in these 8 concerts given in Berlin in 2005, what a precious gift to be able to watch these superb performances of the complete Beethoven 32 Piano Sonatas in wonderful sound and image and a really beautiful camera work, it takes more than eleven hours to play them all, Daniel Barenboim is an extraordinary musical genius, not to mention the superb quality of his playing and the fact that he didn't even read a single note.
I really didn't know Daniel Barenboim is such a fantastic pianist, his playing in this set is simply unsurpassable, he shows a deep feeling and connection with this music, his understanding of the music and the piano in particular is totally amazing and that is completely reflected in the unique way he plays, he is never boring, his interpretations are so vivid, each phrase played with such care and passion, his musicality and expressiveness are outstanding, and his technic is absolutely of the highest level, truly astonishing, it was like the piano was actually singing all the time.
This whole set is a magnificent masterclass by Daniel Barenboim, truly in the same league with the greatest masters of the piano ever.
The format of the film is widescreen and for the audio we have the option of Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround for optimal sound.
So if you love the piano and feel passion for it do not miss these magnificent, spellbinding, breathtaking and electrifying performances beautifully captured on film.



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Review of Claudio Abbado: Beethoven - Symphonies 1-9 (2008)

In 2001, during the month of February, the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado, were in residence at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome to play all nine of the Beethoven symphonies. The first eight symphonies were recorded for television by the renowned music film producer Paul Smaczny and directed for television by Bob Coles. The 9th had already been recorded in Berlin the year before with a distinguished cast of singers -- Karita Mattila, Violeta Urmana, Thomas Moser, and Eike Wim Schulte, along with the Swedish Radio Choir and the legendary Eric Ericson Chamber Choir -- and it is that performance that is included here. These performances have been released on four single DVDs previously, but this compilation box set of four discs is now available from Euroarts for an amazingly low price, much lower than than if you bought the single discs. You can read other customer reviews of the single issues here: Beethoven - Symphonies 1, 6, and 8 / Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic, Beethoven - Symphonies 2 and 5 / Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic, Beethoven - Symphonies 3 and 9 / Abbado, Mattila, Urmana, Moser, Schulte, Berlin Philharmonic, and Beethoven - Symphonies 4 and 7 / Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic. I have not reviewed the single issues but will not linger here to offer a review of each disc. I will simply say that for me Abbado is the master conductor of the present age and that his Beethoven interpretations, using the recently completed Bärenreiter edition of the symphonies done by English musicologist Jonathan del Mar, are almost universally hailed. The main achievement of this edition is the removal of hundreds of errors that crept into the first edition and have been perpetuated, or have multiplied, in subsequent editions. Abbado chooses to use somewhat reduced string sections in Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 4 & 8, as is fitting for their gentler spirit. These same Rome and Berlin performances have been issued in a CD box set Beethoven: The Symphonies [Box Set] and in my view are generally preferred to his earlier issued traversal on Deutsche Grammophon Beethoven - Die Symphonien (Symphonies 1-9) / Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic, which in addition is hugely more expensively priced. Interestingly, the present DVD box set costs less at Amazon than the CD box set. Go figure!

Interpretively these performances tend to be a bit on the fast side, with absolutely clear sonics and transparent balances. The men and women of the Berliner Philharmoniker, a younger group than we had been used to even a decade earlier, play like angels. Abbado himself had just been through a harrowing bout with stomach cancer and looks very thin but otherwise healthy in these performances. He says of this period, 'Music is the best medicine. More than any other form of therapy, it is music that has helped me through these last few difficult months.' Visually, the performances on DVD are neatly photographed. In several of the symphonies -- Nos. 3, 5, 6 & 7 -- the viewer has the option of viewing the performance in a 'Conductor's View' in addition to the usual 'Concert View' by use of the 'angle' button on the DVD's remote control. The 'Conductor's View' simply focuses on Abbado from the orchestra's perspective.

In addition to the bonus of the 'Conductor's View', there is, on the disc with with Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7, a half-hour interview with Abbado talking about his understanding of and response to the music of Beethoven.

These performances gave me enormous pleasure and I can't recommend them highly enough.

Running time: 6hrs, 34mins; Format: NTSC 16:9; Sound: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1; DTS 5.1; Substitles: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish; Region code: 0 (worldwide).

Scott Morrison

Product Description
In February 2001 the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado were guests at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with all of Beethoven's symphonies. Their success was overwhelming: ther were standing ovations after each performance and the critics spoke of seminal moments in the history of music. The video recordings of this event are now available in an exclusive box set, including a special multi-angle feature: the DVDs offer sequences from the 'conductor camera' and show the maestro from his musicians' perspective.

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Review of Beethoven: The Piano Concertos [DVD Video] (2007)

It is instructive to compare these performances to the recently released Beethoven Piano Concertos played by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Bernard Haitink led London Philharmonic, filmed in 1974. The Ashkenazy Beethoven performances are traditional, with a larger orchestra accompanying the piano, and both unleashing a full arsenal of tricks: extensive vibrato, a profligate use of the piano pedals, slower tempos and broad melodic lines, all of these a 19th Century performance paradigm. The lofty, denser and Romantic Beethoven we hear on those DVDs are no longer considered acceptable for modern performances. Their style was replaced by the lighter, swifter, streamlined Beethoven that we hear in these performances, recorded in September 1989 for the Bernstein led Concertos 3-5 and December 1991 for the Zimerman conducted Concertos 1 and 2. Here we find smaller orchestral forces, buoyant textures, swifter tempos and beautifully elegant playing from Zimerman.

The Wiener Philharmoniker have a unique sound that is especially effective when playing early and middle period Beethoven. Classical era grace, left over from the days of Haydn and Mozart, is a Vienna Philharmonic speciality. Here it produces lovely, elegant Beethoven. Bernstein elicits this elegance from the orchestra while exhibiting uncharacteristic restraint, and in the process, he induces transparent instrumental textures that yield lyrical and evocative performances rather than dense and hefty ones. This lithe and agile Beethoven is very surprising, given Bernstein's uber-Romantisch reputation: it certainly surprised me. The other big surprise is how similar Zimerman's conducted performances are to Bernstein's. Close your eyes and they are hard to tell apart.

All of these performances were filmed soon after Roger Norrington had completed his breakthrough period instrument performances of the Symphonies and Piano Concertos by the end of 1988. Given their revelatory nature and widespread approbation, some influence was inevitable. The Beethoven performances on this 2 DVD set are a wonderful recorded legacy and make a fine sonic monument for Leonard Bernstein, who died a year after his performances were filmed. The 2 DVDs have a total running time of 197 minutes. Sound is available in both the PCM and DTS 5.1 formats, with DTS offering additional space around each instrument and added rear ambiance. The sound is very clear and full, the digitally remastered image is crystalline. There are the usual DGG menus and languages.

If elegant, somewhat restrained but buoyant Beethoven is your forte, you most probably will like these performances a great deal. Strongly recommended.

Mike Birman



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