Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Complete Overtures

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It's a pleasure to find this Philips Duo "twofer" offering all - and I DO mean all - of the Beethoven overtures, in authoritative, sober and yet resplendent performances by Kurt Masur and his orchestra at the time, the famed Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Beethoven wrote only one opera - Fidelio - and, while it may have its share of dramatic flaws relative to works by those who specialized in the genre, it is true music drama full of heroic themes and equally heroic music. He wrote four overtures for the work (the three Leonore overtures as well as the Fidelio overture). Each in its way can be said to represent dramatic themes in the opera, and no one by itself captures the full essence of the work. (Interestingly, various conductors - including Gustav Mahler when he had been the music director of the Vienna Court Opera - have utilized all four overtures in the course of a single performance of Fidelio, to good effect one could imagine.)

Equally well-known as dramatic masterpieces are the overtures to Coriolan, Egmont and The Consecration of the House. Taken with the four Fidelio overtures, they serve notice that Beethoven lacked little, if anything, as music dramatist in genres beyond his symphonies. If proof be needed of this fact, one need only consider the effect these "mini-music-dramas" had on composers yet to come such as Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner and Mahler. Each in his way paid tribute to Beethoven's earlier works here.

If the remaining overtures don't quite live up to the qualities of the seven above, it is nevertheless good to be able to have Beethoven's complete works in the genre. And the various dance suites performed by Sir Neville Marriner and his Academy of St. Martin in the Fields make for entertaining fillers, providing for more than two and one-half hours of music.

Interested "fence-sitters" who are perhaps wondering about the sonics of these nearly-three-decade-old recordings need not let recording age get in the way of their purchasing decisions. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, Philips was at the forefront of recording technology and quality, and had perhaps the best analogue LP's on the market at the time. The beautifully burnished sound of the Leipzigers in their Gewandhaus home is captured perfectly. This at a bargain mid-price, and with Marriner's excellent performances of Beethoven's dance music to boot.

But get this for the overtures, and see for yourselves that Beethoven need make apologies to no one regarding his capabilities as a music dramatist.

Bob Zeidler

This outstanding compilation contains all eleven overtures composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, and, in addition, a large selection of his dance music. It is a tremendous bargain for Beethoven lovers. The overtures are played by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, under the direction of Kurt Masur, and convey Beethoven's wonderful sense of the dramatic throughout. The 12 minuets, 12 German dances, and 12 contredanses, beautifully played by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields with Sir Neville Marriner conducting, show a lighter, wittier and more playful side to Beethoven which may not be widely known.

This Philips Duo CD set is a wonderful listening experience throughout. Because it's the only compilation of the complete Beethoven overtures that I'm aware of, I recommend it as an essential addition to every lover of Beethoven's music.

Essential listening for all Beethoven fanatics. All the overtures are here, even rarely heard ones like "The Ruins of Athens". A/D recordings from the early 70's are very well reproduced. Musicianship is high.The dances and minuets are not just filler but show thematic ties with some of the larger works. The liner notes are very well prepared and comprehensive. An excellent value !

First of all, this CD is a rare find; normally, when we hear the Beethoven overtures, we hear a few of them in the context of larger works (ie, we get only two or three overtures in a box set of symphonies or concerti, and they are overshadowed). To have all the overtures together (especially at these top-rate perfomances) is a treat. Though a wonderful set for any serious Beethoven fan, this may also serve as a good introduction for those new to Beethoven's orchestral music, because the pieces normally clock in at only 10 minutes, give or take, but also because the overtures are always charmingly songful or fast and exciting. It is the more abrasive Beethoven at work here, and it's great fun.

Masur's recordings of Beethoven's overtures (complete) stand out from a crowded field. They have a drive and intensity that grabs your attention and doesn't let go. After playing them for the first time, I had to immediately play them again. And now they are available at a bargain price. You owe it to yourself to hear them.

Once again, the Phillips Label has released another great collection of classical music for any devotee. This is the complete collection of Beethoven's overtures. In truth, and technically speaking, there is only one true overture on this recording- the Overtures to Leonore/Fidelio, Beethoven's only opera. The rest, while still dubbed "overtures" by musicologists, remain in the "incidental music" department. They are brilliantly performed by the expert orchestra of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, the oldest orchestra in the world and one of the finest in Europe. The principal conductor in this 2 disc recording is Kurt Masur, though the final tracks are courtly dances- German Dances and Contredanses, in a kind of homage to Mozart, and are performed by The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by the virtuoso Neville Marriner.

The Coriolan Overture is an appropriate opening track, with its compelling orchestral fortissimi and romantic style. It is followed by the Egmont Overture, and this is pure Beethovenesque romanticism. The King Stephen Overture tops off these incidental musical scores, which Beethoven had annotated with a particular story or idea. To Beethoven, music was poetry/drama, his theories foreshadowed the later Wagner who would write that "Poetry is the reason for music and drama is the reason for both." Theese are all superb pieces of music, and any true fan of Beethoven should own these along with his 9 symphonies. The other "program" overtures include Ruins of Athens, which even contains chorus, Name-Day Celebration Overture and Consecration of the House, which was a commission given to Beethoven for music for the social event of the opening of a new theater, a theater which still stands intact in Austria.

While Kurt Masur is brilliant, he finds that he has an equal in the other featured conductor Sir Neville Marriner, who just happens to be the more famous of the two. Marriner conducted his Academy of St Martin in the Fields for the soundtrack to the 1984 film Amadeus, about the life of Mozart. Marriner has long been associated with conducting Classical and Baroque repertoire, keeping faithful to the original scores. The German Dances are jubilant and a pleasure to hear as are the Contredances, both which number 12 in total. This is a great recording to add to your Beethoven collection. I highly recommend it.

I heard "The Ruins of Athens" on WQXR (NYC's classical station) coming home from work a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't wait to get home and look at their playlist online and see which recording it was. This was it!! As an added bonus, the recording of Fidelio is remarkable as well. If you're a fan of Beethoven, this is a "must add" for your collection.

Until recently, I believe Masur's cycle has been the only commercially available collection of the overtures, so it has (by default) been the standard. A number of people would consider this to be the definitive collection, but I think serious consideration has to be given to Zinman's new release of the complete overtures with the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, which takes a significantly different approach to the overtures.

Is the performance Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus great and definitive? Certainly the orchestra sounds typically lush throughout, but the overtures at times seem ponderous & almost soggy. The rather arch quality of the brass section can really detract from the overall performance at times, and who really can ignore the appallingly out of tune winds section in the 2nd Leonore? The performances are generally good but they only occasionally approach greatness.

Marriner & the ASMF turn in an outstanding performance, but I don't think anyone is buying this collection for the Minuets, German Dances, and Contradances, which are expertly rendered, Haydnesque tunes, but which are hardly an example of Beethoven pushing the envelope. Noone will ever mistake this for being nice, incidental music of little significance. These pieces will only matter to those collectors in search of a totally complete Beethoven collection.

Still, this is a reasonable collection for the price, and one could certainly do worse where the performances are concerned.

Words fail me on this one. Beethoven's music always brings me to tears, and the recordings here are, well, glorious.

The world is a better place for having hosted the genius that was Ludwig van.