Beethoven: Folksong Settings [Arrangements de Chants Populaires] [Box set, Collector's Edition]

Ludwig Van Beethoven (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven
• Audio CD (November 9, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 7
• Format: Box set, Collector's Edition
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B0002IRY0E
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,908 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Song Settings Beethoven Took Seriously..., November 12, 2007

By 

Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven: Folksong Settings [Arrangements de Chants Populaires] (Audio CD)

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Citing Dr. L. Lockwood:

"Beethoven initiated an agreement [between 1809-20] with the ambitious Scottish publisher G. Thomson to compose settings of folk songs--Scottish, Irish, English, and, later, Continental songs in many languages, including German, Danish, Tyrolean [Austrian-dialect], Polish, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, and Swiss-dialect.

These compositions add up to a very large body of works, and Beethoven took them much more seriously than later [critics] have realized. Many are of real musical interest.

Most are for solo voice, either soprano or tenor, with full-scale accompaniments for piano trio.

Filled with striking moments, these little pieces show Beethoven working with the special modal and regional inflections of folk song; conceivably, these inflections and odd tonal twists formed part of their attraction for him."
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a fantastic bargin, February 18, 2009

By 

Dr. J. J. Kregarman (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beethoven: Folksong Settings [Arrangements de Chants Populaires] (Audio CD)

These disks won all kinds of awards when first issued. Elsewhere Amazon is selling the original CDs for $133. They are worth that price. At the price here they are a steal. If you like Beethoven and/or folk songs you will not go wrong. As Gramophone puts it, listening to these lifts the spirits.

5.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten treasure chest of genius superbly performed, February 18, 2012

By 

A techno geek (Hawai`i, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven: Folksong Settings [Arrangements de Chants Populaires] (Audio CD)

What happens when you take some of the world's greatest melodies and give them to the world's greatest composer to work with? And then add to it lyrics by some of the finest poets of Scotland? That is what you have in these recordings.

Folk songs are bits of culture that survive solely because people hear them, like them, and sing them again. These are all the melodies from the entire population over the centuries that have "gone viral" and persisted. All they have to preserve themselves is their innate beauty, so these survivors are the best of the best.

The performances here are hands down the best recordings of these pieces I have heard. Comparison to other recordings shows so many places where these performers "get" the moment of drama, humor, yearning, sorrow, etc. that Beethoven has written in the music. A perfect example is in "Ih mag di nit nehma", where at the end of the introduction, the "yodel" motif makes its first appearance, and the interpretation perfectly communicates that this little pair of notes is coming back for trouble ... In other performances I have heard the notes are just played without insight. These 7 CDs are a revelation. There are some true masterpieces here. "Sunset", with lyrics by Sir Walter Scott, is my favorite. The setting to the Swedish lullaby "Lilla Carl" sounds more like Loreena McKennitt than music written 200 years ago. The usually martial "Garryowen" is set here as a romantic ballad, "From Garyone My Happy Home". And the quintessentially Irish "St. Patrick's Day in the Morning" is set as well ("The Pulse of an Irishman").

Lyricists for these songs include Robert Burns, Lord Byron, and others I'm less familiar with, such as Joanna Baillie, James Hogg, William Brown, and William Smyth.

You can put on any of these CDs and just let them play on and they will put the whole house into a beautiful mood.