Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Symphonies 3 "Eroica" & 4

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the 1990s, the American conductor David Zinman recorded the nine Beethoven symphonies with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich using a new performing edition (the Barenreiter edition) by Jonathan Del Mar. Zinman gives a period reading of the symphonies using modern instruments. Zinman's budget-priced readings are available in a complete set of 5 CDs or on individual disks. I prefer the listening and reviewing based upon the latter approach, as it allows more attention to each individual work.

This CD includes the "Eroica" symphony, no. 3 in E flat, op. 55, and the symphony no. 4 in B flat, op. 60. Zinman's performances of these works are among his best of the nine. Tempos are very fast, but the performances have a great fluidity and lightness. The winds are especially prominent especially in solo passages, some of which are unique to the Barenreiter edition.

For listeners new to this music, Beethoven's Eroica, dating from 1804, in its size, grandeur, and emotion, is a monumental work which changed the course of music. The work bears a close connection to Napoleon, but Beethoven's final product is a tribute to the heroic and creative spirit in man, rather than in any individual. Professor Lewis Lockwood, in his recent book on Beethoven has aptly-described the Eroica:

"The 'hero' of the Eroica is not a single figure but a composite of heroes of different types and different situations. In the first movement the heroic is felt in musical images that evoke grandeur, conflict, and nobility of spirit; in the slow movement a fallen hero is mourned and brought to final rest; in the Scherzo and above all the Trio, we hear horn calls to battle, alsong with 'a strange voice' at the end, a return to the chromatic mystery of the the symphony's opening ideas. And the finale evokes a 'Promethean' hero who (in the ballet, its direct antecedent brought wisdom and the arts and sciences to the world." ("Beethoven: The Music and the Life", p. 213)

Zinman offers a strong, flowing reading of the Eroica, with the Del Mar edition including some surprises in instrumentation in the finale. The horns in the first and third movement and the tympani in the second movement together with the winds in general receive marked prominence in Zinman's performance of this grand, inexhaustible work.

Beethoven's Fourth symphony dates from 1806 and, unfortunately, remains the least performed of the nine. Too often, Beethoven has become associated only with the heroic style of the Eroica and a handful of other works. Works such as the Fourth symphony are compared with the "heroic" style and unfairly judged as not meeting its standard. In fact, Beethoven cannot be encompassed in any one style, and the Fourth is a masterwork in its own right. The work is full of a reckless good humor in its first, third and fourth movements. The second movement is an elaborately lyrical song. Beethoven's writing emphasizes the winds -- listen to the flute in the second movement and the bassoon in the finale -- and the tympani throughout. The finale also includes extensive passages for the string bass. The third movement of this symphony is notable for trio section, which appears twice, sandwiched between the lively scherzo theme. Robert Schumann wrote of the Fourth that it was "a Greek maiden between two Norse giants" while Hector Berlioz said "the character is generally lively, nimble, joyous, or of a heavenly sweetness." The Fourth does not have the programmtic suggestions of the Eroica but is rather a work of joyous and beautifully balanced pure music.

Those listeners new to Beethoven will be inspired to hear more from these fine performances. Listeners who already know Beethoven's symphonies will invariably have their own responses in comparing Zinman's readings to their long-loved favorites.

Robin Friedman

The editorial review is technically accurate. But it does not emphasize the bottom line: that a performance as rushed as this is leaves little room for nuance. Sure, the conductor can try to modulate the dynamics, or emphasize or deemphasize a sforzando here or there, but it is so fast that there is no room for noticeable rubato or crescendo or diminuendo within a given note.

These are the the big items that the great conductors of the past used to interpret music. For example, compare this to the great Monteux/Concertgebouw performance and it comes up lacking.

Doug McDonald

As a person who cannot play a musical instrument, I approach all types of music from the gut. I either like or I don't, and I can't even really tell you why. I heard EROICA for the first time around 1973, and I've heard it countless times since then. No matter the conductor, it's always thrilled me, and this performance by Zinman is the third recording I've owned (the one previously, which I lost in a storm, was by Roger Norrington). I bought this particular CD because some of the reviews were good. It was a shot in the dark, but as it turns out, I liked this version way more than Norrington's. Perhaps it is too fast, as another reviewer said. Maybe it does lack nuances. Maybe it doesn't compare well to a recording in someone else's previous or later cycle. I just don't know. All I know is I love the 3rd Symphony, especially the 1st and 3rd movements, and I absolutely love THIS performance of it. It roams, it soars, and sweeps me up as it passes by; I think at times of birds and trees and horses. I especially love the drive of the Scherzo (whatever SCHERZO means), with violins followed by the deeper cellos, adding something solid and imminent to it. It's great. At times I feel my ability to apprehend it straining against my limitations, but I then force myself to get over it and just listen.

This performance is my favorite so far. That's not saying much, as I haven't made it a mission to hear every performance out there. I do know that the recording quality is lustrous, with great depth and dimension. I love it, and if you have the same unsophisticated appreciation of music as I do, and you're looking for a good performance, then you'll probably love it, too. It's powerful; it makes your blood race. Reading some of these more precise reviews, I'm sort of glad I'm not educated in the matter, because I'm free to sit and simply hear it for what it is, for its blunt impact on ME. I have to trust that Zinman knows what he's doing, and he definitely knows more than I know.

The 4th Symphony is here, too. It doesn't overwhelm me the way the 3rd does, but after hearing it so often on this album, I'm starting to discover hooks that turn it into a delicious experience. It definitely bears Beethoven's wild stamp.

_________________________________

This is for sure a new and interesting approach to Beethoven's symphonies,

in new critical editions, but this fact doesn't make them necessarily better

or more enjoyable. Zinman just proposes another valid , but NOT definitive

approach to these works. The weakest points in this cycle are a problematic

seventh that doesn't fit very well and a dull, distant 3rd that in this album

sounds weird and a bit of bizarre and inmediately someone could miss the great performances of the past (Furtwängler, Klemperer, Schuricht, even Karajan).

However Zinman gets a much better result in his 4th reading that seems to me

really brilliant, splendorous and stimulating. Perhaps this 4th, on the

opposite, is the highest point in Zinman's cycle.

Zinman's Beethoven cycle has been the recipient of critical acclaim, and well deserved it is. Apparently, this is the first issue of the symphonies based on the new Bärenreiter edition played on modern instruments (mostly minor changes), and whatever might be the case these are in general well-considered and extremely rewarding readings.

The third is clearly informed by period-playing practices, but avoids the worst excesses of some of those interpretations. It is, perhaps, somewhat lighter and more lively than we are used to - it is generally faster, something which is especially noticeable in the Marcia funebre, where it might conceivably be argued that the interpretation sacrifices some weight - but the gain is a more forward-moving experience. It is, in short, a more classical than romantic interpretation, and none the worse for that. It might not outclass the top of the classic accounts, but is certainly competitive.

The fourth, however, is perhaps a new benchmark. Here the lightness of touch and the vivacity is truly rewarding (it is also generally faster than most accounts), detailed, tautly argued and intelligent. Recordings are very good as well. Strongly recommended.

I HAVE THE ENTIRE CYCLE .SOME INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES ARE AS IN ANY CYCLE MORE ENJOYABLE TO THE LISTENER THAN OTHERS.ZINMAN'S 3RD TAKEN MORE BRISKLY THAN IS THE NORM IS THE MORE INTERESTING FOR IT.THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE RECORDING ALLOWS THE LISTENER TO HEAR THE COLORATION AND NUANCES WHICH ARE DELIGHTFUL.PERSONALLY MY FAVORITE 3RD! THE 4TH FOR MY MONEY IS ONLY EQUALED BY WALTER;S LEGENDARY RECORDING! SO THERE YOU HAVE IT.GET THE CYCLE-ITS SO INEXPENSIVE; IF NOT GET THIS DISC -ITS THAT GOOD!