Customer Reviews

Beethoven - Symphonies 1-9 · Overtures / London Classical Players · Sir Roger Norrington

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Conservatives that enjoy the Beethoven symphonies of Karl Bohm, Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan often criticize the Norrington approach as superficial. A conservaitve reviewer once wrote that people had been shot for less than what Norrington did to the Ninth Symphony. That may have been true during the Stalin Reign of Terror, but probably not otherwise.

I believe Norrington was the first of the period conductors -- the crowd that includes Gardiner, Harnoncourt and Hogwood among the more famous -- to understand there was a message in Beethoven's symphonies that wasn't getting through prior to period performance.

What is that message? That a certain level of nervousness is appropriate in Beethoven. That grandeur is not necessarily Beethoven-like. That speed and taste are not necessarily related (although I wondered how anyone could play the third movement of Beethoven's Ninth at the presto romp in Zinman's set.)

While period performances of Beethoven are commonplace today, this set rocked the music world when it came out in the 1980s. Norrington did not merely clean off old layers of paint on these symphonies; he stripped them down and stained them, allowing an original approach to appear through the veneer.

His approach revealed something about this composer record collectors never knew -- that Beethoven's scores indicated speeds much faster than the norm with orchestral tuttis that build more quickly and explosively that had been the practice in recordings of the post-World War II generation of conductors.

Until Norrington came along, I thought the best approach to Beethoven's symphonies was the full-blown romance of Ernest Ansermet in his set from the 1960s with the Swiss Radio Orchestra. In particular, Ansermet's Symphony 2 had romance with the balance and transparency people have come to expect from period performance of Classic composers like Haydn.

I don't think it is coincidental that Norrington's CD of Beethoven Symphonies 2 & 8 was the most acclaimed single CD of this set, although his "Eroica" was also well-accepted critically. Norrington's work captured the fine qualities of Ansermet from a quarter decade earlier and gave a new voice to Beethoven's music. This is a voice sometimes demonic, sometimes straightforward, usually vivid, always dramatic.

Before I bought this set, I wondered if it could possibly replace longtime favorites in Symphonies 3, 6 and 9, which require different sensibilities from a conductor. Not only did this set exceed my expectations in that regard, the performances have spoken to me in ways Karajan, Bernstein, Walter, Furtwangler and Bohm could not.

Norrington has since released another set of the Beethoven symphonies on the Hanssler label in recordings made during concert performances. These have the advantage of spontaneous music-making, better timpani and are similar in concept to this set. However, many of the speeds Norrington used in the EMI set and are actually hastened in the Hanssler CDs.

I have had these recordings since their initial release in the late eighties, and still enjoy them. Norrington not only took on the contraversial metronome marks head-on, but internalized them and the aesthetic world that they suggest: brash, impassioned, uncompromising. (Mostly uncompromising; Norrington said that he took the outer movements of the Eighth at a slightly slower tempo than indicated because he could not get the players to produce the performance that he could hear in his head.) And much to my liking in that.
That said, I must admit that these performances have lost a bit of the bloom off the rose. For one thing, they no longer stand alone: Gardiner, Zinman, and MacKerras have gone down the same path. And since then Norrington has had to compete with Norrington. Over the years I have heard the man perform many times in Los Angeles, and I also have a number of live performances. In each case Norrington live surpassed Norrington recorded. (With one exception. His recording of Beethoven's Second was every bit the match of his live performance with LA Phil.) Before a live audience there was flow, a songfulness, that he could not muster in these recordings, where he working very hard to document his ideas about the pieces. He was at his most careful and cautious in the Seventh and Ninth (that is to say, the pieces with the most complex rhythms); at his best in the Second, Third, and Fifth. I remeber one oddity about his conducting: he would alternate between using a baton and not. He would take up the stick in movements with a strong rhythmic push and put it down in movement with a strong lyrical flow. I found myself wishing that he had left that he had left the baton on the stand when he made his recordings.
I would recommend these recordings on balance, conscious of the fact that they do not reflect Norrington as his best. I do hope that someday Norrington re-records this music, or allows some live performances to find the light of day.

Sir Roger Norrington's Beethoven cycle, recorded in London's prestigious Abbey Road Studio No. 1 between 1986 and 1988, marks something of a turning-point in the modern history of Beethoven interpretation. Norrington uses period instruments, even when they sound rather strange to modern ears; he re-sits the orchestra according to the early 19th century pattern, thus making for a very transparent listening experience, with the second violins being particularly prominent on the right side of the proceedings; and he meticulously follows Beethoven's and/or Czerny's metronome markings, thus achieving tempi which are often a lot faster, but sometimes also a good deal slower than those generally used. The results are, for my mind, very convincing. Here is a Beethoven who, having 'received Mozart's spirit from the hands of Haydn', goes on to develop the symphony in ways only he could have done: here is a genius indeed, but not one who suddenly appeared from nothing.

I have commented positively on Norrington's interpretations of Symphonies 1 through 4 and 7 and 8 elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself here. The most famous of Beethoven's symphonies, 5, 6 and 9, are gathered on the last two Cds of this CD box and merit some further comment. In the 90's John Eliot Gardiner produced another 'period Beethoven' on Deutsche Grammophon Archiv, and it is fascinating to compare his efforts with Norrington. For my mind, the score is one-all on Symphonies 5 and 6. Norrington's Fifth captures more of the dramatic intent and uses the brass to wonderful effect; I felt that Gardiner's live recording was just a little too gentle. On the Sixth, however, Gardiner wins hands-down, with Norrington's 'Scene at the Brook' becoming tiresomely soporific. The birdsong flute is done so much better by Gardiner, and ditto the following thunderstorm. Norrington's Ninth starts off brilliantly, but gets a little bogged down towards the end. Not only does he deliberately keep to the somewhat doubtful metronome markings in the Scherzo, thus drawing it out to unheard-of lengths, but also his solo singers are rather pale and do not manage to convey the real depths of joy contained here. (I would expressly exclude the excellent Schütz Choir from this criticism.)

All in all, this 5-CD box offers wonderful value for money for anyone interested in hearing Beethoven as Beethoven actually wrote the music. But it is a moot point whether any listener would be completely satisfied with just this set. I suggest that, at the very least, you should get another version of the Sixth (Gardiner?) and the Ninth (Harnoncourt?) to be in Listener's Paradise.

What makes Sir Roger Norrington's conduction of the 9 Beethoven symphonies so unique and so great, some would say the greatest, is the fact that his orchestra, the London Classical Players, are more true to the original compositions of Beethoven. They are experts on playing period instruments and exactly the manner in which orchestras of Beethoven's day would have performed. Sir Roger Norrington is lesser known than the more recorded British conductor, Sir George Solti, who some would argue is superior, and is overshadowed by the podium tyrants- Arturo Toscanini, Herbert Von Karajan, Wilhelm Furtwangler and Leonard Bernstein, each who have conducted all of Beethoven's symphonies. For a complete collection of Beethoven's symphonies, and for a truly striking, perfectionist take on the symphonic material, this is the box set to own. I am a music teacher and vocal coach, having also sung in the Ode To Joy chorus of Beethoven's 9th symphony. For me, this recording is beneficial, uplifting and historically valuable. Specialized recordings seem to draw listeners of classical music. There have been many "great recordings of the century", and avid buffs flock to the music stores in search of classic recordings by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra, while others prefer the 1951 Furtwangler performance of Beethoven's 9th at Bayreuth, a performance that was given directly after WWII, or the Leonard Bernstein after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. At the hands of Sir Roger Norrington, Beethoven's 9th is incredibly different, less pompous, but nevertheless glossy and full of melodic richness, particularily in the soulful, elongated third movement.

The most impressive symphony on this recording is the Fifth. Sir Roger Norrington conducts an orchestra that perfectly captures the dramatic flair and conflict that Beethoven wrote in every line. The opening theme of the four staccato notes are more in lines of what Beethoven said about it himself- Fate knocking at the door. During WWII, the four notes in Morse Code equaled the letter V and stood for Allied Forces victory. The first movement is powerful, dramatic, a struggle between what seems small, frail beings againt overwhelming cosmic forces. The adagio movement is classically perfect, a musical coloration of every individual instrument makes a movement that is unforgettable. The last movement, the finale allegro, is exuberant and bombastic, the trumpets are extremely loud, the orchestra beats with triumph. The happy ending of the Fifth foreshadows the happy finale to the 9th, in my personal opinion, and its grandeur is epic, stratospheric in scale. It was the Fifth that officially marked Beethoven a star of the Romantic Era, and took his career in a more challenging direction.

The 6th Symphony, Pastoral, is exquisite, the slowest in tempo of the symphonies, the most varied. It has a cheerful opening movement, and accurately describes an arrival at a sunlit countryside. Listening to the strings, the winds, and the rustling of the instruments, we feel involved in the action of the music. There is a change in time of day toward the end of the symphony. It is night, the serenity of the landscape fills the orchestra and the most sensitive listener, and the elegance of the strings are ethereal. The Seventh symphony has always been likened to a ballet. There is something dance-like in its beat, its music lines that leap and flow with a rhythm that can be indeed danced to. The allegretto movement is a mixture of funereal themes and a quasi-religious march, an inspirational music that is structured as perfectly as any classical symphony before Beethoven's day had been made. Beethoven was an admirer of Mozart, had studied as a boy during Mozart's day, but he strove to perfect music and to take it into newer levels. The Romantic Era born, Beethoven was free to compose music that has become the soundtrack of the human experience. In his symphonies we find the emotions, the darkness, the light, the hope, the spirituality that is everywhere and everyone at once. The loftiest humanitarian ideals compose the meat of Beethoven's music. Beethoven once composed a piece of music for a German prince. The anecdote goes something like this, and in this way, I will conclude: After the Prince sneered at Beethoven's music and said he genuinely disliked that piece and had heard better music in the past, Beethoven became furious, his hallmark temper was aroused. He took his music sheet and started for the door of the Prince's study room. Before he departed, he looked at the Prince and said, "Princes there will always be...but there will be only one Beethoven!."

Roger Norrington's controversial and ground breaking period instrument Beethoven Symphony cycle with the London Classical Players, recorded and released in the mid-late 1980s, is here offered by Virgin Classics at budget price. Norrington's recordings have great sound, and Symphonies 1, 2 and 4 are the best recorded and played here. Perhaps it is also true that the lighter, more Haydn like textures of these symphonies work better on period instruments than do the sterner, more muscular symphonies, such as 3 "Eroica", 5, 6 "Pastoral", 7, 8, and 9.

This is an interesting alternative view of Beethoven, but it should by no means be one's only set of these famous works. For the "larger" symphonies, I would recommend: 3, "Eroica": Szell/Cleveland (Sony); Bruno Walter/Columbia (Sony); Karl Bohm/Vienna Philharmonic (DG); for 5, Reiner/Chicago (RCA);
Bohm/Vienna (DG); Karajan/Berlin (DG, 1975 recording, with complete symphonies); Carlos Kleiber/Vienna (DG); for 6, "Pastoral": Bruno Walter/Columbia (Sony); Bohm/Vienna (DG);
Andre Clutyens/Berlin Philharmonic (Seraphim); for 7, Bohm/Vienna (DG); for 8, Bohm/Vienna (DG); Ormandy/Philadelphia (Sony); Bernstein/Vienna (DG); for 9, Szell/Cleveland (Sony), Karajan/Berlin (DG, 1962);
Furtwangler/Philharmonia (Tahra, Lucerne VIII/1954, perhaps hard to find at the present date); Bohm/Vienna (DG, 1970).
Norrington's fast tempos seem to gloss over important points in many movements of these symphonies, especially 3:I, III; 5: III, IV (blazing intensity, but too fast); 6:I (too fast!); and 9: III and IV are positively bizarre, really turning the Beethoven I know and love inside out, with wildly different tempos from section to section.

Still, I give this 5 stars and applaud Norrington's bravery in recording Beethoven as he was not recorded previously, with period instruments, and different ideas of tempo, articulation, and phrasing. Norrington's recordings will not be confused with others: there are none others quite like them.

If you're after superb recordings of the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th symphonies, look no further. However, I find Norrington's interpretations of the odd numbered symphonies much less effective for some reason. I've had this set for some years now (I own several recordings of the Beethoven symphonies, five complete cycles, in fact) and I have come to the conclusion that Norrington's recordings of the 2nd, 4th and 8th symphonies are amongst the best available. However, he is weaker in some of the other symphonies. Yet this is a very enjoyable cycle and I do enjoy listening to it, albeit a little critically.

Many or most music lovers will be aware that this was probably the first complete set of recordings on period instruments which took Beethoven's metronome marks very seriously and endeavoured to adhere to them as much as humanly possible. I am inclined to agree with Nikolaus Harnoncourt on this subject and he suggests that Beethoven's metronome markings were worked out in his head and represent how these works might sound in the imagination rather than in the concert hall, does that make any sense?

Hogwood's slightly earlier pioneering H.I.P. recordings of Beethoven symphonies please me a little more than Norrington's. Hogwood wasn't as dogmatic about the metronome markings and I feel that his set is a little more dramatic and "potent" than Norrington's. Those are my feelings.

If you're after a very cheap set of Beethoven symphonies on period instruments, look no further. If you're "cashed up" and a little more choosy, go for Gardiner or Brüggen or, perhaps, Goodman's.

Sir Roger Norrington takes Beethoven and plays it as it should be played - on period instruments, with correct tempi. There's a place for romanticized Beethoven, but this set serves at the definitive Beethoven set for the 20th century.

Although the tempi and dynamics may seem a bit unconventional to those unfamiliar with Beethoven's scores, they're mostly correct. The strings maintain a pure sound without overly used vibrato, and the winds' clear, clarion calls are amazing. The use of natural horns also helps the clarity of the brass section.

This is Beethoven as it truly should be. Purchase this recording and let yourself hear Beethoven as the master heard it himself.

I cannot remember the number of times I've listened to this - Fifth very good (survival against misfortune) - Sixth very good (joy/energy/movement to storm/lightening to peace/content) - Ninth the first movement, unbelievable carry of energy, revenge & rightful destruction of old/irrelevant . . . So much emotion & energy created/captured by Beethoven.

I have the Bruno, Jarvi, Harnoncourt, Solti, and these Norrington Cycles. Of those four, this is my favorite. Norrington at the helm with period instruments takes us back in time to perhaps what things may have been like in the great Ludwig's day.

There are better recordings of some of the individual symphonies. For example I think the greatest 5 & 7 are under the baton of Carlos Kleiber and the VPO or Wilhelm Furtwängler with the BPO, but as an entire cycle goes, this is my personal favorite. There's just something special about having a great conductor conduct great musicians on period instruments that is special and it's the period instruments, to me that make this version shine above all the other great cycles available.

Norrington's performances of Beethoven's symphonies demonstrate the limitions of period instruments.

First, the performances aren't bad. Anyone who knows and loves Toscanini's performances of Beethoven's symphonies won't be shocked or distressed by the tempos Norrington adopts in his performances. During his lifetime, Toscanini was routinely criticized for his fast tempos in Beethoven's symphonies. He was famously criticized for his fast tempo in the second movement of the Seventh Symphony. Toscanini observed Beethoven's "allegretto" marking for the movement, instead of assuming it was a funeral march as did most of his contemporaries. Today's HIP specialists adopt faster tempos than has been traditional, as Toscanini did 50 years ago. That's a good thing.

Norrington's performances are effective, for the most part. I found the Eroica to be too fast . And the Ninth Symphony was sometimes too fast, and sometimes too slow. For these two milestones in Beethoven's oeuvre to be flawed are major defects in the set. And the performance of the Egmont Overture is ridiculously fast, almost two minutes faster than any other performance I've heard. But the other symphonies are performed well.

The major flaw in the set, of course, is the period instruments. Period instruments, especially the strings, are dim sounding compared to modern instruments. In this set, it sounds as though the strings were placed behind the winds and brass. When the winds and/or brass played, the strings couldn't be heard. The recorded sound was no better than what you would hear in a recording made in the early LP era, circa 1950. But that's the nature of period instruments. They don't sound as good as modern instruments.

If your Beethoven must be performed on period instruments, this set will do. You would do better with the late Charles Mackerras' set, which utilizes the so-called historically informed performance practices performed on modern instruments. And if you want the best recordings of Beethoven's Symphonies, you should purchase Toscanini's 1939 performances on Music & Arts.