Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, Overture To Fidelio / Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

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

 

 

I have been forced to write this as a response to some of the unintuitive and gormless reviews written below. In a nutshell, Bernstein's 'Eroica' is a dramatic and brilliant reading of a dramatic and brilliantly intense symphony.

Bernstein is less of a Classicist than he is a Humanist. Invariably, he searches for and draws out the human dialogue to found in classical music. His Mahler symphonies, for example,
are brilliant and inspired narratives that translate sound into human drama. The same can be said of this recording.

As one reviewer remarked , the Bernstein perfomrmance is "dynamic and marked by Bernsteinian rubato options that render this recording unforgettable." Rubato refers the expressive fluctuation of speed within a musical phrase. This is particularly notable in the second movement, the famous Funeral March. Bernstein clocks this movement in at 17'40", a full two minutes longer than Abbado's 3rd with the Wiener philharmoniker on DG. It is a wonderful two minutes. More classical interpretations of this movement seem comparatively unispired. Bernstein lays this movement out on the grandest possible scale. It is dark, dreadful and awe inspiring; the fugue, when it comes, is breathtakingly personal and powerfully intense. The dignity, tragedy and drama is riveting; the 5 chords which bring the fugal section to a close are harrowing, ripping from one's insides the remnants of what the fuge has left torn and shredded. The finale is equally pentrating and profound, very much the triumphant music and assertion of man that it was meant to be. One reviewer denigrated the music in this recording as 'mortal'. Of course it is, profoundly so. It relates to human beings and their destructive and beautiful mortal humanity - and that is exactly what makes this recording the same music that one critic at its electrifying and frightening debut in 1805 called 'daring, wild and... startling beautiful'.

At its debut, members of the audience and notable critics lamented the new symphony's 'inordinate length' and 'lawlessness'. One can only assume that the ungracious wretches below who are critical of Bernstein's approach sprang, or crawled, from he same mould. We should not forget that prosterity has since identified these men as the docile pompous peasants they were. As for concerns about the cover...could we be any more superficial?

This is perhaps the single most influential piece of music I have heard -not only because it the first piece of classical music I conciously remeber hearing- and this recording captures that intensity more strikingly than any of the other many recordings I have heard. There are many reasonable recordings of this symphony - each with something to offer someone. 1 star ratings are really just too emotive to be credible. The Szell / Cleveland is a really fine version of this symphony. It is the extra something, however, a deep intuition in this recording which makes this an outstanding choice.

My first encounter with Bernstein in the Eroica was on his 1953 Brunswick recording with the N.Y. Stadium Symphony, basically members of the Philharmonic. That is a titanic recording, with rich string sound and high drama. This 1978 recording from Vienna is quite different. It takes place on a more humane, less dramatically elevated plane than the earlier version. The first movement is quite slow, almost conversational, without the whiplash chords so familiar from conductors like Solti and Toscanini. The Funeral March has real gravitas. Bernstein is not afraid to deviate from his main tempo to make an interpretive point, and one gets the feeling that this whole movement amounts to a commentary on death for Bernstein. The last two movements swing and sway delectably. On the whole, this is not an Eroica with thrills and spills, but instead is a highly personal self-revelation. I liked it very much. The Fidelio Overture goes rather slowly, but is enjoyable nonetheless. The sound engineering throughout is up close and well balanced, if without much resonance. In sum, this is a very unique and quite valid Beethoven experience.

As always, this Beethoven recording can easily be identified as a "Leonard Bernstein recording". His Beethoven interpretations are dynamic and marked by Bernsteinian rubato options that render this recording unforgettable. Really, really very good.

This is a great recording of Beethoven's first "Romantic" Symphony. Here L. Bernstein is conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker, probably one of the very best orchestras in the world for playing Beethoven (and any composer for that matter). Recorded in the late 70's, the sound quality is excellent, thanks to the great remastering by DG. Bernstein's tempos don't seem to lag like some of his recordings from the 80s. Conversely, the tempo is driven by Bernstein, especially in the funeral march. Overall, tempos are not too fast, but well-judged. The finale of the symphony brings the whole work together and the listener will find once again why this symphony is regarded to be one of the crowning achievements in orchestral music. This is a credit not only to Beethoven, but to Leonard Bernstein's genius as a conveyer of meaning and interpretation. The only reason I gave this CD 4 stars instead of 5 is because I happen to put Herbert von Karajan's recording of the 3rd Symphony a little higher than this one. Karajan turns in what is one of the most fiery performances that I have heard. Alas, both recordings are highly recommended.

Bernstein's famous 1964 recording of the Eroica for Columbia Records defined the work for a generation of young listeners in the U.S. When he decamped to Europe to conquer Vienna, Bernstein waited until 1980 to make a second recording. The two sound quite different. To begin with, the Vienna Phil., as recorded by DG, is leaner and more compact, while the NY Phil. was deliberately made to sound bigger than all outdoors.

In keeping with the expansive sonics, Bernstein's first version is more overtly heroic, showy, and intense. By the time he made the 1980 remake, his view had become more personal--you can hear much more expressive freedom in the Funeral March, for example, which at 17 min. is a full two minutes slower than his first version. Yet by contrast the opening movement has become more classical and restrained; we don't get the heaven-storming Beethoven of Furtwangler or the tense drama of Toscanini.

Timings stay relatively the same in the two last movements. However, I hear far more restaint in the Vienna finale. Some of that may be the more contained recorded sound. In any event, DG's Eroica isn't as extroverted or highly dramatic, not by Bernstein's standards. I prefer the New York original by quite a bit--LB seems more involved and excited by the music.

Despite Bernstein's best efforts to provide a "true" interpretation of Beethoven, his Eroica falls flat. The funeral march is the most lifeless, slow, uninspired reading I've heard. Klemperer also takes the movement slow, but his reading is filled with grandeur and depth, not shallow, ingartiating pitty, the way Bernstein plays it. The movement seems to go on forever! Then there's the Fidelio. You would think he could pull of a simple overture. He starts out with tremendous energy at the introduction, but the pause before the entry of the french horns is too long. After the intro, Bernstein starts to slow down the tempo. Why??? It's all amounts to another mediocre performance.