Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

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

 

 

This is one of the first stereo recordings of Beethovens lovely ninth symphony. With a french conductor having a go on one of the greatest german romantic works. Could this really be even close to competetive today? Well, the answer is definately Yes!

Monteux brings forth what many other conductors misses, and that is the lyrical values of the music, and it's charm - without ever sacrificing the power a performance of Beethoven's Ninth calls for. For example, both the first and second movement are very forte and almost hard in articulation - clearly made as an argument for the famous forth movement with its refusal of the three earlier movents themes in the double bass, and the bass soloist's first lines: o freunde, nicht dieser tönen... The performance never gets boring, it lives fully through every bar, floating. The tempis are rather high at times, but it never sounds wrong. Theb third movement at a almost modern time-period pace. Still offering repose, though. The only time the tempis bother me the least is in the fourth movement, where perhaps Monteux has to audible changes of tempi between the different part of the movement, so that the first minutes the chorus sings is rather slow and one wonders if a ode to joy really can be that slow, just to more or less take off a few minutes later. I rather prefer a more consistent or at least smoother tempo-changed style here, but, the effect is more obvious this way. Monteux's soloists are simply great, and heldentenor Jon Vickers outstandingly so. The first of them to introduce himself is the firm, powerful and warm bass of David Ward. He's followed by the perfectly idiomatic and fruity voices of Söderström and Resnik. Jon Vickers' drum & fife solopart is so excitingly sung that one almost thinks that the part could have been written just for him. The London Symphony orchestra responds well to their inspired conductor. Today it's hard to find such a personal reading, and after all, personal readings are much more interesting than those trying not to intimidate anyone.

Surely, the sound is not as clear as on today's digital recordings, but still dynamic, and good for being 40 years old. You may try to turn the treble knob up on your amplifier to get a brighter sound picture. Another backdraw is that the chorus is put a little backwards in the recording, thus sounding a little heavy. But those objections are minor ones, and since this performance has both the nerve, precision and great soloists that many modern recordings doesn't, it's still highly competitive and highly recommended.

This recording of Beethoven's 9th culminates Monteux's late-life Beethoven cycle (interestingly, this symphony was produced by Westminster's Kurt List, the other 8 by RCA Victor). All of Monteux' best qualities shine here: the clarity and lightness of texture, the understanding of the interrelationships of notes, phrases, sections, movements and the whole -- his clear grasp of Beethoven's musical architecture -- the honest presentation of the music without idiosyncrocies, and above all his fiery commitment to making the music live. Monteux eschewed sentimentality, but he never confused that with emotional expressiveness, and that communicativeness is here in abundance. I first encountered Monteux live at Tanglewood in the early 1960's; he was called in to substitute for an ailing Charles Munch and conducted a version of the Tchaikowsky "Pathetique" that earned two standing ovations, one at the end of the third movement and another at the end, and which featured a chord beginning the development section of the first movement that sounded like a cannon-shot. At his considerable best -- as he is here with the London Symphony Orchestra, of which he was permanent conductor at the time -- Monteux offered the best view of the composer and piece at hand. The tempi here are swift but never driven, the London Symphony may not be the most polished orchestra but it plays with commitment and fire, the soloists are all fine (especially Jon Vickers, whose version of the tenor solo surpasses any other I've heard), and the chorus is committed and strong if not particularly idiomatic. The phrasing is graceful in the best sense -- well-proportioned without robbing the piece of its guts. This to me has all of the virtues of the more recent period-instruments-and-metronome-markings versions with the additional virtue of a full-sized orchestra playing with chamber-music clarity but full-size punch, as well as having one of the great musical minds of the 20th century at the helm. In the original vinyl release, Westminster provided one side of Monteux in rehearsing the symphony, which I wish they had seen fit to re-release here. It provided a wonderful glimpse at his no-nonsense manner of communicating his wishes to the orchestra. As Kurt List put it in his original notes, Monteux may not tell you that he wants a rushing waterfall, but he will tell you to get that thirty-second note correct, which is what the orchestra members need to hear. The sound is early stereo, but pretty good considering, and I'm glad to hear the better balance in the CD release over the old vinyl version (which was light on the bass). This should be an essential part of your collection. Very highly recommended.

I come away from this performance wanting more in terms of weight and intensity. Though there are moments, especially in the first and second movements, where Monteux's lower calorie approach is rather appealing, on the whole I am left feeling less than fully satisfied. For the Beethoven Ninth, an appetizer just isn't enough. Particularly in the last movement, both soloists and orchestra sound undercharacterized. The presentation of some of the choral sections occasionally bogs down in deliberateness and routineness. The sense of large scale, impressive drive and a truly moving quality is just not there. In fact, throughout the entire recording an impression of real spaciousness is missing, though there are moments where some of the more intimate details are nicely offered. In the third movement adagio, there seems to be some herky-jerkiness in the expression of detail. But it is primarily the last movement (as noted above) that disappoints. (Listen, by contrast, to Reiner's uplifting and hair raising Chicago Symphony finale.) In all, a mixed bag, of sorts, and not an especially distinguished or fulfilling account from a typically esteemed conductor.

Pierre Monteux was by no means a Beethoven specialist, and at 87 about the only virtue his Ninth Sym. possesses is a fitful energy but precious little of that. It's hard to find any patituclar quality here to admire. The first movement sounds like a run-through, and given the completley forgettable playing of the LSO, not a very committed run-through at that. The Scherzo is foursquare and ordinary, though nicely played. The Adagio is flowing and songful but sorely lacking in intensity. The finale is patchy and lackluster. What a shame that such a mediocre performance should let down the excellent vocal quartet in the choral section of the finale, where Monteux's conducitng of the famous main theme is lackadaisical.

All in all, the Amazon reviewer's enthusiasm is inexplicable, and his reference to the sonics here as early stereo is bizarre: the recording dates from 1962. It sound tubby and cramped, by the way, with bad balances (such as the overblown cellos and basses at the beginning of the finale). If you want a great Beethoven Ninth by an octagenarian, try Stokowski's Decca recording, also with the LSO--it is miles better than Monteux's.

Definitely one of the better recordings of Beethoven's masterpiece. Along with Leonard Bernstein's, one of my favorite recordings

Beethoven's 9th can bring out the bully in most conductors. Monteux here provides a great second version to supplement your fiery first choice, for those occasions when you want to hear the music without getting your hair blown straight back in the Maxell easy chair.

The Monteux performance is clear-eyed, warm-hearted, open in texture and energetic without being strenuous. Where Beethoven himself threatens to get incoherent in the last movement is exactly where Monteux strives for maximum control. This is not wandering, it is trying to keep a wayward symphony from going off the rails.

It is not a small-scaled performance, like Monteux's pupil David Zinman's. The orchestra and chorus both are ample, if a little overshadowed by the operatic-sized quartet of soloists, three of the four noted Wagnerians. They function in the key of LOUD, even if the rest of the forces refuse to follow them to quite that level of amplitude.

The engineering votes for clarity rather than weight, and Monteux brings out gratifying details that surprise the most experienced listener.

So get your molten lava version of the 9th first, then buy this one as a great corrective, er, supplement.

Realmente, la 9a sinfonía de Beethoven es una de mis obras favoritas, y con el tiempo he logrado reunir una buena selección de diversas interpretaciones. Este disco en particular me recuerda mucho la interpretación de Karl Böhm, ya que Monteux también ejecuta unos "tempos" extremadamente lentos en algunos pasajes, aunque la totalidad de la obra apenas alcanza los 67 minutos (comparados con los casi 80 de la versión de Böhm). A pesar de esto, me parece que este disco bien vale la pena para quien es fanático de la 9a sinfonía; pero tome en cuenta que la grabación original fue hecha en 1962, así que la calidad de audio quizá no alcance los estándares que espera.