Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ~ Previn

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Don't get me wrong, I love Andre Previn and overall I enjoy this disc. However, he is not helped by inferior sound. I found it a bit cloudy and difficult to hear at times. The playing of the RPO is surely fine and the soloists(particularly the two male soloists) do an excellent job. For better recorded sound you might try Gunter Wand on RCA, or Giuseppe Sinopoli with the Staatskapelle Dresden on Deutsche Grammophon. Bernstein's second recording of the Ninth with the Vienna Philharmonic also has outstanding sound coupled with a great performance.

Every big-name conductor gets a try at the Beethoven Ninth, and some, like Charles Munch, Solti, and Andre Previn on this CD, come up very, very short. Previn is bland to the point of incredulity in the first movement, whose slackness couldn't be greater. The same holds true for the sublime Adagio, which here comes off as a limp series of phrases with no conneciton. The Scherzo proceeds proficienlty enough, and the vocal quartet, recruited from the Met despite the London locale of the recording, are fine. but the conducting remains sluggish to the end. The sonics from 1988 are resonant but otherwise natural. Anyway, why bother with details when the conductor is at such a loss?

This is a pretty listless performance. I've now heard all of Previn's Beethoven recordings. Not much life except in the 5th and some of the overtures. As far as the 9th, this probably doesn't rank in the top 50 available recordings. Look elsewhere.