Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" (orch. Weingartner)

Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Felix Weingartner (Conductor), London Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Felix Weingartner
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (August 17, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0002C9UFM
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,327 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Curious you must be..., January 8, 2005

By 

J. F. Laurson (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" (orch. Weingartner) (Audio CD)

You may have heard Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies. They are fine works and an interesting way to listen to all-too-familiar masterpieces. Their reason for existance was the spread of Beethoven's music when symphonic concerts were rare and out of the reach for most people - not to mention the unavailability of sound recordings. In this role-reversal, Weingartner took the Hammerklavier sonata and orchestrated it during a time where recordings were still nascent and piano recitals few and far between.

Though certainly symphonic in length, op.106 does not seem to be particularly suited to such treatment and the very notion defies all our sensibilities of Werktreue. Still, it's a curious and curious-making monument of Weingartner's admiration of Beethoven. I am not sure if it reveals much new about the work and I am certain that it sounds better on the piano. Charles Rosen thought it "silly". The 1930's sound, remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn, is restricted and full of hiss (though listenable). The Prometheus Overture and 5th Symphony (1933) feature the LPO in a bad accoustic and are not even Weingartner's best recordings thereof. Still, it's "interesting" in the more flattering meaning of the word for hearing the "Hammerklavier" strung up... at least for the very, very curious of us.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Merely OK Fifth, Messy 'Hammerklavier', August 24, 2004

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" (orch. Weingartner) (Audio CD)

I've been raving about Naxos's (and Mark Obert-Thorn's) transfers of Felix Weingartner's Beethoven recordings and with this issue we come to the end of the series. It includes his 1933 Beethoven Fifth Symphony which is, frankly, not among its great recordings. It has some drama, nuanced phrasing, competent playing by the London Philharmonic, and some of Weingartner's expected finesse. But when compared with Weingartner's great recording of the Fifth from 1932 with the sadly short-lived British Symphony Orchestra (see my review of that release) it simply falls short. When coupled with a very nearly unlistenable recording of Weingartner's own orchestration of the 'Hammerklavier' Piano Sonata this CD becomes the only weak link in this otherwise commendable series. There is a marvelous recording, from 1933, of Beethoven's 'Creatures of Prometheus' Overture, but those five minutes are not enough to make this CD a must except for Weingartner completists.

Now a further word about the orchestration of the 'Hammerklavier.' The orchestra here, the Royal Philharmonic, is guilty of sloppy playing and some execrable tuning. Further, the recording itself is in shrill and constricted sound with distortion, clipping and pitch instability that wizard Obert-Thorn was unable to improve very much. Then there's the orchestration itself. If ever there was a piano piece that requires the tactility of the piano, it's the 'Hammerklavier.' Just listen to that first left-hand leap in the bass; it is extraordinarily difficult to pull off for a pianist, but the orchestra can, of course, do it easily. Surely Beethoven wanted the listener to react to the physical strain of that left-hand maneuver, don't you think? Finally, there are so many places where piano figuration simply doesn't translate well into instrumental sound. A perfect example would be the filigree in some of the variations in the Adagio movement. They sound, to quote Charles Rosen, 'silly' in the orchestra, where they are beautiful on the piano. The fourth movement fugue is smeared by the RPO and even if it were played beautifully it would still sound 'silly.'

My advice: unless you are Weingartner completist, avoid this issue. It is fine as a historical document, but not as a musical experience.

Scott Morrison

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weingartner's Orchestration of the Hammerklavier Sonata, December 12, 2008

By 

Yari Ostovany "Opus125 Arts" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5; Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier" (orch. Weingartner) (Audio CD)

The string orchestra versions of the late quartets of Beethoven cast a warm and rich spell on the listener mainly because they are not re-orchestrations which we are faced with, but an enlargement, a strengthening of the voices and the timbres already present in the work.

This insight into the beautifully mysterious and sublime late string quartets of Beethoven was first brought forth by Serge Koussevitzky and then by his prodigy Leonard Bernstein. Since then we have had recordings by Andre Previn and as of late, Murray Perahia.

Weingartner's orchestration of Beethoven's late piano sonata, the Hammerklavier is however a different story.

Weingartner's orchestration uses the same orchestral forces as in the 5th symphony which in itself is quite problematic since Beethoven's orchestrations can really never be second guessed, as brilliantly illustrated by Bernstein in his orchestral presentation and discussion of Beethoven's sketches to the first movement of the 5th symphony itself.

Another aspect is the sense of scale (not to be confused with size) having to do with internal sense of proportions and relationships.. Having had seen reproductions of paintings of Salvador Dali in art books, I was quite surprised when I saw the originals to find out that some of the canvases were very small in size. I expected them to be huge. They were in a way; they had an enormous inner scale despite their small size. It is the same with Beethoven's late piano sonatas in particular the Hammerklavier. The late quartets are intimate pieces that can benefit from the extra dimension that the enlargement of the orchestral forces bring. The Hammerklavier however is already "symphonic" in scale. A precious little stone with the soul of a mountain. How can we add to that?