Customer Reviews

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no.6 "Pastoral" / Overtures

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

 

 

Karajan's 6th from the mid 1970's seems to have been panned by many reviewers. This is hands down my favorite Beethoven symphony, and my favorite version to boot. Yes, the performance is tight, full of energy and not 'pastoral' at all, but I cannot find a better recording. I think Karajan viewed this symphony less literally than its title suggests, and brings out a strength in the work others miss. If you want a pretty recording, Walter and the Columbia Symphony on CBS/Sony have a beautifully played, peaceful recording, but it sounds like a different work. Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 6 "Pastorale" If you are a fan of Karajan, and are not locked in by other performances, give this one a try.

Herbert Von Karajan is my idol, as far as conductors go, but he couldn't conduct a good "Pastoral" to save his life!!! He rushes through this like he wants to finish it as fast as possible. There's absolutely no charm in any of his versions of this great and beautiful symphony. This is one of the handful of great symphonies, and Karajan couldn't care less, which make's me very angry indeed!!! His 1962 version is worse than this one, but not by much. It deserves a one star rating and this I'll give a one and a half. I've looked at the timings of his last three "pastorals", and they are almost identical. I think they all have a total timing of 38 to 39 minutes. It's beyond me how your two previous reviewers could give this recording a four and five star rating. I think you guys need to go to music school and get some taste. I hate to disparage Karajan, because he is the greatest all around conductor there has ever been. It's a shame that over all his years of recording, he couldn't have gotten it right once, but I guess he had to trip up sometime. Don't buy this recording!!! There are plenty of great 6th's out there, like Jochum's, Cluyten's, Ashkenazy's, Hogwood's, Goodman's, Guilini, Walter's, Hickox, Weller, and several others. Karajan should bow his head in shame for the unkind treatment of this symphony!!!

P.S. I'm returning to add this little tid bit. I just aquired Karajan's Boxed set from the early to late 50's with the Philharmonia, and the 6th in this set is even faster than his last three recordings, which includes this one. I think that he played that pastoral in just under 37 minutes, which is super fast, almost faster than I've ever heard of this beautiful symphony ever being played. You might also stay away from the DG version by Bohm from 1972, but even it is better than this Karajan issue is. It's just the opposite. It's super slow, and a bad pastoral also. I would recommend the new EMI Gemini issue of Beethoven's 6th, 8th, and 9th symphonies by Guilini for a really good pastoral if you want, which is available right here on Amazon for probably around $8 to $10 for the two disc set. You just can't beat that price anywhere, and that Gemini series has great performances for the cheapest prices I've ever heard of. Bruno Walter does a very quick pastoral (though not as fast as Karajan), but with much better results than Karajan has. I just checked, and Amazon doesn't have the Gemini issue of the pastoral listed anymore by Guilini, so you might want to try Cd Universe to find it. Just stick with the Guilini or Walter versions that I mentioned and you'll do just fine.

This version of Beethoven's 6th has been much maligned by both professional critics and listeners. I think it's an underrated version. What I like about it is from a purely musical point of view, rather than a programmatic view. I still hear the "musical program" when I listen, actually I hear it strongly, but what I really like about this version is its power as pure music, rather than picture painting. It has more energy and drive than any version I have heard, but it also has detail and transparency. The sound is radiant. These performance characteristics hold the work together as a symphonic whole in a way that other more laid back, bucolic version often don't. This doesn't mean I don't value other more pastoral versions - I do. And it doesn't mean I think this is the greatest Beethove 6 ever - I don't. I just think it is worth listening to for it's unique majesty and sound quality. There's lots of realistic dynamic range in this version, so hopefully your speakers can withstand high output levels.

Puts the R back in Romantic. You get a sense of the wonder of the world around you that they tried to convey, 'erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande' is still one of the few pieces of music that can have tears streaming down my face with rapture

Like some of the other reviewers here, I am a big fan of most of Karajan's work. He was a brilliant conductor who managed to get a uniquely lush and vibrant sound out of his orchestra's. That being the case, it surprises me how unappealing his performances of the 6th pastoral symphony are. (to me at least.)

This one, for instance. It just doesn't sound like it's played with much warmth, sensitivity or attention to detail. The tempo is too fast, it sounds a bit harsh and loud in spots and overall, it just doesn't evoke the verdant countryside as well as it should.

Perhaps I am splitting hairs, the orchestra of course is a great one and it's marvelous music. But I would definitely advise looking into some other renditions of this fantastic symphony. Listen to Verdi's operas or Beethoven's 5th, 7th and 9th symphonies to hear Maestro Von Karajan at his best.

The pastoral mood of this wonderful composition is lost in this version. I have heard many others which are as good or better. Two other reviewers list a few and I would take any of those first. Perhaps Karajan - he made several cycles through Beethoven -- recorded a better version but I would recommend starting elsewhere and sticking with Karajan in Symphony #9 and perhaps #5. The recorded sound is good.

I wish I had read all the reviews of this album before I bought it. I figured you couldn't go wrong with Herbert Von Karajan, master that he is generally considered to be, but I was wrong.

The performance is almost bland, and is made almost unlistenable by the expanded volume dynamics, i.e., if you set the volume level so you can hear the soft opening bars, you will be blown out of your seat and running for the volume control when it gets louder. Really unbearable.

WHAT CAN YOU SAY... QUALLITY RECORDING , ONE OF THE BEST VERSIONS I OWN . YOU WILL LOVE IT !

Out of all the Beethoven's 6th symphony's recordings, this one is the best. Karajan with the Berlin Phil is definitely the best when it comes on Beethoven's sixth. (For the Eroica Symphony, I like Solti's the best, and for the fifth and ninth symphony, I like Bernstein's performance the best.)

Too bad it's not pure digital stereo, you know, the ones made during the late seventies and beyond. If it is, this could have been even better. If you just want Beethoven's sixth, regardless of who the conductor is, or the ensemble, or the recording company, this is definitely a CD to buy. You would like some overtures too.

I like this symphony very much. Most of all I reco mend this album. Why? very wonderful.