Customer Reviews

Symphony 3 & 8

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

 

 

Having performed the "Eroica" for many years now one get pretty intimate with the recorded legacy left on CD from the golden age of record...and much to my surprise we have here one of the finest examples of just how finely wrought Steinberg's ideas about Beethoven are..there is a giant swagger and robustness of approach that surely reccommends itself here. None of this Toscannini copying or emulation...instead the structural integrity of this music is left unsullied by tempi nit-picking.

What one hears is an orchestra that is allowed to make a really wide dynamic...not this smooothly glossy overly even sound one hears from Cleveland on occassion.

Szell was always a dissapointment to me in Beethoven...he was always choosing tempos that were too slow or too fast for a given movement. Here, instead we are served up Beethoven instead of a fussy ready-made peurile Szell interpretation. Another aspect of Steinberg's immense artisty was his ideas on orchestral sound...there is none of this obscession with blend we get with Szell...instead woodwinds and brass sound like woodwinds and brass....

This is well worth investigating if you are a serious collector!

This is a great version of the eroica symphony. Maestro Steinberg was one of those complete conductors in the same vein as George Szell except with more heart. Concentration and intensity are maintained from the first bar to the last and the Pittsburgh ensemble plays with dedication and expressiveness. The first movement is majestic and powerfull. The tragedy and strength of the 2nd movement are brought forth with a rock solid concentration and perfect tempo. It is a such a powerful moment that you feel as if BEETHOVEN is present. The scherzo is playfull and joyous with the the PITTSBURGH ensemble expressing delight in this wonderful movement. The fourth movement is a expression of victory for the warrior of this mighty score and STEINBERG brings this forth with clarity and dignity. I have heard plenty of BEETHOVENS 3rd from SZELL to KLEMPERER and i consider this version to be the definitive version. All the ingredients are there and the inspiraion flows like water.

Essential.

What a performance! I love it! I have always enjoyed Steinberg and the Pittsburgh in the Brahms Symphonies. I was so much up into Szell and Karajan in the Beethoven Symphonies. I heard Steinberg's 3rd and I almost lost it! It sounded like Bruno Walter with Szell coaching. I love it! I wanted more. But, where do you get more? I went to ebay and found a Beethoven set on lp. I am currently in the process of remastering these to CD. Every one of these symphonies are marvelous. The recording engineers did a marvelous job. It's really hard to believe that I now rank this set beside the Karajan 1963 set. What a wonderful discovery! It's a crime EMI has not re-issued the entire set.

William Steinberg was a connoisseur's Beethoven conductor. He recorded the complete symphonies in stereo for Command, of which Nos. 2,4, and 7 were issued on CD by MCA. What we have here is an earlier monaural recording. The Eroica is from 1955, while the Eighth is from a year earlier. The Eroica has some of the finest monaural sound I've ever heard. The blend of the different sections of the orchestra is beautiful. Dynamics are faithfully rendered, and the sound of the orchestra simply glows. For Steinberg, the sound of a Beethoven symphony must be euphonious. There is nothing eccentric about his Eroica. The orchestra is allowed to shine at sane, sensible tempos, and the whole has a structural integrity rarely equalled on record. I would say that this and Felix Weingartner's 78 rpm version are my favorite recordings of the work. In the Eighth, the recorded sound has slightly less depth, but is still very good. This is an uptempo, spirited version, straightforward without any tricks. This CD is an essential component in William Steinberg's recorded legacy.