# SS 12.09.15 - Beethoven #1



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)*

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

1. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio
2. Andante cantabile con moto
3. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace
4. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace

---------------------

Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Ah, Beethoven's 1st. One of my favorite Symphonies! I love this work, especially the Menuetto. I have so many recordings it's tough to pick one but this weekend I'll go with:

View attachment 74978


Leonard Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic


----------



## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

*In which there will be Beethoven*



realdealblues said:


> I have so many recordings it's tough to pick one


And having any streaming service only makes it worse! Anyways, I'll pick two completely different approaches:















Herbert von Karajan with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Jos van Immerseel with Anima Eterna.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I listened to Norrington/LCP just the other day. Tomorrow I'll go for David Zinman/Zurich and/or Wyn Morris/LSO:


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I listen to this symphony a lot, one of my all time favourites. It was one of the very first classical LP's I owned in a performance by the Bamburg Symphony. For this weekend I'll start with another favourite - Monteux/Vienna and then probably sample a couple others.


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

My old standby, Cluytens and the Berlin Philharmonic.


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I shall start with this version but will try some alternatives time permitting


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I'll give this one a shot since I have his cycle anyway:


----------



## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

I'll listen to the Staatskapelle Dresden with Herbert Blomstedt recorded 1976


----------



## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra u. Ferenc Fricsay (Heliodor LP)

One of the first Beethoven LP's I ever bought!

/ptr


----------



## Eramirez156 (Mar 25, 2015)

I too am starting with *Monteux* and *Vienna*, CD 8 from the 
*Decca Vienna Phiharmoniker* box set









*Vienna Philharmonic*
*Pierre Monteux*

recorded 20-24 April 1960


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Eramirez156 said:


> I too am starting with *Monteux* and *Vienna*, CD 8 from the
> *Decca Vienna Phiharmoniker* box set
> 
> View attachment 75020
> ...


What is this set? Does it have the complete Monteux Beethoven symphony cycle? If so, what Ninth did they include? I have a complete Monteux cycle from two different sets of 4 symphonies and two different Ninths.


----------



## Eramirez156 (Mar 25, 2015)

Florestan said:


> What is this set? Does it have the complete Monteux Beethoven symphony cycle? If so, what Ninth did they include? I have a complete Monteux cycle from two different sets of 4 symphonies and two different Ninths.


The box set is *the Decca Wiener Philharmoniker Edition*, different conductors leading the Beethoven symphonies.

http://www.amazon.com/Wiener-Philha...442011910&sr=1-2&keywords=vienna+philharmonic


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Eramirez156 said:


> The box set is *the Decca Wiener Philharmoniker Edition*, different conductors leading the Beethoven symphonies.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Wiener-Philha...442011910&sr=1-2&keywords=vienna+philharmonic


Nice assemblage of conductors for Beethoven's symphonies: Monteux, Kleiber, Schmidt-Isserstedt, Solti, Abbado. Not a bad price new either.


----------



## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

I am very fond of this work. I'll go for the trifecta.

Vänskä with Minnesota; John Nelson with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris; and Bernstein with Vienna.


----------



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

This time I pick Vänskä & Minnesota.


----------



## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

as with a number of other 'posters' this is one of my favourite symphonies and therefore today I will use this as an opportunity to listen to three interpretations;-

Anima Eterna/Jos van Immerseel

ORR/Gardiner

BPO/von Karajan (the 80'S cycle)


----------



## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Wow, don't know this one very well at all.

I'll see what Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan have to say.


----------



## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Herbert van Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic

Since I already had this set out for the 8th I'll continue on with the 1st.


----------



## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

I do not own a recording of Beethoven #1 and although the music is familiar in places I don't know it at all well.

I wanted to go with Gardiner and the ORR but I found this first:

Beethoven - Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 21
Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Johannes Goritzki
[Claves, 1991]

Which is jolly good, actually










Gardiner and the ORR [DG, 1994] were to follow:










...and this version was very impressive indeed, clearly articulated with transparent textures.


----------



## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I am going to follow Jeff W's example and choose two different recordings with two different approaches.

For a historically informed perspective I will be listening to the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen.

For a more modern recording, I will be listening to Stanisław Skrowaczewski & his Saarbrücken Forces.


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*LvB*: Symphony 1, w. CSO/Solti. Recorded November 1989, Orchestra Hall, Chicago. Recording Engineer: Stan Goodall.


----------



## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Herbert Kegel, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra


----------



## Autocrat (Nov 14, 2014)

This is all I have:


----------



## PeterF (Apr 17, 2014)

I just checked and found I have 8 versions of this symphony. Quite recently I have listened to versions by Montreux and Walter.
So the one I will listen to now is the more recent recording by Vanska .


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

When I listen to #1, I normally choose Walter. Faithful and ingratiating. But I can't think of a recording I don't like. From a contemporary review:

"The third (concert), on November 15th, began with the excellent Symphony in C Major by Beethoven that was received with so much well-deserved applause in last year's concerts...This great symphony, this wonderful clear masterwork by B. which is full of harmony and still lacks all bizarre elements, was executed with taste and energy. How splendidly did the first Allegro sway back and forth in its emotional storms and effects! How pleasantly did the Quasi-Allegretto calm the excited senses! How unsurpassingly beautifully did the wind instruments play the 'singing' in the Trio of the minuet, in which the violins executed the progressing motions in entire synchrony!"


----------



## kanishknishar (Aug 10, 2015)

i will try and listen to rattle/wp


----------



## BartokPizz (Oct 26, 2014)

I am sorry I missed this SS, but by chance listened to numerous renditions of this symphony last week. A performance of it was aired on Performance Today, and then it appeared as background music in this Bernie Sanders video:



__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=901074399947565



Anyway, this is one of my favorite symphonies. It really opened up to me after I read Charles Rosen's analysis which shows how it reworks themes from a number of works by Haydn and especially Mozart, including the Jupiter Symphony (main theme of Mvmt. 1 in each work) and the Dissonance Quartet (2nd theme in Mvmt. 4 of each work).

Szell: Cleveland are great in this symphony.


----------



## kanishknishar (Aug 10, 2015)

truly terrible. not recommended. rattle does not know how to hold a baton.


----------

