# LVB Egmont Incidental Music, Op. 84--About Done With This One



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

As much as there is beautiful music in this opus, I just can't take the narration anymore. It is harsh and prone to cause anxiety in the listener. I can't delete the narration tracks without deleting a good bit of the music, as it is commingled.

Is there any recording of this that is done with all the music and without the narration?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

George Szell recorded it - the instrument parts, sans narration - for Decca with the Vienna Philharmonic. Szell at his finest - powerful, controlled, razor-sharp, etc. I have no idea if it's still available, at least on a single disk. I have it on one of those early Weekend Classics discs with a superb Eroica from Schmidt-Isserstedt. You can probably find it on eBay.


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

mbhaub said:


> George Szell recorded it - the instrument parts, sans narration - for Decca with the Vienna Philharmonic. Szell at his finest - powerful, controlled, razor-sharp, etc. I have no idea if it's still available, at least on a single disk. I have it on one of those early Weekend Classics discs with a superb Eroica from Schmidt-Isserstedt. You can probably find it on eBay.
> View attachment 148668


Yes yes! I have that fine disc and it has the Egmont that SixFoot desires, as well as my favorite Eroica.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

SearsPoncho said:


> Yes yes! I have that fine disc and it has the Egmont that SixFoot desires, as well as my favorite Eroica.


Has the singing part too?


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

SixFootScowl said:


> Has the singing part too?


I usually listen to this disc for the Eroica and listen to the Egmont Overture on another cd of Beethoven overtures Szell made with the Clevelanders. I don't believe this has the complete Egmont; it has selections with some soprano.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

This disk has one vocal selection. The excerpts were taken from Szell's recording of the complete music - with narration. That disk is easy to get. This one just has six selections - enough for me. I like the overture a lot, the rest no so much.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

SixFootScowl said:


> As much as there is beautiful music in this opus, I just can't take the narration anymore. It is harsh and prone to cause anxiety in the listener. I can't delete the narration tracks without deleting a good bit of the music, as it is commingled.
> 
> Is there any recording of this that is done with all the music and without the narration?


That is murdering the whole piece .


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Rogerx said:


> That is murdering the whole piece .


Might help if i read the English translation. Or better yet, is there a recording with the narration sung in English.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

SixFootScowl said:


> Might help if i read the English translation. Or better yet, is there a recording with the narration sung in English.


Or take a German language course.


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## 89Koechel (Nov 25, 2017)

mbhaub - Can you find any-BETTER, than Szell, in the "rest"? Inquiring minds would LIKE to know, in a response.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Rogerx said:


> Or take a German language course.


As much as I would like that, the task of learning German, or any language at this point in life is... well I would rather have root canal. Only language I ever studied was Greek and I know most of the letters and can crudely sound out words, but that's about as far as it goes.

But people cut the spiel out of singspiel all the time, so is it really that bad to chop Egmont? Not as bad as only listening to the overture?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I suspect this one may be free of narration, but hate to buy it (very expensive online) to find out.


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

I have it with Abaddo from a new year’s concert

There is a version by Judd on Naxos


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

89Koechel said:


> mbhaub - Can you find any-BETTER, than Szell, in the "rest"? Inquiring minds would LIKE to know, in a response.


I didn't mean Szell was below par - it's the music itself. Egmont is not Beethoven at his best. Szell, like usual, is fantastic. The Vienna Philharmonic played like gods for him, the recorded sound is excellent. I can't stand the narration of many works, not just Beethoven - I just want the music.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

As much as there is beautiful narration in this opus, I just can't take the music anymore. It is harsh and prone to cause anxiety in the listener. I can't delete the music tracks without deleting a good bit of the narration, as it is commingled.
Is there any recording of this that is done with all the narration and without the music?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

This is one I recommend --






Transferred on this rather wonderful CD









Which is still available by the looks of it

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8055873--hermann-scherchen-conducts-beethoven


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Maurice Abravanel recorded it with all the music and none of the narration. Its in a double CD with Schubert's Rosamunde and can be downloaded https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theate...gmont+abravanel&qid=1610386631&s=music&sr=1-2


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

Although I don't find the narration in _Egmont_ obtrusive I can see where Six Foot Scowl is coming from if I apply his way of thinking to another work. I have the Brahms song cycle _Die schöne Magelone_ and there is narration between _each_ song. Once you know the essence of the plot and have the texts of the actual songs the narration for _Die schöne Magelone_ can seem somewhat superfluous. On the other hand, I can't imagine Stravinsky's _The Soldier's Tale_ without it.

Carl Orff used much spoken narrative in many of his stage works - he thought narration should play just as much a part as singing, acting and music, but then a number of his stage works were as much plays as anything else and certainly weren't operatic in the conventional sense.


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