# A wonderful "Eroica"



## Guest (Sep 28, 2020)

Just what I need today when under severe stress: this is keeping me sane.






Period instruments: magnificent.


----------



## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

Good performance, but standing for 50 minutes in a cramped space must have been tiring.


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Very interesting performance. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Christabel said:


> Just what I need today when under severe stress: this is keeping me sane.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Indeed, a stunning performance. Quite fresh and refreshing.

I guess that Beethoven fellow really did know what he was doing when he originally chose to write for and use "period" instruments!


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2020)

My ex daughter-in-law has been helping with a family crisis. She's gone all religious (at 44 and after treatment for metastatic breast cancer) and she talks about Jesus. I told her I wasn't this way inclined but that the path to spirituality could be completed in more ways than religion and I named Beethoven. It was a foreign concept to her, but eventually she did get what I was talking about. Listening to the "Eroica" is the godhead for me!!

What I notice about this particular performance is the 'conversations' between the various instruments and orchestral sections!! I have heard this orchestra in Vienna a couple of times in concert. Wunderbah!!


----------



## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Aurelian said:


> Good performance, but standing for 50 minutes in a cramped space must have been tiring.


Choristers do it all the time.


----------



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

It's a terrific 3rd from an excellent cycle.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

SONNET CLV said:


> I guess that Beethoven fellow really did know what he was doing when he originally chose to write for and use "period" instruments!


So he was a HIPpie:
I'm just so tired of the HIP mafia!


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> So he was a HIPpie:
> I'm just so tired of the HIP mafia!


HIP, HIP hooray.


----------



## Guest (Sep 30, 2020)

Christabel said:


> *What I notice about this particular performance is the 'conversations' between the various instruments and orchestral sections!!* I have heard this orchestra in Vienna a couple of times in concert. Wunderbah!!


A very enjoyable performance on period instruments. However, already done - and better, in my opinion - by Gardiner and his *Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique*. See the BBC 2003 film "Eroica", which is available on YouTube.

I cannot believe - I am astonished to hear - that this is the first time you have noticed the 'conversations' between the various instruments and orchestral sections. What on earth could be clearer from even a superficial persusal/hearing of the score?
I'm therefore not surprised you have problems with a more contemporary repertoire.


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I find the juicy, substantial woodwind parts to be very much lacking...the original instruments simply don't project.....perhaps the string section is too big for the balance....Beethoven wrote wonderful woodwind parts, and the Eroica is a great showpiece....one reason that i much prefer modern instruments.


----------



## Guest (Sep 30, 2020)

TalkingHead said:


> A very enjoyable performance on period instruments. However, already done - and better, in my opinion - by Gardiner and his *Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique*. See the BBC 2003 film "Eroica", which is available on YouTube.
> 
> I cannot believe - I am astonished to hear - that this is the first time you have noticed the 'conversations' between the various instruments and orchestral sections. What on earth could be clearer from even a superficial persusal/hearing of the score?
> I'm therefore not surprised you have problems with a more contemporary repertoire.


Do not compare contemporary repertoire with Beethoven. They are nowhere near the same ball park and I'm surprised you don't understand that.


----------



## Guest (Sep 30, 2020)

Heck148 said:


> I find the juicy, substantial woodwind parts to be very much lacking...the original instruments simply don't project.....perhaps the string section is too big for the balance....Beethoven wrote wonderful woodwind parts, and the Eroica is a great showpiece....one reason that i much prefer modern instruments.


Yes, this is the kind of sentiment often expressed by those who prefer the modern to the 'ancient'. For me, it's a very different sound world and the latter is the one Beethoven would have 'heard' during the composition process. The larger orchestral forces are fine indeed and often lush and more 'romantic', but I prefer the more austere approach where the different timbres of each instrument and section highlight the conversational elements much more sharply. I have both modern and ancient performances; I think the one I posted is particularly good because the forces are so much smaller and the work has more of a 'chamber' aesthetic. And, of course, instrument technology in the early 19th century didn't have the capabilities of projection like those of the modern orchestra.


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Very good performance. Still on my short list of greatest symphonies ever written.

Noticed he conducted the funeral march in four - which is how we tend to hear it -- even though it's written in two. To players: Does that make a difference in how you play it?


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Great performance but the sound of period instruments is not my thing. I much prefer the sweeter sound of modern instruments.


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Christabel said:


> For me, it's a very different sound world and the latter is the one Beethoven would have 'heard' during the composition process.


That, for me, is not particularly compelling...I don't really care how it sounded in Beethoven's/Bach's/Mozart's time.



> I prefer the more austere approach where the different timbres of each instrument and section highlight the conversational elements much more sharply.


That's what I find missing, to distraction, with this performance...the woodwinds are nearly inaudible...sounds like "Eroica" for strings and brass. A robust, hefty woodwind sonority is, for me, essential to Beethoven....he wrote great woodwind parts.

HIP has brought some good ideas into performance practice - smaller string sections, shorter bow strokes, shorter note values - not every sustained note gets a heavy, Romantic-style vibrato, etc...I find combining some of these ideas with modern instruments produces some excellent results.


----------

