# "Great Conductors Do Not Dance": A Steinberg Appreciation - Part Two



## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Sharing Disc #1 with the Eroica is a performance of Beethoven's Eighth Symphony made within about a year or two of its companion. As good as the Eroica was, this recording is even more satisfying.

It isn't up to current-day recording standards, of course. But, gone is that slightly restricted sound in the fortissimo parts that plagued, particularly, the first movement of the Third. In fact, the recording standard seems to be up to the best of the pre-digital era.

And, the performance is wonderful. As is often true with Steinberg, there is nothing obtrusive or anything at all that gets in the way of the music. In short, no dancing conductor. But, the execution is phenomenal. I've heard many Eighths performed by traditional orchestras, but I have never heard the articulation in the strings that I hear in this performance. Pay particular attention to the fast and furious parts of the finale. This is world-class playing from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

The Eighth might be the "weal sister" of the Beethoven symphonies for some, but a performance like this makes me love it.


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