# Beethoven - Symphony No. 2



## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

How do you rate this piece? Here below you find a recording of the Wiener Philarmoniker with Abbado, but you have to go in youtube to watch the video.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

HansZimmer said:


> How do you rate this piece?


Love it, great to play, also...faves:
Walter/NYPO
Szell/CO
Solti/CSO
Toscanini/NBC
Reiner/PittsSO...


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Not my favorite Beethoven...one of the least popular, too.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Excellent, and to my ears much better than the first symphony. Surely one of my favorite Beethoven pieces from his early period. Listen with Bernstein/NYP for a thrilling experience.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

My least favourite Beethoven symphony but still a fine one.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

It's probably the only Beethoven symphony I'd describe as underrated. I rate it above 1 and 6 and almost equal with 4 and 8. The 2nd movement is one of the best orchestral slow movements by Beethoven.


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## MusicInTheAir (Apr 21, 2007)

I'm not being a troll when I say I prefer this symphony to the 5th (and 1st). Which isn't to say I don't enjoy the 1st (or a very occasional listening of the 5th). I agree with Kreisler's statement about the second movement. Love it.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

It’s a piece I really enjoy - I tend to prefer the even numbered Symphonies and the Ninth more than the other odd numbered Symphonies.

It’s a step forward from the First Symphony and shows Beethoven’s progression. It isn’t necessarily his greatest or my favourite of his Symphonies but it is a strong work which I do return to more often than some of his more popular pieces.

As far as recordings go, there’s no shortage of good recordings in different styles but some of my favourites in no particular order include:

Kletzki/Czech Philharmonic
Beecham/Royal Philharmonic
Klemperer/Philharmonia
Mackerras/Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Wand/NDR


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Fantastic symphony, as are all of Beethoven's.


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

I feel like the last 2 movements are a bit of a let down compared to the first 2, I think I prefer the first but I love them all to be honest. I have only ever listened to Szell but I might need a fresh look. Wand or Bernstein maybe


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

EvaBaron said:


> I feel like the last 2 movements are a bit of a let down compared to the first 2, I think I prefer the first but I love them all to be honest. I have only ever listened to Szell but I might need a fresh look. Wand or Bernstein maybe


I agree with this. The last two movements are much smaller in scale and lighter in touch than the first two, that I also prefer. Nonetheless I must say that I still quite enjoy that hiccup motif joke in the finale, I think that it's a very original and fun movement.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I'm always sure those first two blasts of music in the opening measures (I suspect we don't call them "chords" since they consist of what seems just the "D" note played by the entire orchestra) ... I'm always sure those first two notes of the Beethoven Second Symphony is the composer proclaiming: "I'm back", though I'm not really sure how they would fit into German language syllable-try.

"I'm back!"

Maybe Beethoven was thinking in English the day he sketched that opening. In any case, he certainly was back and with the first of his symphonies that really sounds like nobody else but Beethoven. For as much as I love the First Symphony (likely the one I've heard more times than any of the others), I still see Papa Haydn staring over Ludwig's shoulder as he draws those notes on the manuscript paper. If I get any picture of Haydn with Beethoven in the midst of the ceation of the Second Symphony, it is of the elder composer lying prone on the floor in a state of shock.

I'm listening to the Beethoven Second as I write. The Skrowaczewski reading with the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, from the big box set _Skrowaczewski The Complete Oehms Classics Recordings_, CD 14. I had this box set handy while I was listening through the Schumann symphonies, all four included in this set. All of the Beethovens are here, too. Sckrowaczewski's Beethoven First times in at a bit over 24 minutes. The Second clocks at 32:40, over half an hour. Not only is Beethoven getting more Beethoveny, he's getting "bigger". And better. But maybe that's part of what's behind becoming Beethoven?

In any case, I join those who prove fans of the Second Symphony. Heck! This is Beethoven! What can one expect but greatness!?

He's back! 

____

As I listen to the music of the closing pages of this Beethoven Second Symphony, and as I reflect upon the progress the composer makes from Symphony No. 1 to Symphony No. 2, there seems still no indication of what is to come by way of his next symphonic creation, the "Eroica"! If the Second knocks Papa Haydn for a loop into unconsciousness, the Third would certainly finish the job, it seems. What did Haydn die from anyhow? It seems the _Eroica_ was first performed in 1805. Did Haydn ever hear this work, or read through the score. Is this the symphony of which he reputedly said was "much too long, too loud (and bombastic) and would never become popular"? I understand Haydn was in great decline of health from 1805 till his death in May of 1809. Beethoven was on the verge of a "new world" (of sound) at the time. What were Haydn's thoughts? I wonder: did he ever hear that Beethoven Second Symphony?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Kreisler jr said:


> ...The 2nd movement is one of the best orchestral slow movements by Beethoven.,


Yes indeed, the writing for woodwinds and horns is exquisite...


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

EvaBaron said:


> I feel like the last 2 movements are a bit of a let down compared to the first 2, I think I prefer the first but I love them all to be honest. I have only ever listened to Szell but I might need a fresh look. Wand or Bernstein maybe


I agree about the third movement, but I think that the fourth one is good.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

The last Symphony before the greatness starts. But still quite good. Most Composers would be happy to Compose those first 2 Symphonies.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Perhaps his best on the even-numbered shorter symphonies. Not the equal of No. 6 of course but better than the others. One of the better ones to be performed period format. Ansermet's 1950s version preceded that and has all the clarity of line and ferocity we later heard from Norrington.

I shudder to think people actually voted saying Beethoven No. 2 was horrible or quite bad. One would have to have two tin ears to say such about any Beethoven symphony.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Kreisler jr said:


> It's probably the only Beethoven symphony I'd describe as underrated. I rate it above 1 and 6 and almost equal with 4 and 8. The 2nd movement is one of the best orchestral slow movements by Beethoven.


Why would you rate 6 so low? Strange.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

It is a great symphony. It was the last I got to know very well. When I was less familiar with it and heard it on the radio blind, I was very impressed. It has an abundance of Beethovenian drive, but also a freshness to it.


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