# Your Favorite of these four Szell Beethoven 5ths



## SixFootScowl

Cleveland:





Amsterdam:





Vienna:




Sorry, this one is in four different videos. Here are Movements II, III, and IV.

Dresden:


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## Triplets

I've only heard the Cleveland and the Amsterdam recordings, and haven't heard the latter for about the last 30 years. If I recall, it was a shade more relaxed than the Cleveland recording. I would like to hear the other two but probably won't have time for a while...


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## SixFootScowl

This is due for a revival, so I am pulling it up the list. Need/want more votes and more discussion.


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## Heck148

I prefer the one he did with Chicago - on DVD - from 12/61


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## Pugg

From the four you mentioned I prefer : Amsterdam
Good second Vienna.


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## lluissineu

Hi. I've just joined your forum (I'm a new Kid in town)
I've got in cd Cleveland and Concertgebouw and in a podcast Dresde (from an spanish radio program, where it was presented as, perhaps, the best 5th ever recorded).
I admit the Concertgebouw Is my favourite Orchestra but that's not the point. I voted for the Ámsterdam recording but as Far as I,m concerned the best 1st movement Is the cleveland's.
Best wishes to all.


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## Pugg

lluissineu said:


> Hi. I've just joined your forum (I'm a new Kid in town)
> I've got in cd Cleveland and Concertgebouw and in a podcast Dresde (from an spanish radio program, where it was presented as, perhaps, the best 5th ever recorded).
> I admit the Concertgebouw Is my favourite Orchestra but that's not the point. I voted for the Ámsterdam recording but as Far as I,m concerned the best 1st movement Is the cleveland's.
> Best wishes to all.


Welcome to Talk Classical, have a nice time amongst us.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Toss up between Cleveland and Amsterdam for me. Listening to those recordings reminds me why Szell is one of the best.


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## Brahmsian Colors

I have Szell's Cleveland and Amsterdam performances on vinyl. As far as I can tell, his interpretations seem pretty similar. I think the chief differences between the two relate to how they were recorded and the location they were recorded in. Cleveland's home is (was) Severance Hall; Amsterdam's venue has long been the Concertgebouw. The latter offers a warmer, more burnished sound while the former, renovated during the time Szell conducted, increased the degree of reflectiveness of the hall's surface structures, thereby imparting a more brilliant acoustic. Though both renditions are very fine, my preference is for the Cleveland performance, which seems to reveal more about the kind of detail and expression Szell wanted to convey with his orchestra.


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