# SS 26.07.14 - Beethoven #4



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)*

Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60

1. Adagio - Allegro vivace
2. Adagio
3. Menuetto: Allegro vivace
4. Allegro ma non troppo

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

This weekend I'll go with my favorite recording of this particular Symphony...

View attachment 47361


Karl Bohm/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I'll try to join in, checked ArkivMusik's list of conductors who'd gone done the fourth, at least 87 if my quick adding up is about accurate... Won't listen to all tho..

I'll probably go for Charlie Mack's Hyperion recording with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra!










/ptr


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

I like this symphony a lot - obviously it tends to get overlooked.

Barenboim it will be, for me.


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## CyrilWashbrook (Feb 6, 2013)

Never listened to this one before, as far as I can recall. I'll go for Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for me.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I shall go for Abbado with the BPO as part of the box set


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Bernstein and the NYPO:


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*LvB*: Symphony 4, w. Columbia SO/Walter (rec.1958).


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I'll most likely work my 2 albums into the mix:



















If I get really keen, I might try something else on YT, too. I'll keep you all posted


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Vaneyes said:


> *LvB*: Symphony 4, w. Columbia SO/Walter (rec.1958).


Vaneyes, as always, speaks truth!


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## Rhythm (Nov 2, 2013)

I'll also listen to the Walter on Columbia Masterworks LP via YT.

*Symphony No.4 in B flat Major*, Op.60*N. Simrock score* deckle edge​


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## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

I would like to suggest this version.
It is Hans Schmidt- Isserstedt and the Wiener Philharmoniker, from 2012


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

Making this one another twofer. Arturo Toscanini leading the NBC Symphony Orchestra and an oddball choice in Bela Drahos leading the Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

csacks said:


> I would like to suggest this version.
> It is Hans Schmidt- Isserstedt and the Wiener Philharmoniker, from 2012


A fine conductor, but he died in 1973...


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Herbert Blomstedt & Staatskapelle Dresden


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2014)

Haitink and the LSO

View attachment 47420


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

By an unusual coincidence I'm listening to this at present, I didn't realise it was this weeks piece.

Presently I am listening to *Otto Klemperer *conducting the *Wiener Philharmoniker* from this excellent box set from Testament:









I will however be making time for *Carlos Kleiber's* superb recording with the *Bayerisches Staatsorchester*:









This is an unfairly overlooked piece, having the misfortune of being between the Eroica and Fifth Symphonies. Personally, it one of my favourites. I prefer it to both the Eroica, the Seventh and at present I'd put it a hair ahead of Fifth.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The best performance of the Beethoven #4 in my collection is Gunther Wand's.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

First time to join this Saturday tradition:

Osmo Vänskä / Minnesota Orchestra (BIS, 2005):


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

I went with Bernstein and the NY Phil, on Spotify.

I don't actually own a Beethoven #4 and this was pretty unfamiliar stuff (I have heard it live once, a long time ago, and I vaguely recognise it from BBC Radio 3 broadcasts over the years). A bright and exuberant symphony, given a fairly laid back interpretation (though I don't have a yardstick with which to compare this '4th', the 5th it's paired with has very slow tempi at times). I need to give some other versions a listen now.

*Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 4 In B-flat Major*
(Symphony No. 5 In C Minor) 
Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic
Sony Classical, 2010 (rec. 1962)]


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Alypius said:


> First time to join this Saturday tradition:
> 
> Osmo Vänskä / Minnesota Orchestra (BIS, 2005):


Yes, the Vanska/Minnesota cycle is among my favourites of recent years. It's a pity it is so seldom mentioned...


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## omega (Mar 13, 2014)

I'll go with

- John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Romantique et Révolutionnaire









- Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker, taken from this set


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## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

KenOC said:


> A fine conductor, but he died in 1973...


It is true KenOC. It is a set released by Decca on Dec 10, 2012. The performance are from the 60s. My mistake


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Haydn man said:


> View attachment 47371
> 
> I shall go for Abbado with the BPO as part of the box set


Having listened to this I must say I found it a somewhat measured performance with beautiful playing from the BPO.
Overall most enjoyable


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

- Zinman doesn't work for all of Beethoven's symphonies, but on the more classical ones like Symphony No. 4, he's really good.
- The complete opposite could be said for Karajan, he does better in the heavier romantic sounding symphonies, but his No. 4 from the 1963 cycle is very excellent.


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## Rhythm (Nov 2, 2013)

While listening the third time to the Walter on Columbia Masterworks LP posted here, I casually searched for another, finding this live performance, which compared to the usual robust orchestral sounds became a delight to the ears with period horns, trumpets and winds.

*Symphony No.4 in B flat Major**, Op.60* | Beethoven 
Emmanuel Krivine conducted the Chambre Philharmonique​







^ may or may not be an appropriate cover

*Score* pdfAdagio, meter 2/2, score p 3; Allegro vivace, meter 2/2, score p 6
Adagio, meter 3/4, mark 11:30, score p 35
Menuetto; Allegro vivace, meter 3/4, mark 20:10, score p 54
Allegro ma non troppo, meter 2/4, mark 25:58, score p 73​
*Here's the home-page French*, from which I edited


> Born under the aegis of Emmanuel Krivine, the Chambre Philharmonique has produced a utopia. A new kind of orchestra consisting of musicians from the best European teams motivated by the same musical desire: the Chambre Philharmonique has generated enthusiastic discovery of a new adventure in the heart of music. With a unique architecture, in which instrumentalists and Chief coexist with the same status, recruitment by cooptation favors affinity. Research for specific projects, the Chambre Philharmonique has become a place of educational and musical exchanges, finding historical instruments and techniques appropriate to selections in the repertoire.


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## aimee (Nov 7, 2013)

^^ love it! Thank you.
With comforts at home, listening and viewing the performance on screen at the same time (to me) is more enjoyable than just listening to the recordings while on the run or at work


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