Beethoven at the Proms

[Barrymagrec]

He is a great Beethoven interpreter as a soloist and he has chosen to take on a mammoth task with all nine symphonies performed with a young, relatively inexperienced orchestra from the Middle East- who are not the European Youth Orchestra or the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. The performances they have produced together are creditable but they are different from the product that would have resulted from a tour with the BPO, CSO, Concertgebouw or the two above.

I think that is a reasonable summing up of the Proms performances, They weren`t very bad but not memorable. Best was the 8th in my opinion. It was a huge undertaking and hopefully they will improve.

 

[hammeredklavier]

I think that is a reasonable summing up of the Proms performances, They weren`t very bad but not memorable. Best was the 8th in my opinion. It was a huge undertaking and hopefully they will improve.

Trouble is, there're so many great recordings of the Beethoven symphonies that you've really got to pull something stunning to measure up. It's very familiar music, you've got to do something really really special to make it come alive for audiences today. (Something especially good I mean, not eccentric!)

 

[Tony L]

I really enjoyed the program about Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and his approach to Beethoven that was shown on the BBC after the 9th at the Proms. It's a mistake in a way to view these performances purely qualitatively, it's more about allowing the music to transcend idiotic nationalism and religious bigotry of the present day. Barenboim is unquestionably one of the good guys IMO and this project has to be applauded even if the actual playing may never attain the heights of the BPO or whatever. I was also delighted to see him recognised at the Olympic opening ceremony too (he was one of the Olympic flag carriers).

 

[PsB]

Trouble is, there're so many great recordings of the Beethoven symphonies that you've really got to pull something stunning to measure up. It's very familiar music, you've got to do something really really special to make it come alive for audiences today. (Something especially good I mean, not eccentric!)

I would agree with you if you were talking about a new recording - we don't need more average recordings of these pieces. But I don't agree when it comes to a performance. I'll take a decent, competent rendering of any of Beethoven's symphonies quite happily. Not every day of course, but they are very enjoyable occasionally even if the conductor or the orchestra don't offer a stellar performance (stellar tends to be quite rare). I hope audiences are not bored/blasé/spoilt to the point where they demand the extraordinary in order for the music to come alive for them. The pleasure of hearing the symphony played live offsets a lot, at least for me.

 

[Del monaco]

Caught some of the 9th on the radio the other day and didn't like it. He can do the business when the fancy takes him though - have you heard the recent recordings of the Bruckner 7 and the Liszt concertos with Boulez? Pretty stellar, although he isn't someone who's interested me much over the years for whatever reason.

His Bruckner is more interesting.I've a recording of the eighth that is decent and beautifully played but he appears lose tension and momentum sometimes?I find this with Karajan's interpretations where beauty of sound seems to take presidence. Szell, Bohm and Jochum all had greater control of the architecture Bruckner's symphonies. And Wand wasn't too shoddy either.I will listen to the Seventh though.
Del