advertisement


John Eliot Gardiner - Beethoven Symphonies.

B

Basil

Harbethian
My first 'original instruments' set of the symphonies and wow, definite 'wish I'd bought these when they were first released' moment.

Highlight is the 'Eroica', best third I've heard, by quite a margin.

Not played the ninth yet, saving it for the weekend...

4 & 8 up tonight...

more to follow.

For those interested, I followed my own 'rule of eight' I listen to two symphonies a night, their combined number totalling 8, ie: 1 & 7, 2 & 6, 3 & 5, 4 & 8 (I know) then 9
 
Well I bought the 5 and 7 with Kleiber (C) on Tuesday - very impressed with the 7th,going to try and get time to listen to 5th tonight
 
The Gardiner 5 & 7... I think are better than the Kleiber (C)... :eek:

Has Basil finally lost it?

It's a close thing with the 5th but the 7th is a no contest, hands down win for John Eliot and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...

For £15 this set is a no brainer...
 
Barrymagrec said:
Well I think so - actually if it wasn`t for the fact that Mrs BM has a book habit the way I have a CD habit it could be more of a problem.
Click to expand...

My better-half has more CDs than I do... she thinks it's the only reason I asked her out... tsch... women...
 
I bought them when they first came out - sneaked out of the shop with them hidden in a plain brown wrapper. I think they're great but have never been able to admit it online before. Gulp.
 
Basil said:
My first 'original instruments' set of the symphonies and wow, definite 'wish I'd bought these when they were first released' moment.

Highlight is the 'Eroica', best third I've heard, by quite a margin.

Not played the ninth yet, saving it for the weekend...

4 & 8 up tonight...

more to follow.

For those interested, I followed my own 'rule of eight' I listen to two symphonies a night, their combined number totalling 8, ie: 1 & 7, 2 & 6, 3 & 5, 4 & 8 (I know) then 9
Click to expand...

My Mother gave me these last Christmas, an inspired choice. I agree that they are quite wonderful. I have not heard of the rule of 8 before but its seems worthy of consideration. A friend loaned me a DG Herbert von Karajan 1-9 on vinyl, 1960's vintage. Whilst the DG series is excellent in every way it just does'nt come close to the John Eliot Gardiner CD's. Basil, enjoy the remainder of the set.
 
naimplayer said:
My Mother gave me these last Christmas, an inspired choice. I agree that they are quite wonderful. I have not heard of the rule of 8 before but its seems worthy of consideration. A friend loaned me a DG Herbert von Karajan 1-9 on vinyl, 1960's vintage. Whilst the DG series is excellent in every way it just does'nt come close to the John Eliot Gardiner CD's. Basil, enjoy the remainder of the set.
Click to expand...

Thanks naimplayer,

I've never understood why the 60's set of Karajan is so highly rated, personally, I prefer the 50's mono set with the Philharmonia and the 70's Berlin Philhamonic cycle, and his final 80's cycle is nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be, once you get past the sound... great ninth in there, one of the very best, but I haven't heard the Gardiner yet..., you'll have to wait 'till Monday to hear my thoughts on that.

I've been pondering as to why it's taken me so long to try these, and I've decided to blame Roger Norrington, but it's not just him, he and Nicolas Harnoncourt did more to put me off the whole 'HIP' thing than any other conductors.

Back to the Gardiner set and one of the many things that really make this set stand out, is the way he treats symphonies 1, 2, 4 & 8 with as much reverence as the 'famous' ones. I've heard things in them I've simply never noticed before, like the way the forth anticipates the sixth and the eighth takes a final, almost nostalgic look back at the third, almost as if to say 'just wait 'till you hear what I have in store for you next...'

All this for £15... what a bargain...
 
Riccardo Chailly names JE Gardiner as one of his big influences in the notes for his new Gewandhaus set - which is fast & furious most of the time.
 
Just to come in with a different perspective: I find Gardiner's almost unlistenable. You couldn't pay me to sit through them again. Fast, furious, and, well, that's it.

5&7 better than Kleiber's. Yeah, right...
 
The Gardiner was my go to Beethoven set of recent years until the Jos van Immerseel set popped up.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0014WSWTY/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Basil, not to overload your Beethoven shelf this set continues to impress and it's not expensive.

Kleiber's 5 & 7, Bohm's 6th and Klemperer's 3rd remain important references to me but the Immerseel set produces a lot to enjoy. The Eroica particularly is thrilling and my favourite interpretation bar none.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I have just done some research on the unknown circa 1952 EMI test pressings of the 7th which was the recording I knew from a very young age and it transpires that the matrix numbers are for Karajan and the Philharmonia so I must have another listen soon despite the now poor condition of the discs.
 
I've always been a big JE Gardiner fan for his Bach recordings - being a vinyl only listener I am obviously missing out on his later releases. I will have to check out his Beethoven before long, thanks for the recommendation.

mat
 
Barrymagrec said:
I have just done some research on the unknown circa 1952 EMI test pressings of the 7th which was the recording I knew from a very young age and it transpires that the matrix numbers are for Karajan and the Philharmonia so I must have another listen soon despite the now poor condition of the discs.
Click to expand...

Recently re-released, £9.99... bargain!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Symphonies-Herbert-von-Karajan/dp/B000ZBPQF8/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1321881697&sr=1-1
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Basil said:
Recently re-released, £9.99... bargain!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Symphonies-Herbert-von-Karajan/dp/B000ZBPQF8/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1321881697&sr=1-1
Click to expand...

May well go for it, listened again to the old discs and there was a great performance underneath the noise and distortion, (much abused in the sixties with a turnover crystal pickup) still tempted by the Gardiner as well.
Had to move my floor mounted CD collection yesterday (cat - dustmites - spraying - don`t ask) and worked out that there are 25 feet of them, as well as the 25 feet that are on shelves, so what`s a few more?
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Barry,

Word of caution on the Gardiner set, I think the ninth is almost the worst I've ever heard... I stand by my thoughts on Nos. 1 to 8 but the ninth is just... well strange is one word. Ugly is another, Gardiner seems to be trying too hard, perhaps he reasoned the symphony was written by a deaf man, perhaps it should be conducted by one too? No ones ever conducted the ninth like this before!' And there's a good reason for that...

Despite this, it's still a must have set... and the box is very thin! :)
 
Basil said:
Barry,

Word of caution on the Gardiner set, I think the ninth is almost the worst I've ever heard... I stand by my thoughts on Nos. 1 to 8 but the ninth is just... well strange is one word. Ugly is another, Gardiner seems to be trying too hard, perhaps he reasoned the symphony was written by a deaf man, perhaps it should be conducted by one too? No ones ever conducted the ninth like this before!' And there's a good reason for that...

Despite this, it's still a must have set... and the box is very thin! :)
Click to expand...

Ninth`s not my favourite anyway - the association with the EU irritates me, which is odd as normaly I don`t get bad association problems and any way I am not anti Europe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top