Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 & Barry: 'Beethoven' & Piano Concerto

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This set cuts pristine interpretations of Beethoven’s early symphonies with Gerald Barry’s 21st-century zesty homage…Stone’s Beethoven swaps between falsetto and lower-range passages with impressive... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2020, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 17th Apr 2020
Catalogue No: SIGCD616
Label: Signum
Length: 2 hours 21 minutes

Presto Editor's Choice

April 2020

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

Work length24:56

$4.50

$6.30

$7.85

Britten Sinfonia
Thomas Adès

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio

Track length8:51

$1.50

$2.10

$2.60

II. Andante cantabile con moto

Track length6:55

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace - Trio

Track length3:54

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

IV. Finale. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

Track length5:16

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36

Work length31:42

$5.50

$7.70

$9.60

Britten Sinfonia
Thomas Adès

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con bio

Track length11:45

$2.00

$2.80

$3.50

II. Larghetto

Track length9:55

$1.50

$2.10

$2.60

III. Scherzo. Allegro vivo

Track length3:55

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

IV. Allegro molto

Track length6:07

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

Barry, G: Beethoven

Work length17:35

Album only

Britten Sinfonia
Thomas Adès

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica'

Work length45:04

Album only

Britten Sinfonia
Thomas Adès

I. Allegro con brio

Track length15:27

Album only

II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai

Track length13:42

$2.00

$2.80

$3.50

III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace - Trio

Track length5:38

$1.00

$1.40

$1.75

IV. Finale. Allegro molto

Track length10:17

$1.50

$2.10

$2.60

Barry, G: Piano Concerto

Work length22:41

Album only

Britten Sinfonia
Thomas Adès

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The highly anticipated recording of Thomas Adès and the Britten Sinfonia playing Beethoven and Barry; specifically, the Beethoven Symphony Cycle and a selection of Barry’s works. This double CD features Beethoven’s first three symphonies, interspersed with Barry’s piece Beethoven and his Piano Concerto.

Beethoven intended to stake his claim to be the rightful successor to the Viennese classical tradition with the first of his symphonies, premiered in 1800. He had already begun to lose his hearing by this point and when he composed his second symphony he placed on the page his spirit of defiance and determination against his deafness. The third marks a significant turning point in his style, as well as in the framework of how a symphony was expected to be composed.

Gerald Barry grew up in rural Ireland. His music shows us how his upbringing had an effect on his compositional style - giving a piece a title such as Beethoven would suggest an attempt at emulating his legacy nearly two centuries after his death. Do not be fooled by this however; his music shows his major influence from radio, moving from the sublime and the ridiculous with carefree abandon.

Reviews

July 2020

This set cuts pristine interpretations of Beethoven’s early symphonies with Gerald Barry’s 21st-century zesty homage…Stone’s Beethoven swaps between falsetto and lower-range passages with impressive dexterity…Adès and the Britten Sinfonia present tightly knit performances [of the Beethoven Symphonies], and dynamic subtleties are largely preserved in the concert recordings.

July 2020

Despite their unrelenting manic energy, there’s a meticulousness to Adès’s accounts of Barry’s music that’s largely missing from his Beethoven...That said, the opening movement of the Eroica had me on the edge of my seat.

April 2020

Quirky and touching in equal measure, Barry’s setting of Beethoven’s letter to his ‘Immortal Beloved’ has a similar madcap energy to the writing for Lady Bracknell (also written for low male voice) in the Irish composer’s marvellous chamber-opera The Importance of Being Earnest...Adès’s Beethoven, particularly the lightly-sprung Eroica, sounds fresh-minted without being self-consciously radical, and is the most striking orchestral contribution to this year’s anniversary celebrations that’s come my way.

Classical Music April 2020

The centrepiece of this set is, inevitably, Eroica. Adès approaches it with the sense of brisk clarity and lack of fuss that we have come to expect more from period instrument groups. This is chamber Beethoven, not lush grandeur, even if the orchestra is not particularly small. Barry’s Piano Concerto is really a rasping orchestral assault on which the solo piano commentates. His setting of three of Beethoven’s letters to his ‘immortal beloved’ is a scena that veers from complaints about the road from Vienna to Esterhazy to outpourings of unconsummated love.

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-3 & Barry: 'Beethoven' & Piano Concerto

2 CDs

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