Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Thirty years ago, 'chamber orchestra' Beethoven was considered to be a mildly interesting eccentricity; nowadays it is practically de rigueur. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe blazed the trail.
Douglas... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 29th Sep 2008
Catalogue No: AV2169
Label: Avie
Series: Douglas Boyd Beethoven Symphony Cycle
Length: 73 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

December 2008

Editor's Choice
Presto Favourites

Recommended Recording

In stock

Usually despatched within 1 working day

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60

Work length33:51

$5.50

$7.70

Manchester Camerata
Douglas Boyd

I. Adagio - Allegro vivace

Track length11:48

$2.00

$2.80

II. Adagio

Track length9:38

$1.50

$2.10

III. Allegro molto e vivace - Un poco meno allegro

Track length5:45

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Allegro ma non troppo

Track length6:40

$1.00

$1.40

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

Work length39:44

$6.50

$9.10

Manchester Camerata
Douglas Boyd

I. Poco sostenuto - Vivace

Track length14:02

$2.00

$2.80

II. Allegretto

Track length8:19

$1.50

$2.10

III. Presto - Assai meno presto

Track length8:52

$1.50

$2.10

IV. Allegro con brio

Track length8:31

$1.50

$2.10

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Favourites, Ludwig van Beethoven - Orchestral & Choral Works

James attempts the Herculean task of choosing his favourite recordings of orchestral and choral works by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Douglas Boyd and Manchester Camerata return in great style with highly committed and enthusiastic performances of Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7. The earlier work sees the more classical and traditional composer using a smaller scale orchestra but nevertheless, this is still Beethoven in full power. Recent studies and the absence of surviving sketches suggest that it was composed in one creative burst, being finished in one week in the Summer of 1806.

By contrast, the 7th symphony sees Beethoven at the height of his powers. It gives a glimpse of the writing and energy that Beethoven would make his own in later works, such as the late sonatas, quartets and the’ Missa Solemnis’. AVIE is proud to bring these release these brand new recordings by Manchester Camerata, whose performances have been hailed amongst critics and audiences alike. Produced by award winning Andrew Keener, this is the second release in the Manchester Camerata’s Beethoven cycle.

“Is it Douglas Boyd Conducting? Or the joy of the Mozart anniversary? Inspired playing anyway from this Manchester chamber group on Mozart symphonies (..)” The Times July 2006

Reviews

2010

Thirty years ago, 'chamber orchestra' Beethoven was considered to be a mildly interesting eccentricity; nowadays it is practically de rigueur. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe blazed the trail.
Douglas Boyd was its principal oboe for many years, though more recently his widely recognised drive and musical acumen have been put at the service of the long-established and nowadays upwardly mobile Manchester Camerata. This, surely, is one of their finest records.
The Camerata do not use period instruments (under Boyd they do not even use period layouts), nor is Boyd an interpretative absolutist.
Harnoncourt and Abbado, his old bosses at the COE, have probably helped determine his approach, yet there is no sense that these are hand-me-down readings. The switch of roles has clearly refocused his interest in the music and rekindled it: an experience the orchestra evidently shares.
There is aggression in the performances, but it is an artistically contained aggression. The playing, with its gutsy, tensile strings and characterful lead woodwinds, has a powerfully communicative quality. Both readings are rhythmically strong, though the delayed string entry at the start of the hushed return to the dominant in the second subject group of the first movement of the Seventh (bars 141-42) is still a surprise. As this happens three times, twice in the exposition and again in the recapitulation, it is clearly no accident.
The recordings are superb. For once we have an in-house, orchestra-live product that actually works on record, with a sharply focused bespoke production (no applause) that vividly conveys the no-holds-barred immediacy of the musicmaking.

December 2008

There is aggression in the performances, but it is an artistically contained aggression. The playing, with its gutsy, tensile strings and characterful lead woodwinds, has a powerfully communicative quality.

Douglas Boyd conducts the Manchester Camerata in a highly energetic recording of the Fourth Symphony. There's a wonderful sense of line and phrasing in the slow movement, and some virtuosic playing in the last movement, not least from the principal bassoon in its notoriously fiendish solo! This is coupled with an equally fine Seventh, with a slow movement full of passion.

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7

CD

Downloads

Contents

Favourites, Ludwig van Beethoven - Orchestral & Choral Works

Download queue