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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 - 9
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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
In the 1960s and 70s Claudio Abbado made several recordings for Decca – orchestral works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Bruckner, as well as 20th-century repertoire by Hindemith, Janácek and Prokofiev. This recording is part of that legacy and there are plenty of magical touches – real swagger in the finale of the Seventh Symphony, dashing humour in the finale of the Eighth, real nobility at the opening of the Creatures of Prometheus Overture. These were the only Beethoven recordings Abbado made for Decca and they are now collected on one CD. The Seventh and the Overture receive their first international release on CD. “These very early Abbado recordings are far finer than his recent work on the composer, and may be as good a coupling of these two masterpieces as you can find.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ***** “Excellent Decca recording” Gramophone Magazine (Symphony No. 7, Overture) “Abbado's fresh and alert performance of the Beethoven is very attractive in drawing attention to the music rather than to the interpreter. The tempi are all well chosen, the rhythms well sprung, such key moments as the gentle conclusion of the first movement neatly pointed” Gramophone Magazine (Symphony No. 8) | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | William Steinberg conducts Beethoven & Haydn
This series of DVDs will make the publicly broadcast BSO concerts from this era available for the first time since they were broadcast. This rare material, filmed in colour, represents some of the earliest televised concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and William Steinberg, and has been restored using the greatest care and state-of-the-art techniques. It is of exceptional musical interest and historic value. The BSO’s Music Director for just three seasons, Steinberg spent a great deal of time in the USA, having left Europe following Music Director positions in Cologne, Prague and Frankfurt. He also co-founded the Palestine Orchestra, later the Israel Philharmonic. His time with the BSO came at the end of his career following his position as the Music Director of Pittsburgh Symphony, which he held for over twenty years. Steinberg’s precise and minimalist technique belies the intensity with which the orchestra responds to his baton – the performances are lively and full of character. Steinberg’s CD release of Mahler’s Second Symphony on ICA Classics has received excellent reviews, described by Gramophone as ‘a startlingly direct statement of a score that is too often treated to extremes of mood and tempo’ – and by Classics Today as having ‘moments that set a new standard in this music’. The Haydn is new to Steinberg’s discography. Two of ICA’s BSO DVDs featuring Charles Munch as conductor, have been awarded the Diapason d’Or in France’s Diapason magazine. Picture format: 4:3 Running time: 86’ Subtitles: n/a Menu languages: English Booklet languages: E/F/G Region code: 0 Territory Restrictions: None “Precise yet expressive, Steinberg's Beethoven Symphonies Nos 7 & 8 are models of clarity and rhythmic dynamism. The Haydn is excellent.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2012 **** “Useful documentation of a conductor whose time with the orchestra was short.” MusicWeb International, June 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Otto Klemperer conducts Beethoven & Mendelssohn
plus: Rehearsal of Beethoven Symphony No. 4 SAAL 1, FUNKHAUS, COLOGNE, 25 OCTOBER 1954
Otto Klemperer (1885–1973) was widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century along with his compatriots, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter. These performances date from 1955, a period when Klemperer was at his most authoritative, spending a number of seasons guest conducting in Cologne with great success. As a result, he became principal conductor of the Philharmonia in London in 1959 following the departure of Herbert von Karajan for Berlin. Both Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Beethoven Symphony No.8 are sourced from the original WDR tapes and have been superbly remastered. They appear for the first time on CD. The Mendelssohn performance, with its wonderful clarity, like the Beethoven Symphony No.8, is in general faster than the studio made recording in 1960. Käthe Möller-Siepermann was a regular performer at Cologne Opera while Hanna Ludwig also performed there and at other houses in Germany as well as further afield. She retired in 1968 to pursue pedagogical and lecturing opportunities. One of today’s most-admired singers, Diana Damrau, was a pupil of Ludwig’s. | | | (also available to download from $10.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | including nine documentaries in a hardcover box
After the very successful release of the single DVDs we now release Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 – 9 including nine one hour documentaries, one for each film. Maestro Thielemann and Joachim Kaiser (the most famous German music critic) discuss and analyze in an entertaining conversational exchange Thielemann’s interpretation, complemented by excerpts from rehearsals as well as by comparisons of Beethoven cycles with Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc. This is the Beethoven cycle of the 21st century! 9 DVDs or 3 Blu-rays in a valuable hardcover box with 16 hours of concerts and documentaries. “Thielemann´s reading of the Beethoven symphonies stands heads and shoulders above the countless and mostly undistinguishable versions on offer.” Die Presse “The performances, the Vienna Philharmonic on top form, can't help sounding wonderful...oddly, it is the discussions that are the most enjoyable elements in this ambitious set.” BBC Music Magazine * * */ * “This is growling, mane-shaking Beethoven: a traditional approach to the music with full sound and large forces. Thielemann takes a precise yet lyrical approach to the music, as he discusses and demonstrates in the three hour-long accompanying musicological discussions.” Classic FM Magazine * * * * Total: 956 minutes Symphonies: 446 minutes Documentaries: 510 minutes DVD: DTS 5.0, PCM Stereo Subtitles E, F, Sp, I, Kor., Chin. NTSC: 3 DVD Amaray boxes in a harcover box (containing 9 DVDs) “the hour-long film that accompanies each of the nine masterpieces here...is chock-full of revealing information...the radiant sanity of [Thielemann's] approach shines through every bar...for a set in which the Austro-German invincibility of this extraordinary music is felt gradually mounting through the cycle as a whole, as if in one magnificent sweep, we haven't had a set to compare seriously with this since Karajan's final cycle of the 1980s.” International Record Review, January 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Beethoven: In The Breath Of Time
11. David Suzuki - English Narration: Declaration of Interdependence 12. David Suzuki - French Narration: Déclaration d'interdépendance
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal is well-known for his innovative concert programmes. Here he conducts the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for his third Beethoven project. After his two previous CD's with the titles "Ideals of the French Revolution" (Beethoven's Fifth Symphony & the Egmont overture) and "Gods, Heroes and Men" (Beethoven's Third and the ballet music "Creatures of Prometheus"), this new release is dedicated to the subject "In the Breath of Time". Featuring the “Pastorale” Symphony (No. 6) and the seldom performed 8th Symphony, this release consists of what are probably Beethoven's two sunniest symphonies. “it makes for a satisfying programme, with the popular "Pastoral" 6th Symphony given an exultant outing, while the 8th – the least bombastic, and most playfully good-natured of all Beethoven's symphonies – treated with great warmth and tenderness, even in its most stirring and ebullient passages.” The Independent, 26th August 2011 *** “Nagano and his Montreal players give an agreeable, somewhat Bruno Walter-ish account of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. Somnolence occasionally threatens in the 'Scene by the Brook', abetted by the spacious and mellow Montreal acoustic, but the performance retains a shape and vitality through to a generously phrased account of the concluding 'Song of Thanksgiving'. The Eighth Symphony emerges boisterous, amusing and warm-hearted” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 “The elements of extremely fine orchestral playing, fully committed and of a very high international standard, intensely musical phrasing, skilled internal instrumental balance allied to an approach to these immortal masterpieces which is entirely musical throughout and flawless recording quality, make for a highyl competitive issue.” International Record Review, January 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | The Staatsoper Unter den LindenLive Recording from The Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, 1998
A curious notion: the Berliner Philharmoniker as guest performers at the State Opera Unter den Linden. Daniel Barenboim, as both the host and the conductor of the concert, had invited the ensemble to perform in the historically distinguished setting of the opera. The varied programme started with Beethoven‘s blithe Eighth Symphony, which deservedly no longer counts as one of Beethoven‘s lesser symphonic works. This was followed by a rare gem of Romantic music: the concert piece for four horns and orchestra Op. 86 by Robert Schumann, in which the solo quartet interacts with the orchestra as a concertino group. This imaginatively arranged three-part concert piece - brimming with vitality, catchy melodies and wit - was composed in 1849, seven years before Schumann‘s death. As performing the piece calls for consummate skill in all of the instrument‘s manifold playing techniques, it is regarded as a daunting and highly complex task among horn players. Perhaps that explains why the attractive composition is only presented so seldom. The next item on the programme was Franz Liszt‘s symphonic poem „Les Préludes“ - with an entirely instrumental performance of Richard Wagner‘s „The Ride of the Valkyries“ that was yet redolent of the Valkyrie‘s wild Hoyotoho cry, the impassioned opera conductor brought his concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker to a perfect close. Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 DVD Format: DVD 9, PAL Running Time: 76 mins FSK: 0 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Karl Böhm conducts Schubert & Beethoven
During the 1950s, Karl Böhm made a handful of orchestral recordings for Decca with the Wiener Philharmoniker of music by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Weber. Reappearing here, for the first time on CD, internationally, are his swift recordings of Beethoven’s Eighth and of two Schubert symphonies (Nos. 5 and 8). Never imposing his will too strongly on his Viennese orchestra – and they had these classics in their blood – he directs performances that are fresh and gives full rein to the Vienna Philharmonic’s wonderful tonal resources. Add the acoustic of the Grosser Saal at the Musikverein, familiar as daily bread to all the participants, and you have the best kind of tradition. Recording producer: Victor Olof Recording engineer: Cyril Windebank Recording location: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, May 1953 (Beethoven), June 1954 (Schubert) | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7-9and Documentaries about each Symphony
This is a Beethoven Symphonies Cycle of the 21st century! Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 – 9 incl. and each DVD includes a one-hour-long documentary for each symphony. Includes an hour-long documentary for each symphony where Maestro Thielemann and Joachim Kaiser (the most famous German music critic) discuss and analyze in an entertaining conversational exchange Thielemann’s interpretation, complemented by excerpts from rehearsals as well as by comparisons of Beethoven cycles with Karajan, Bernstein etc. – no aspect of Beethoven’s symphonic œuvre will remain unaffected! The Documentaries include legendary footage of performances from Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc This is the first Beethoven Cycle of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in full HD and 5.0 sound. Running Time: Total: 325 minutes Symphonies: 155 minutes Documentaries: 170 minutes Sound BD: dts-HD MA 5.0, PCM Stereo Subtitles E, F, Sp, I, Kor., Chin., Jap. Packaging Blu-ray box Booklet English, German, French “The performances, the Vienna Philharmonic on top form, can't help sounding wonderful...oddly, it is the discussions that are the most enjoyable elements in this ambitious set.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ***/* | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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