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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7Recorded live at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA on November 10-11, 2012 (Symphony No. 4) and September 12-13, 2009 (Symphony No. 7)
Music Director Nicholas McGegan conducts Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Beethoven’s symphonies from his middle period on historically accurate instruments. Writing of the live performance of Symphony No. 4, the San Francisco Classical Voice said: “This was the perfect music for this conductor and this orchestra, so beloved for their balance of wit and profundity…This was fine Beethoven playing — damn fine.” The San Jose Mercury News noted, “Interpreted by McGegan and the orchestra, it was a joy…clear, direct, intimate Beethoven.” | 
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| |  | Joshua Bell conducts Beethoven Symphonies No. 4 & 7
Joshua Bell’s first recording as Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, where he both directs and plays from the concertmaster’s chair. Recorded at the famed Air Studios in London, is the first Beethoven release as they plan to record the composer’s entire cycle. “These are splendidly alert performances, responding to every nuance in the music, and they made me listen to Beethoven with fresh ears. Particularly impressive is the pianissimo playing Bell obtains from the orchestra...This recording is a real pleasure.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 ***** “Bell's interpretative reach isn't long but nothing is out of place. Readers who like music 'played straight' may be very satisfied” Gramophone Magazine, April 2013 “These are fresh, energetic performances” International Record Review, May 2013 “[Bell's] virile account [of the Fourth] makes its intentions clear right away: prominent bassoon and clarinets, violin and viola slurred notes strongly phrased, brilliant violin uprush to the allegro. The Seventh has similar clarity and rhythmic energy...an exciting disc.” Sunday Times, 31st March 2013 “there's a winning fluidity to the collaboration. Bell's semi-historical approach involves sheer textures and blistering speeds, sweetened here and there with soloistic vibrato. The Seventh could do with more mist and awe but the dances are tightly and brightly pointed.” The Independent, 9th March 2013 ****  BBC Music Magazine
Orchestral Choice - April 2013 |
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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 & 7 & Leonore Overture
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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7Recorded live in Carnegie Hall, New York City in October 2011
Nearly twenty years after their acclaimed Beethoven Symphonies recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique returned to this repertoire for the first time last year, in a tour that took them to London, Philadelphia, Washington and New York. The concert in Carnegie Hall was broadcast live by WQXR, who kindly agreed to make the recording available to us to release on our label. Sir John Eliot’s Gardiner’s reading of these familiar pieces highlights their revolutionary origin. Performing on period instruments, the ORR brings light, clarity and brisk energy, as well as a warm and genuinely thrilling sound. The Seventh, famously described by Wagner as the “apotheosis of the dance”, stands out by its sheer physical energy expressed in its many obsessively repetitive passages. The Fifth, often considered to be a deeply personal piece, also reveals echoes of revolutionary songs. The album is packaged in a digipack and contains a 36 pages booklet with original notes by BBC presenter and music journalist Stephen Johnson. “the electricity in the air is almost tangible. Gardiner is merciless in his demands...The tempo is often exhilarating, the playing always vital, edgy and thrillingly fluent. This is the most exciting Beethoven release you are likely to hear this year.” The Observer, 14th October 2012 “The pace still feels driven, the tension high, but there’s a greater sense of fun and a touch more colour now. You sense that Gardiner’s Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique now have these difficult pieces under their collective skin, and can now project them with a little more spontaneity and freedom. This Fifth seethes, bubbles and spits in places...Symphony no 7 is better still, its rapt introduction leading to an astonishing, punchy Vivace.” The Arts Desk, 20th October 2012 “Even if Weber didn’t make the famous remark attributed to him — “Beethoven is ripe for the madhouse” — you can understand his reaction. Played as the ORR play it, it can still make your hair stand on end.” Sunday Times, 28th October 2012 “The execution is fabulous, the (superlative) stylistic foundation always at the service of the music’s rhythm, energy and inner logic...With every performance of these symphonies, the listener ought to be taken aback at the revolutionary force of Beethoven’s language. Where many fail, Gardiner succeeds.” Financial Times, 24th November 2012 **** “So palpable is the excitement of these live performances that it almost comes as a shock that the applause has been excised...Gardiner and his resplendent Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique rejoice here in the sheer physicality of the music...These are the kind of performances that remind us of what a revolution of reassessment period-instrument bands provoke.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2013 “after hearing these explosive, invigorating and electrifying performances, we are reminded once again of the ferocious intensity that must have shell-shocked 19th-century Viennese audiences...Gardiner brings tremendous rhythmic drive and irresistable forward momentum to both Symphonies and revels in the sheer audacity of Beethoven's orchestration” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 **** “These are thrusting, dynamic performances...though the music is played very speedily there’s no skating over Beethoven’s drama and argument.” MusicWeb International, November 2012 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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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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| |  | Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
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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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