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

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.”

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.

When Rudolf Kempe was principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic back in the 1970's, the culmination of his long career was the recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies – an edition marked by maturity and the highest artistic standards. These recordings are one of the highlights of the Red Line series, and with this CD featuring Symphonies nos. 2 & 4 the entire set has now been reissued.

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)

Born in Vienna in April 1902, the cheery-looking Josef Krips seems to have been pre-destined to achieve eminence in the Viennese classics. He recorded with both, the Wiener Philharmoniker and the key London orchestras for Decca in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and the interpretations have genuine expressive power while remaining devoid of exaggeration or affectation.

Here we have two extremely rare recordings, both receiving their first international release on CD. They are the only two recordings Krips made with the Concertgebouw Orchestra for Decca. The Beethoven is beautifully paced and energetic, the Schubert painted on an expansive canvas, never exaggerated and offering fascinating comparison with his later recording of this work, also for Decca, but with the London Symphony Orchestra (Decca Eloquence 4804725).

This issue forms part of a series of five reissues devoted to the art of Josef Krips.

Recording producers: Victor Olof (Beethoven); John Culshaw (Schubert)

Recording engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson

Recording location: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, September 1953 (Beethoven), May 1952 (Schubert)

'Two fundamentally different symphonies: both works explore feelings from an entirely different point of view. The Fourth is about human feelings and moods: obsession, love (what a melody in the second movement!), happiness, fun, wit, (Beethoven's most humorous finale!). The Sixth is about feelings that nature awakens in us: calmness, meditation, thankfulness. It has been an especially creative process to work on these masterpieces. We discovered that the Fourth Symphony sounds better with natural horns and trumpets. In the Pastorale we used a different seating arrangement, with the winds scattered among the strings, so that each soloist was surrounded by musicians playing the flow of Beethoven's nature music. After the storm, when we hear the first tentative call of the clarinet, answered by the horn from a different mountain, as it were, we found it appropriate to use a solo violin, which is gradually joined by the whole orchestra.' Iván Fischer

Over the last 20 years the Dutch conductor Jan Willem de Vriend has, with enormous passion and enthusiasm, immersed himself in the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven. De Vriend believes that he is now ready to embark on a series of recordings of the symphonies, and this new Hybrid SACD, on which he is joined by the highly-regarded Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, features numbers 4 and 6.

Jan Willem de Vriend is the artistic director of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and since 2006 has been the chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. De Vriend has been a guest conductor with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hague Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra is based in province of Overijssel and performs concert series in Enschede, Hengelo, Zwolle and Deventer. Another important role for the orchestra is accompanying De Nationale Reisopera and provincial choral societies.

In the latest instalment of the Decca Ansermet Legacy, Decca Eloquence introduces the Swiss conductor's recordings of Beethoven - his symphony cycle, overtures and the rare Weingartner arrangement of the Grosse Fuge. They are issued as three 2-CD sets.

Francois Hudry, the supreme commentator on the art of Ernest Ansermet writes, "the new vision he brought to the Beethoven symphonies was astonishing. Perhaps he was too early in what he did, in his respect for the text and in his weeding out of all the Romantic touches and subjectivity which held sway at the time. Without recourse to so-called 'authentic' instruments, Ansermet was trying to return to the composer's intentions, as given in the score, avoiding the imposition of any responses of his own on the audience."

In Beethoven, Ansermet heard not just a titan but a romantic, sensual man, not just a thunderer but composer of sensitivity and subtlety. Even the mighty 'Eroica' was allowed to a reveal a softer, perhaps even a more feminine aspect. Whether he was conducting Beethoven or Ravel, Ansermet had a fine ear for instrumental colour, and a talent for keeping rhythms well-sprung and flexible. At times, Ansermet's Beethoven even seems to anticipate the 'authentic' Beethoven performances that became popular in the 1990s, although Ansermet got his results without having to rely on the sometimes unpredictable behaviour of period instruments.