Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, was composed about 1803. As do so many of the composer’s works, it glorifies the struggle against tyranny and celebrates heroism and humanitarianism. The first performance, which took place in Vienna in 1805, was ill-received; and the opera required 10 years of revision before it was accepted by the public in 1814. Beethoven wrote four overtures to his opera: three are known as the “Leonore Overtures” (named after the heroine of the opera); the fourth, the Overture to Fidelio, is the version now used as a prelude to the opera .The music of Leonore No. 3 refers to the climax of the story in the last act of Fidelio. Today, it is usually played as an interlude between the second and third acts of the opera. This recording is part of Leonard Bernstein’s Beethoven cycle, recorded primarily with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 1980s. Writing in The New York Times, critic John J. O’Connor stated: “As Mr. Bernstein says, there is ‘no single body of work in the universe of orchestral music that is in any way comparable to this one.’ Conducted with intense dedication and soaring spirits by Mr. Bernstein, these recordings are superb, both visually and aurally.” Leonard Bernstein recorded this work in an all-Beethoven concert with the Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio at Munich’s Deutsches Museum in 1976.
Beethoven, String Quartet in C minor, op.18/4
Since its founding in 1946 in New York, the Juilliard Quartet has been synonymous with the genre of the string quartet. The repertoire of the ensemble comprises around 500 works – from J. S. Bach’s “Art of Fugue” to contemporary works which were written for the Juilliards. The four musicians have also trained generations of string quartets as teachers at the Juilliard School of Music in New York – from the Emerson Quartet to the Tokyo String Quartet. Robert Mann, the first violin, belonged to the founding members and retired in 1997 at the age of 77. Earl Carlyss was second violinist from 1966-1986 and was followed by Joel Smirnoff, who changed from the second to the first violin in 1997. Samuel Rhodes joined the ensemble as violist in 1969 and Joel Krosnick as cellist in 1974.
Beethoven, String Quartet in F major, op.59/1 “Rasumovsky Quartet”
Since its founding in 1946 in New York, the Juilliard Quartet has been synonymous with the genre of the string quartet. The repertoire of the ensemble comprises around 500 works – from J. S. Bach’s “Art of Fugue” to contemporary works which were written for the Juilliards. The four musicians have also trained generations of string quartets as teachers at the Juilliard School of Music in New York – from the Emerson Quartet to the Tokyo String Quartet. Robert Mann, the first violin, belonged to the founding members and retired in 1997 at the age of 77. Earl Carlyss was second violinist from 1966-1986 and was followed by Joel Smirnoff, who changed from the second to the first violin in 1997. Samuel Rhodes joined the ensemble as violist in 1969 and Joel Krosnick as cellist in 1974.
Beethoven, String Quartet in C sharp minor, op.131
Since its founding in 1946 in New York, the Juilliard Quartet has been synonymous with the genre of the string quartet. The repertoire of the ensemble comprises around 500 works – from J. S. Bach’s “Art of Fugue” to contemporary works which were written for the Juilliards. The four musicians have also trained generations of string quartets as teachers at the Juilliard School of Music in New York – from the Emerson Quartet to the Tokyo String Quartet. Robert Mann, the first violin, belonged to the founding members and retired in 1997 at the age of 77. Earl Carlyss was second violinist from 1966-1986 and was followed by Joel Smirnoff, who changed from the second to the first violin in 1997. Samuel Rhodes joined the ensemble as violist in 1969 and Joel Krosnick as cellist in 1974.
Beethoven, Egmont Overture, op.84
Music for the masses! This could have been the war cry of both Beethoven and Karajan. For this they had in common: the wish to reach out to millions and ensure the survival of their art. Beethoven, at the dawn of the romantic era, no longer wrote exclusively for titled patrons, but for the middle classes. To reach them, he needed
new means of popularizing and distributing his works, such as concerts for paying audiences and the publication of arrangements for everything from piano to brass band. In the mid 20th century, Herbert von Karajan also saw a new way of reaching out to greater numbers of people through the combination of picture and sound – the video recording. This recording of the Egmont Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special ‘overture’ special produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, op.62
At the request of the writer Heinrich Joseph von Collin, Beethoven composed an overture to Collin’s tragedy in five acts Coriolanus (1802) in the spring of 1807. It was given its first performance in March 1807 in Prince Lobkowitz’s palace in Vienna. Although Beethoven’s music did not bring about the hoped-for stage revival of Collin’s tragedy, the Overture made its breakthrough as an independent concert piece. A dramatic work that owes its somber quality to Collin’s tragedy, it came to be favored for solemn occasions. Music for the masses! This could have been the war cry of both Beethoven and Karajan. For this they had in common: the wish to reach out to millions and ensure the survival of their art. Beethoven, at the dawn of the romantic era, no longer wrote exclusively for titled patrons, but for the middle classes. To reach them, he needed new means of popularizing and distributing his works, such as concerts for paying audiences and the publication of arrangements for everything from piano to brass band. In the mid 20th century, Herbert von Karajan also saw a new way of reaching out to greater numbers of people through the combination of picture and sound – the video recording. This recording of the Coriolan Overture dates from 1975 and is part of a special “overture” special produced with the Berlin Philharmonic for Unitel.
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, op.37
Beethoven, Sonata in A major, op. 101 (Carinthian Summer 1971)
The great Russian pianist Emil Gilels was universally acclaimed for his breathtaking performances of the most demanding concertos and most challenging piano pieces of piano literature. But he was also a master of the miniature form, and his interpretations of the “Songs Without Words” and other little pieces by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Grieg and others were nothing short of mesmerizing. A specialist of the German repertoire, Gilels gave an all German-Austrian program at the 1971 Carinthian Summer Festival in Austria, where Beethoven’s A-major Sonata was recorded.
Beethoven, Ich liebe dich, WoO 123
Beethoven, Symphony No.4 in B flat major, op.60
When, in the mid 1960s, Herbert von Karajan decided to record on film all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic, he began with the “Fifth” and asked the famous French movie director Henri-Georges Clouzot (Quai des Orfèvres) to direct. Recognizing in the music-loving director a kindred soul and master of the symbolic image, Karajan found an inspired partner. In another of Karajan’s first efforts, he asked six directors to “stage” one movement each of a Beethoven symphony. For a full week, the directors had the Berlin Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan – all in full dress – at their disposal, with all the 35mm film, cameras, lighting and technical assistance they needed. Karajan’s most controversial production was Hugo Niebeling’s highly personal interpretation of the “Pastorale”, with its abstract shots of instruments, rapid rhythms, fade-ins and symbolically arranged colors.