Carlos Kleiber’s all too rare concert appearances are always musical occasions to cherish and remember. The vitality and precision of his authoritative gestures never fail to generate excitement and inspire playing of great élan from orchestras throughout the world. When Carlos Kleiber conducts the Concertgebouworkest of Amsterdam in Beethoven, one can expect a performance of intense musical concentration and exceptional expressive power. Carlos Kleiber made this recording with the Dutch orchestra in 1983, conducting Beethoven’s Fourth and Seventh Symphonies. The mesmeric command of this elusive conductor over his musicians is fascinating. With none of the excessive glamor of the star performer, Carlos Kleiber, with meticulous care for detail, creates clear instrumental textures, compelling rhythmic designs and magical moments of fine repose. This is spell-binding music-making. This is vintage Carlos Kleiber.
Beethoven, Symphony No.2 in D major, op.36
The symphonies are part of the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonic and choral works featuring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam conducted by Leonard Bernstein. All the works were recorded live in Vienna: Unitel produced the video recordings and Deutsche Grammophon released the
soundtracks in a special edition. The series won the Ace Award, the National (U.S.) Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value.
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58
The premiere of this concerto took place at a marathon concert organized by Beethoven at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on 22 December 1808. The program included the world premieres of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, the Vienna premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 4, and excerpts from other works by Beethoven – more than four hours of demanding contemporary music by a “difficult” composer! The soloist opens the concerto with a theme that seems like a gentle echo of the forceful “Fate” theme that opens the Fifth Symphony. The Andante is a kind of dialogue between the two different temperaments: the stark and stern strings, and the gentle, pleading piano. The boisterous finale rushes through a variety of contrasting moods before bringing the piece to a rousing close. Leonard Bernstein recorded this work in an all-Beethoven concert with the Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio at Munich’s Deutsches Museum in 1976. The soloist was Claudio Arrau.
Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
The first performance of this work in 1813 was a spectacular event. The long awaited Seventh was completed in May 1812 when the Austrian capital was recovering from the French occupation. The defeat of Napoleon’s armies made the concert an occasion for celebration, and this historical event helped ensure the work’s enormous popularity and the composer’s lasting fame. The Seventh Symphony is one of the best examples of how Beethoven used simple harmonies and filled them with energetic, repetitive rhythms, which never become monotonous because of the fresh harmonic progressions that accompany them. This recording is part of Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the U.S. Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
Beethoven, Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.55 “Eroica”
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.
Beethoven, Symphony No.9 in D minor, op.125 “Choral”
Completed in 1824, after six years of work, the Ninth is the most awesome and inspiring of Beethoven’s symphonies, employing a large orchestra, four vocal soloists and chorus. The final movement is considered by many to be the composer’s crowning glory. It had been Beethoven’s lifelong dream to set Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” to music, for the poem put into words Beethoven’s most impassioned desire: peace and brotherhood in the world. The Ninth is an affirmation of optimism and beauty, written when Beethoven was almost completely deaf. This work is part of Leonard Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the National (U.S.) Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven – so transparent and contemporary in their message – move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
Beethoven, Symphony No.7 in A major, op.92
Carlos Kleiber’s all too rare concert appearances are always musical occasions to cherish and remember. The vitality and precision of his authoritative gestures never fail to generate excitement and inspire playing of great élan from orchestras throughout the world. When Carlos Kleiber conducts the Concertgebouworkest of Amsterdam in Beethoven, one can expect a performance of intense musical concentration and exceptional expressive power. Carlos Kleiber made this recording with the Dutch orchestra in 1983, conducting Beethoven’s Fourth and Seventh Symphonies. The mesmeric command of this elusive conductor over his musicians is fascinating. With none of the excessive glamor of the star performer, Carlos Kleiber, with meticulous care for detail, creates clear instrumental textures, compelling rhythmic designs and magical moments of fine repose. This is spell-binding music-making. This is vintage Carlos Kleiber.
Beethoven, Symphony No.3 in E flat major, op.55 “Eroica”
Beethoven originally dedicated this symphony to Napoleon, whom he saw as the champion of the common man, a hero pursuing the ideals of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. However, upon hearing that Napoleon had declared himself emperor, Beethoven became furious and tore up the title page containing the dedication. The “Eroica” marks one of the turning points in music history, heralding a new age in symphonic style. Prior to this work, Beethoven had been a composer with roots in the 18th century. The Third Symphony’s length and the nature of its thematic material, emotional depth, range and harmonic daring set it apart from any earlier symphonic work. This recording is part of Bernstein’s complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies recorded with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra live in Vienna. The series won the Ace Award, the U.S. Cable TV Association’s top award for outstanding quality and entertainment value. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
Beethoven, Leonore Overture No.3 in C major, op.72a
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.”
Beethoven, Egmont Overture, op.84
For a stage production of Goethe’s “Egmont” planned for spring 1810, the Vienna Burgtheater commissioned Beethoven to compose incidental music to Goethe’s tragedy. Although Beethoven was a great admirer of Goethe and was profoundly flattered by this commission, he did not complete the music by the time the play was given its premiere on 24 May 1810. Only at the third performance of the play on 15 June was Beethoven’s music heard for the first time. Like the “Leonore” overtures, the “Egmont” also foreshadows the events to come. In “Egmont,” they are encapsulated in the main theme of defiance of tyranny, which gives the music its explosive power. Bernstein’s impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique way. “Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of ‘Brüder!’. From that moment on, every… symphony came to mean heart-to-heart communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer [this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers.” (Leonard Bernstein, 1980)