Product Description
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Standard Edition: Comes in a Capbox
This complete cycle of Beethoven’s nine Symphonies is a landmark
event for Decca, for Maestro Chailly, and for the
Gewandhausorchester, where he has been Kapellmeister since 2005.
These accled performances were recorded live in the Gewandhaus
over three years, in preparation for the highly-anticipated
complete cycles that Maestro Chailly of October and November
2011. The cycle showcases the finesse and musicality of the
legendary Gewandhaus Orchestra--from the Haydnesque elegance of
the first two symphonies, to the grandeur and drama of the choral
Ninth Symphony. This five CD set of the nine Symphonies also
includes selected Beethoven Overtures, and comes for an initial
period in substantial and luxurious packaging, comprising a
hard-back book with five internal CD wallets, all contained
within an outer slipcase.
‘Chailly’s account of the First Symphony is a tour de force of
wit and subversive joy, and the performance of the Second
Symphony is almost as good. There is a fine account of the Fourth
Symphony … a distinguished account of the Seventh Symphony …
electrifying account of the Eighth. The Ninth gets a predictably
swift reading, compact and powerful, which, like everything else
in this cycle, is of a piece with itself.
'The s, I should add, are superb. These are proper
studio s, not concert paraphrases. There is space around
the sound, as there needs to be in Beethoven, complemented by an
immediacy and clarity of detail that derives in large measure
from the playing itself.’ Disc of the Month, Gramophone.
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is above all, an explosively swift cycle. Chailly is utterly
faithful to Beethoven's metronome markings. The result is a
Beethoven cycle that's up there with the best modern-orchestra
versions of recent times … and which also manages the seemingly
impossible – making the music seem freshly minted without any
concessions at all to period performance’ ***** The Guardian
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‘From the outset it is clear that Chailly’s Beethoven will be an
exhilarating adventure. The breathtaking finale of No 8 is the
most exciting I have heard of disc. [The ninth] is a dramatic and
visionary interpretation’ CD of the Week, The Times.
Review
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At the heart of any Beethoven symphony cycle is always going to
be a tedious discussion of the ‘right’ way of doing things.
Adhere too closely to authentic period performance and one risks
ignoring the drama modern orchestras are capable of; but ignore
those strictures and you’ll be lambasted for dousing the whole
thing in garish romance. In short, it’s a brave conductor who
attempts anything approaching a ‘definitive’ . Riccardo
Chailly, star and commander of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
for some years now, can now rest easy – his readings fall
somewhere between both camps. They are, commendably, focused
entirely on the composer and not on debating how things ‘should’
sound.
Of course, distilling, linking and finding the energy for nine
individual concept albums is a mammoth task and bound to end up
with uneven results, but it is certainly interesting to see
exactly which works have come out on top. Inevitably, the
tent-poles of the third, fifth and ninth symphonies are direct,
strong and unshakeable. The third (the Eroica), in particular,
doesn’t linger on the more morose corners and paints the composer
as the sub-titular hero more than anyone else. Similarly, the
galloping excess of the ninth is reined in enough in the early
stages to make the conclusion suitably grand.
It is in the lesser-known symphonies that the narratives become a
little lost. This isn’t only a reflection of the performances,
but also of the place the works have come to occupy in the
composer’s canon. There are innumerable corners of melodic
interest to explore in these works still, a delicate counterpoint
or rhythmic tic that could have been drawn out a little more
clearly (the finale of the Pastoral symphony is rather too
clinical, for example), but these are given only cursory
attention. Still, when attempting a monolithic set such as this,
there are bound to be fallow patches.
Furthermore, interspersing the symphonies with various Beethoven
overtures as palate-s was perhaps a misstep. Even the
most cursory listen to the gloriously dark opening of the Egmont
overture is enough to suggest that these are worthy of a separate
collection. These issues aside, what Chailly has produced might
not be definitive, but it certainly is rich where it needs to be.
The playing is responsive and immaculate throughout, forming the
back of Chailly’s brilliantly authentic crib-sheet of a
symphony cycle. Though the arguments will always rage as to
exactly how these works are supposed to sound, here they’re
treated as sacred texts not to be meddled with. And that is more
than you could reasonably ask of most conductors. --Daniel Ross
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