Beethoven - Symphonies Nos. 7, 8, 9 / Behle, Naef, Winslade, Muller-Brachmann, Gielen, SWR Symphony Orchestra

Customer Reviews:

Mixed review.......2007-07-13

I was driving along in Eastern Tennessee one day and listening to a small classical station out of Collegedale when they began playing Beethoven's 8th symphony. This is one my favorite pieces (go figure) and I never heard, either in person or on media, a more humorous and zesty performance. Eventually I called the station and asked who the orchestra/conducter was and, after they tod me, I ordered all three DVDs from Amazon. I was not thrilled with the 7th and thought it was somewhat lackluster, as were the first movement and a half of the 9th, then they got going. I found the 3rd movement quite moving and the 4th movement was simply magnificent although the tempo was a little startling at first. Because of this aerobic pace, I wondered what would happen when we reached the point in the 4th movement when orchestras generally show their fatigue but the SWR handled it with their usual vigor. I have always been a Gielen fan and I like the SWR although I think it is somewhat undersized. And that the senior tympanist looks like he belongs on the back of a Harley. One small complaint, the videographer sometimes has a bit of trouble distinguising who is playing what in the woodwind section. I love the DVD format. This is a great bargain!

Great Professional Chorus in the 9th.......2006-01-12

If you attend classical concerts in the United States, something you will probably never hear is a professional chorus. Symphony orchestras simply cannot afford to pay a chorus. Most of the time, amateur choruses do okay but they still sound like amateurs. In some works, like Orff's Carmina Burana, amateur choruses really struggle. In Europe there are some professional choruses and that is what you get here and the sound is simply amazing. The power, the intonation and great articulation are all there. The first time I heard a professional chorus was in Vienna when I heard George Szell conduct Beethoven's 9th with the Vienna Philharmonic and their chorus. When the chorus made their first entrance, I almost fell out of my seat. I had never heard such an incredible sound in my life.

If you love classical music, I would absolutely buy this DVD. First of all it is a bargain, cheaper than even the cost of the 2 budget CDs you would need to get all three symphonies. Michael Gielen is an outstanding Beethoven conductor. His first movement of the 8th is simply astonishing. He gets more humor out of that movement than Jay Leno gets in a whole week. And the orchestral playing is magnificent.

I found the first movement of the 7th to be somewhat lacking in vitality but the last three movements are tremendous. As for the 9th, it is very good, not the best, but more than adequate. Gielen's tempos are very quick and the music moves very nicely. What is missing is a sense of occasion. It is somewhat businesslike and performances of the 9th should be highly passionate.

Despite my reservations, this DVD is still a great bargain. Just think about this. In the 1940's, these three symphonies on 78RPM probably cost at least 20 dollars. That was one week's salary and the sound was bad and there was no picture. How times have changed.

A Slight Falling Off from the Earlier Entries in this Series.......2005-02-09

I received all three DVDs of the Gielen traversal of the nine Beethoven symphonies at the same time and have already reviewed those that contain the first six symphonies. This completes the set. The orchestra is the same in all, the SWR-Sinfonieorchester (Baden-Baden und Freiburg)--although, in fact, as the series was recorded over a period of three years (1998-2000) some major changes in orchestra personnel are quite apparent. And by 2000 the trumpet players had traded in their Austro-German rotary-valve instruments for the upright piston trumpets more commonly seen in the U.S., Britain and France. And I believe I also notice a falling off of quality of playing by 2000, but perhaps that's a matter of occasion, recording or other factors.

The Seventh is an unexceptionable performance, the least noticeably unusual of the whole set, although it starts rather more slowly than most interpretations. Indeed, the first two movements feel a bit soft-centered, a bit gentle (not inappropriate in the second, I'd add), but then the third and fourth movement really get cracking. One notices that the timpanist, between movement two and three, has traded soft mallets for hard ones and perhaps that accounts to some degree for the seeming rhythmic tightening and the distinct infusion of excitement in the last two movements.

The Eighth, in my mind one of the least intimidating and certainly the wittiest of the Nine, is given a rather hard and unforgiving first movement. I was really rather startled by this and can't quite see the need for it. But the Allegretto scherzando second movement is miles more genial and things feel 'right' again. The rest of the symphony maintains that attitude, and there is wit to be heard as I believe Beethoven intended. I can't quite figure out what was going on in that first movement, but it certainly put me off. In fairness, I must conclude by saying that the finale is one of the best performances of it I've ever heard; wit combines with almost late-Beethoven features that I'd never quite noticed before. Nice touch.

The first movement of the Ninth is rather faceless, somehow; there is not as much drama as one expects. The Scherzo second movement sounds almost as if it had come out of the Sixth, a kind of peasant quality. Not necessarily bad, but a little unusual. The Adagio third movement is lovely. Strings shine here. The Finale is begun at, for me, a startling tempo. I know Gielen is one of those who believes we should take Beethoven's metronome markings literally, but his tempo is so fast that the basses and celli have to scramble to keep up, and although they snarl through it, it is unsettling. From there on we are in for an exciting and well-played and -sung finale. The soloists are unknown to me, but they are excellent, and particularly the bass, Hanno Müller-Brachmann, who looks to be very young, is destined for bigger things. He has a well-focused voice with plenty of heft and he manages the opening 'O Freunde, nicht diese Töne' with ringing tones; he certainly gets our attention for the Schiller verses to come. The choir, the Rundfunk Chor Berlin, is superb.

Overall, this whole series of performances (as well as their videography and sound) is excellent, but I feel there are some weaknesses in this final instalment and I can't give it five stars as I did the earlier DVDs. I have admired Gielen for years and this has confirmed my feeling that he is an underrated conductor. I'm just sorry there was a slight let-down in this last instalment.

One last thought: I am more and more convinced that the wave of the future for home enjoyment of classical music is via the DVD. Seeing as well as hearing a performance is definitely more satisfying. And one certainly gets more value for the money; imagine, three symphonies, a total of 141 minutes, with both sound and music, for the price of one CD!

Scott Morrison

Beethoven - Symphonies 7, 8, 9 / Herbert von Karajan, Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Jess Thomas, Walter Berry, Berlin Philharmoniker

Average customer rating:

Great performance; terrible editing
Very fine performances
There is no quality control in the editing
What a horrible waste of money
Great DVD- especially the 9th

Beethoven - Symphonies 7, 8, 9 / Herbert von Karajan, Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Jess Thomas, Walter Berry, Berlin Philharmoniker
Starring: Herbert von Karajan , Berlin Opera , Gundula Janowitz , Jess Thomas , and Walter Berry
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000ANXLAS
Release Date: 2005-12-06

Customer Reviews:

Great performance; terrible editing .......2007-04-16

Herbert Von Karajan is one of my top favorite conductors and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Karajan and the BPO were at their peak when they recorded the Beethoven 7,8, and 9th Symphonies around 1968.

The good:

The soloists are great in the 9th: G. Janowitz is absolutely superb as the soprano and her voice floats over the other soloists in a very demanding part; Walter Berry is excellent on baritone/bass, with a very resonant and commanding voice; the alto and tenor do a very fine job (Christa Ludwig, Jess Thomas)as well. They are ably backed up by the Berlin Opera.

The bad:

I echo the comments of the other reviewers. The cameraman should be shot; the editing is very poor -- too many close-ups of Karajan and angle shots of the violins and cellos; not enough shots of Karajan and the whole orchestra. It is inexcusable. When we hear the flute play, we get a very close shot of the flute, and not the whole person playing. We also get very close shots of several violinists and celloists and not the whole section. I found it very annoying.

For the 7th and 8th symphony, there were shots of certain sections of the orchestra but seldom the whole orchestra.

The poor editing really affected my enjoyment of this DVD. This could have been a wonderful performance of Karajan and BPO at their finest; they are totally let down by the poor editing. I was quite disappointed with this DVD.

Very fine performances.......2006-06-13

I am very excited by the release of this von Karajan cycle of the Beethoven symphonies. This set was recorded in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and the sound quality is very good on a high-quality stereo system, though since my audio system is not surround sound I can't evaluate that aspect of it. Herbert von Karajan is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest conductors of the 20th century (Georg Solti of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra said that von Karajan was perhaps THE best since he was so good at conducting both instrumental pieces and operas), and around 1970 he was at his peak. Here he conducts the Beethoven Symphonies 7, 8, and 9 with great finesse, employing a good choice of tempos, though sometimes on the fast side, which gives a sense of urgency and power particularly to the Seventh. Yet the slower movements are also well attended to, so I never get the feeling of the music being rushed.

After reading some reviews of this DVD set, I was fearful that the manner of filming would be very annoying to me. And I do agree that von Karajan is shown too much, and at times the orchestra is shown in odd close-ups of the instruments, so if I could I would give the video part 3 stars and the music 5. Yet overall I was not excessively annoyed with the filming techniques, and at any rate the music is paramount, is it not? Moreover, von Karajan's dignified and intense appearance blends well with the music, and often the camera is aiming from the side so that it shows both him and parts of the orchesta simultaneously. I'm very glad to own such good performances of the Beethoven symphonies, and I consider the video part to be a bonus. By the way, Amazon lists the region code of this as "unknown," yet my copy at least is a Region 0, so it will play anywhere in the world. And if you'd like to see some very good and lengthy customer reviews of this entire set of DVDs, look for the title "Beethoven - The Symphonies Boxset" and conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

There is no quality control in the editing.......2006-06-13

I really bought this Dvd because I trusted the demanding quality in terms of image and sound by the people from Deutsche Grammophon. But I can tell you that the image is quite poor and even in the last 4 minutes of the third track the color even fades and turns into black and white until the beginning of the next track. I love Beethoven's nineth symphony but I think it is a pity that nobody really supervised the editing well. I felt quite disappointed.

What a horrible waste of money.......2006-06-11

This performance of the Ninth, while a bit rushed (von Karajan does not believe in breathing space), is quite solid... but one doesn't buy a DVD concert video just to listen, but to see the piece being performed. In the case of this DVD, the filming and editing is so bafflingly and uniformly terrible as to be both embarassing and enraging at the same time. Whoever did this seemed more interested in capturing the abstract juxtapositions of frenzied instruments, the fillings in the teeth of the choral soloists, and in spending way too much time gazing longingly upon the conductor. We don't even see the full orchestra until the fourth movement, nor any glimpse of the percussion section save a fleeting and blurry glimpse of the mallet striking the timpani (again, until the fourth movement--and even then, the few views do not let us appreciate the musicianship involved). The filmmaker's love of the close-up makes it impossible for us to just see the musicians actually playing their instruments (with a few wonderful exceptions), and we are rarely treated to the sight of the dominant or lead instrument during all of the many moments when one or another instrument is musically brought to the foreground (or given something interesting to do in the background).

We bought this DVD to share with our son, who is deeply enchanted with the Ninth; we now feel like we, and Deutsche Grammophon, have let him down.

Please, save yourself the trouble: do not buy this horribly filmed, horribly edited, horribly conceived paene to von Karajan's ego. My chief regret: that Amazon does not offer a full refund on opened DVDs.

Great DVD- especially the 9th.......2006-01-29

I believe this is one of the better recordings of the Ninth symphony. The orchestra sounds wonderful and the soloists are great. Some of the tempos in the 4th movement seem a bit rushed at times but overall a great buy!

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