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Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 ('Choral'). SACD - plays on all SACD and CD players
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
By any standards, this is a superb rendition of Beethoven's last, ground-breaking symphony.
Although his version is played by a regular symphony orchestra, as you would expect, Vanska has obviously taken on board the some of the tenets of the period performance movement. This is a modern Ninth Symphony, with an eye towards the musical language of High Classicism on which Beethoven cut his teeth and which he subsequently refined and pushed to its limits. Vanska's approach demonstrates as much as any performance I have heard that the genesis of this symphony stems from the Classical era - however much the later nineteenth century regarded the work as the herald of a new, Romantic era for the genre - and he does this without any loss of scale or gravitas.
Along side this, Vanska also conducts with almost clinical precision. My one (minor, in the context of the disc as a whole) quibble is that sometimes Vanska's iron grip on the music leaves you feeling that the performance is a little too controlled. There were a few occasions where I felt that he needed to let himself go a bit and allow the composer's sure sense of form and argument to speak for itself. In this respect, for example, the awe-inspiring recapitulation in the first movement didn't quite have the frisson it should have and it felt as though some of the composer's energy was being slightly reined in. As I say, though, this is only a minor complaint - Vanska's conducting is always at the service of the music, unlike a Karajan (for example) in whose performances you sometimes feel that technical perfection and beauty of sound are ends in themselves.
While on the subject of sound, BIS have done an incredible job with this recording - every muscle and sinew of this giant symphony is laid bare, and listening to this disc is almost like studying an anatomical diagram of the work, with details coming through with ear-opening clarity. That is not to suggest that anything sounds artificially balanced or spotlighted - the effect is more that of a restored painting, revealing subtleties of line and colour that weren't readily seen before. The dynamic range is quite wide, as is often the case with BIS - the opening bars of the first movement provide an excellent example, if you want to sample this aspect of the CD.
It remains to be seen whether in years to come Osmo Vanska's recording becomes considered a classic modern version, but in the meantime there is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most interesting readings and best recent recordings of Beethoven's seminal masterpiece.
Although his version is played by a regular symphony orchestra, as you would expect, Vanska has obviously taken on board the some of the tenets of the period performance movement. This is a modern Ninth Symphony, with an eye towards the musical language of High Classicism on which Beethoven cut his teeth and which he subsequently refined and pushed to its limits. Vanska's approach demonstrates as much as any performance I have heard that the genesis of this symphony stems from the Classical era - however much the later nineteenth century regarded the work as the herald of a new, Romantic era for the genre - and he does this without any loss of scale or gravitas.
Along side this, Vanska also conducts with almost clinical precision. My one (minor, in the context of the disc as a whole) quibble is that sometimes Vanska's iron grip on the music leaves you feeling that the performance is a little too controlled. There were a few occasions where I felt that he needed to let himself go a bit and allow the composer's sure sense of form and argument to speak for itself. In this respect, for example, the awe-inspiring recapitulation in the first movement didn't quite have the frisson it should have and it felt as though some of the composer's energy was being slightly reined in. As I say, though, this is only a minor complaint - Vanska's conducting is always at the service of the music, unlike a Karajan (for example) in whose performances you sometimes feel that technical perfection and beauty of sound are ends in themselves.
While on the subject of sound, BIS have done an incredible job with this recording - every muscle and sinew of this giant symphony is laid bare, and listening to this disc is almost like studying an anatomical diagram of the work, with details coming through with ear-opening clarity. That is not to suggest that anything sounds artificially balanced or spotlighted - the effect is more that of a restored painting, revealing subtleties of line and colour that weren't readily seen before. The dynamic range is quite wide, as is often the case with BIS - the opening bars of the first movement provide an excellent example, if you want to sample this aspect of the CD.
It remains to be seen whether in years to come Osmo Vanska's recording becomes considered a classic modern version, but in the meantime there is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most interesting readings and best recent recordings of Beethoven's seminal masterpiece.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I continue to be amazed by this series. All of the performances seem special and many go straight to the top of my list of best versions that I know (and I know a good few). And this Choral is one of those - it is a real cracker! (An award winner, too).
Not that long ago I bought the excellent LSO Live Haitink 9th and was stunned by it. But this Vanska version is somehow even more special. It sometimes seems almost unwolrdly by comparison and makes you see the Haitink as a really very good conventional account (perhaps the best) while this is something more ... Beethoven is realised afresh by Vanska and yet Vanska's work is not about "artist's ego" - this is still very much Beethoven.
I've written reviews here about the other Vanska Beethovens that I have heard and I won't repeat all the virtues I find in these accounts. I've run out of words. Let me just say that if you are new to this series, give the experience a little time: it's clarity might seem a little cold at first but fascination soon turns to love.
In Vanska's hands I get that sense that the music is somehow speech in a strange and marvellous language more intensely than I ever have. And that's just a part of the experience!
Not that long ago I bought the excellent LSO Live Haitink 9th and was stunned by it. But this Vanska version is somehow even more special. It sometimes seems almost unwolrdly by comparison and makes you see the Haitink as a really very good conventional account (perhaps the best) while this is something more ... Beethoven is realised afresh by Vanska and yet Vanska's work is not about "artist's ego" - this is still very much Beethoven.
I've written reviews here about the other Vanska Beethovens that I have heard and I won't repeat all the virtues I find in these accounts. I've run out of words. Let me just say that if you are new to this series, give the experience a little time: it's clarity might seem a little cold at first but fascination soon turns to love.
In Vanska's hands I get that sense that the music is somehow speech in a strange and marvellous language more intensely than I ever have. And that's just a part of the experience!
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
First three movements are great. Like the rest of the series good but a little bland - the first disc of the concertos they are recording with Sudbin is much better. The fourth movement was like trying to read a book in a car on a bumpy road. Not for me I'm afriad. Great sound though.
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