 "Big set that is grossly over-hyped." | 2008-09-09 |
| - Reviewed By borvix |
This collection in some bizarre way became "standard" version of force-fed Beethoven. It is well recorded but I prefer fresher and less pompous interpretations.
I especially liked this Beethoven Symphonies 1,2,3,4,5,6 and Art Galleries of the Time, 2DVDs+3CDs Ultimate MosaicDVD Collection
Beethoven's music is full of emotions but when it is overturned with grotesque oversized, overemphasized emotions the entire performance sound hysterical. |
| |
 "Exciting and engrossing recordings" | 2008-03-10 |
| - Reviewed By wcoburn2 |
I have enjoyed listening to Karajan's 1963 set ever since I bought it on sale at the Record Hunter in New York in the late 1980's. I don't find the renditions unemotional as some do. The performances are fast and dramatic. To some the sixth is too fast, but the slower tempos we have become accustomed to are only received tradition just as phlegmatic renditions of Bruckner's symphonies were once the norm. The performances often have the drive more typical of early music versions of classic works, except the pieces are being played by a larger orchestra than would have been common before the twentieth century. They are powerful renditions but not heavy-handed or turgid.
As in his recordings for DG of the Brahms and Schumann symphonies, Karajan also shows his ability to shape passages. Long acquiantance with a score enables a conductor to do that. A distinct plus is the sound is excellent. |
| |
 "Okay! Good for a preference recording" | 2008-01-13 |
| - Reviewed By nguyenquoctruong |
It's very well played, well recorded, very standard for general audience or listeners. It's very Karajan. It's nice and pleasant to listen to. Nothing is deep, nothing is special, and overall, very boring and forgettable. I bought this set when I was still a music student. It was good when I needed to listen for study in a Beethoven Symphony class. But now I don't touch it any more.
Kleiber (Eric for #3, and Carlos for #4, #5, and #7), Walter, and Gardiner are among my favorite. They are all different but all wonderfully and amazingly memorable.
|
| |
| "Uneven Beethoven Cycle by Karajan" | 2007-08-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A16UQW2SISSXTT |
In a rehearsal of a Mahler symphony Leonard Bernstein asked to the members of Wiener Philharmoniker "I know you can play the notes but where is Mahler?". A similar question could be asked to Karajan after this cycle.In his way of doing Beethoven,Karajan chooses to eschew all spiritual depth and philosophical struggle Beethoven had both as a person and a composer in favour of straight-forward energy and power.
In the first two symphonies Karajan simply fails to catch the Mozartian grace and joy.He also lacks the vitality and flow Furtwaengler has in his Wiener Philharmoniker accounts with EMI.It is obvious he had original ideas about these pieces but to my tastes it simply does not work.
In Eroica,Karajan sticks to his plan and he is much more successful.He manages to create a magnificently powerful and energetic account of this masterpiece and he is very well supported by the beauty Berliner Philharmoniker extracts with their virtuoso playing.Still no spiritual depth of Furtwaengler,no emotional intensity of Böhm,no philosophical struggle of Klemperer but this account is the best case made for powerful Beethoven and probably no better case will ever be done.
Fourth Symphony along with 8th is the piece Karajan excels most.Karajan is very straight-forward and no-nonsense with these pieces it almost Carlos Kleiber like.Karajan seems to ask himself the question of "What is this work?"instead of "What can i do with this work?"So beautiful.Once again Karajan is favoured by gorgeous Berliners.
Fifth is also one of the highlights of this set.Without a doubt the most powerful and energetic of all Beethoven symphonies fifth is the most flexible piece to Karajan's way of Beethoven conducting.First movement is thrilling with is speed and furiosity and provoking with its passion and intensity.Adagio is fast but fortunately does not feel rushed.Scherzo finds beauty,mystery and drama at the same time.Excellent string playing here.Finale which Karajan takes without repeats carries this power and majestic aura until the very end without any decreases.I still favour the war-time Furtwaengler over this but still this is one of the greatest 5th symphony recordings ever.
However in the 6th symphony we return to the story of the first two. Karajan is unable to catch the climaxes.I blame the ridiculously fast speed.As an earlier reviewer so correctly stated Karajan's pastoral is describing impressions of nature from his Porsche.Böhm and Walter owns this symphony,Karajan is earth-bound by comparison.
Everything is so right in the 7th except of the beautiful Adagietto which is the section i care about most in this symphony.My problem is not about speed.I used to favour the slower the better appoach to this movement however after hearing Carlos Kleiber's incredible account with Wiener Philhamoniker it changed.Karajan's problem here is that the interpretation sounds empty.No dancing rhytmic flow like Abbado,no tragic and lyic beauty like Kleiber,no funeral climax like Furtwangler.It is as if Karajan could not care less about this movement and he had no ideas whatsoever about it at all.Other three movements are the same story with the 4th and 8th they are straight-forward and beautiful.
Some people tags this 9th symphony of Karajans as the definitive and the greatest account of this symphony and i desperately shake my head and ask "Where did this exaggeration and false interpretation of truth come from?"
To me this is the most problematic interpretation of this whole set.In the first movement Karajan takes such a fast tempo i wonder if he has another thing to take care of somewhere else.Second movement lacks the rhytmic flow and demonic aura.Third movement is rushed and in the fourth movement the combination of chorus and orchestra fails to create a wonderfully joyous climax and Karajan fails to create a heavenly sound at the very end of symphony as well as the final cries of "Götterfunken".
In sum to me this is not the best way to approach Beethoven.Even if you like Beethoven this way you might want to look elsewhere for 1st,2nd,6th and 9th symphonies.However if you are a fan of powerful but non-spiritual,energetic but emotionally cool Beethoven 3rd and 5th will move you in a way one will never forget for the rest of his/her life.Not to mention they are excellently played by the magnificent Berliner Philharmoniker.For more spiritual,emotional and Germanic Beethoven however Furtwaengler, Klemperer and Böhm are ways to go. |
| |
| "A good set" | 2007-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By teemacs |
Herbie von K. remains a divisive figure in the musical world, even after his death. It is fair to say that, currently, he is not flavour of the month. Even at the time of this set's first release in the early '60s, the critics criticised Karajan's "glossy and glamorous" reading of Beethoven, made largely possibly by having the best orchestra on the planet under his baton. It was, to use an Australian expression, all show and no go.
And yet...
Listen to that Fifth. Listen to how quietly Karajan takes the end of the third movement, and how he relentlessly builds the tension until the joyous explosion of the fourth movement. For me, this recording at least matches the famous (and justly praised) Kleiber recording.
Listen to the Ninth. Listen to the delightful touches, to the ting of the triangle in the Turkish March, to the way the piccolo rises out of the orchestra as the volume builds towards the great string run that leads to the final appearance of the famous "Ode to Joy" chorus. And just listen to those strings sing and the way the double basses thunder along underneath it all. If I had to take one Ninth to my desert island, it would be this one.
There are things that are not so good of course. In the Pastoral, in the first movement "feelings of joy on arriving in the country", one can only assume that Karajan is sampling the joys in his Porsche. However, whoever gets a complete set of Beethoven symphonies right, whatever "right" means? Not Karajan, but not anyone else either. In my opinion, this is marvellous music making, in which the good things handily outnumber the bad, and at this price it is irresistible - which is, of course, why I didn't. |
| |
 "Those who ignore repeats should be taken outside and shot" | 2007-06-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A20BT5D9NZA13J |
Karajan shows no respect for the balance of Beethoven's score. Overall, there is little here to laud or hate......a bonus second star for spectacular execution by the Berlin Phil, without actually playing any music. Glossy, zero rubato, zero sforzati, continuous mezzo forte.
In 20 years, music notation software with masterful samples will sound exactly like this: the most perfect and beautiful sounds a computer can generate. These performances are soulless.
Give me Bernstein/VPO or Solti/Chicago any day over this rubbish. |
| |
| "One of the best cycles out there - if not the best!" | 2007-05-05 |
| - Reviewed By wisredzofsilvanost |
The 9 Symphonies play a great role in my life because of their sheer beauty and touching deepness. So I have obtained a lot of recordings of these pieces through the years, some of them on CD, some on casette, some on LP. And there are the concerts, of course. As a natural consequence, I have listened to a lot of different interpretations of these masterpieces. All interpretations (well not all but a great majority) have their moments but when I listen to Maestro Karajan's recordings of these, I always discover something that wasn't there the last time I heard. Karajan has always been critiqued for being too mechanical, too much in control but he always introduced something new to the music through his interpretation... The artistical point of the 1963 Karajan cycle has already been talked about a lot, I've got nothing more to say about it, I can only repeat that this cycle is perpahs the best cycle you will ever find. It is one of those works which become to be the yardstick for the later recordings to be compared with.
I was most pleasantly surprised to discover that the sound quality is phenomenal for a 1963 recording, it is better than more recent ADD records. The sound engineering is also very good, it is like having the full orchestra play for you in youor living room. The deep notes of the double basses go right through you while the violins tease your ears in a most pleasent way. So, the sound quality is just great.
I also would like to talk about the CD design, which is something very important for me. I know it is strange but I like to own CDs that have good design. Of course the included material is a lot more important but... Anyway, there are two CD cases with the first one including the first 6 symphonies on 3 CDs, and the other presenting the remaining three on 2 CDs, with the last CD contains the 9th. CDs have mirror surface with the classic DG logo and the contents are listed on the CD itself as well as the booklet. The booklet offers a good read on the 9 symphonies and the cycle presented with the set.
I hope you will enjoy the set as much as I do... |
| |
| "Excellent set of Beethoven's 9 Symphonies" | 2007-04-12 |
| - Reviewed By wb6yru |
I have only one complaint: the first part of both the 5th and 6th
symphonies feel a bit rushed in my view, the tempo seems just a
little fast. Other than that, this is an excellent set of
Beethoven's 9 symphonies, well worth it. |
| |
| "SACD set is better" | 2007-03-30 |
| - Reviewed By mothertrackers |
Beethoven's 5th by Karajan was my first classical record purchase.
Thousands of analogue and digital discs later, I again purchased the same 5th and eight others on this CD set.
Karajan lived through the eternal dilemma of the all artists who came after the great predecessors.
At his last Saltsburg Festival, after conducted "Don Giovanni"
He said to his wife,
"Furtwangler would have said it wasn't all that great."
She consoled the Maestro,
"It was! It was!"
Karajan had a life long struggle with legacy of Furtwangler and was not too sure if he won.
Well, his style and interpretations are definitely non-Furtwangler, or to more precisely put non-German.
It seems to me that Karajan tried to avoid playing Beethoven's music in conjunction with German culture and spirituality.
Whether his attempt was successful one or not, has been a topic of many music critics and connoisseurs.
Personally, I have a mixed feeling toward this cycle.
I like No.1, 2, 3 and 7 very much. However, there are some flaws; for instance in the fourth movements of 5th and 9th,
cello, bass, tympani and all lower notes suddenly disappear. All you hear is the first violin all the way to coda with painfully
bright tone.(This is more obvious if you own high resolution Audiophile stereo system)
Wonder if this deletion of bass is a part of Karajan's interpretations or a fault of old analog recorder, which is incapable of
recording loud passages?
In each symphonies, the first violin is always exaggerated over other instruments. I think that is the reason why some people
call these recordings "light" Beethoven.
If you must listen to Karajan's Beethoven Symphonies, I would recommend SACD reissue, which is more expensive and bass is
still thin but tonal quality is somewhat more acceptable.
This set is not my first choice. |
| |
| "one of the best beethoven cycles" | 2007-02-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3NFSV2GC5QLH |
| generally this set is one of the best beethoven cycles, audio is good considering that this recording was done in the 60's. though the string section of the orchestra was quite dominant, the wind instruments were sonically weak maybe due to placements of microphones during recording( compare with carlos kleiber beethoven symphonies). Last movement of symphony no. 9 seems to be lacking of the high frequecy content of the sound. it seems that there was a cutting of the full audio frequency. maybe they were trying to suppress the noise but the fidelity of the audio was sacreificed. overall this cycle is a must for a beethoven fan. |
| |
International Available
