It’s March 7, so here are my favorite 7ths. Rather than blab for twenty paragraphs, I’ll let these things speak for themselves. I like how Szell takes the catchy second movement fast, closer to a true allegretto than the others. Some other recordings do that, but I don’t remember hearing one that didn’t have some disqualifying issue for me.
Also, a special shout out to Sir Thomas Beecham with the Royal Philharmonic. I like it as much as the ones above but figured I should stop at three.
I liked how the second movement began in Bernstein’s version.
The Fricsay didn’t grab me as much as the other two, but he captured the mania of the final movements well enough.
All fairly new to me – I figured something like Beethoven’s 7th was locked away in my DNA somewhere, but nope. A few passages in the second movement seemed vaguely familiar, but that was it. It’s like you’re explaining calculus to a dog, you’re doing the lord’s work, Renfield.
I looked up why every symphony has like “Op 91” after it. I was previously under the impression that we were only getting a section of the whole symphony, like the 91st part or variant or something.
Silly me.
I move that we adopt this pretentious convention for every recording artist, so now we’ll have Rolling Stones “Let It Bleed, Op. 14” or whatever. Bastards.
Carnegie Hall in their discussion of Beethoven offered a von Karajan 7th, but it was behind a pay wall so I only listened to about two total minutes of that.
You might have come across the 2nd movement melody in piano lessons. The main theme is often pulled out, shortened for a piano lesson book, and given an annoying title, like maybe “Autumn Memories” or something equally noxious, thereby killing any eight-year-old rock fan’s interest in anything classical.
I dislike Karajan’s seventh, or really any of his Beethoven (I’ll admit his 70’s 9th is powerful, but that’s all it is). What’s wrong with his Beethoven (and many other recordings)? In Berlin he cultivated this very lush, rounded string sound, and he tended to bury everything under it. In Beethoven the woodwinds are extremely important; you don’t just need to hear them, they need to cut through and have some bite. But Karajan blankets them under the lush strings. Same with horns: you hear them, but they’re too smooth. They blend with the strings too much. The overall effect sounds to me (and many others) like a heavy, gooey blob of sound. It’s like one of those chocolate pies with 20 feet of meringue on top. Just get me to the chocolate.
Some people find the Karajan sound beautiful, and I suppose it is in a way, if you like everything smooth and sweet. But Beethoven’s gotta bite.
That said, Karjan sometimes forgot himself and made a few great recordings, especially before he got too old and rigid, but that’s another topic. Many people liked his Beethoven, and you might as well.
Some other very good sevenths, in addition to the Beecham I mentioned above: Pierre Monteux (London SO), Herbert Blomstedt (Dresden State Orch.), Bruno Walter (Columbia SO), and Paul Kletzki (Czech PO). If you don’t mind somewhat dingy 50’s mono sound: Andre Cluytens, Carl Schuricht, Erich Kleiber, Bruno Walter (this time with New York PO). With Schuricht you get the Paris Conservatory Orchestra, who had the longest unbroken Beethoven performance tradition in history. For some reason Otto Klemperer, one of my favorite Beethoven conductors, never got the 7th right in my opinion. Carlos Kleiber did a good 7th, but it’s a little grim. If the lean ‘n’ mean Carlos Kleiber approach floats your boat, Paavo Jarvi is also very good.
Of those listed above, I’d view Szell, Schuricht and Kletzki as the ultimate anti-Karajans. Gloriously unblended orchestral sound where you hear all voices. Of course none can match Szell in execution. Only thing that keeps Schuricht out of my top recs is the somewhat dingy recording. Kletzki would be in my top few too if not for the weakish horns. They sound underfed, a real possibility in 60’s Czechoslovakia. But the woodwinds and Kletzki’s direction are fabulous.
I liked the Kleiber!
Some guy on YouTube concurs with many of your sentiments.
10. Blomstedt
9. Toscanini (as much for historical precedent as anything)
8. Casals
7. Beecham
6. Honek
5. Jarvi
4. Donati
3. Bernstein (Vienna)
2. Fricsay
1. Szell
That list confused me at first, because I thought the numbers referred to Beethoven’s 9 symphonies, with each conductor being the “best” for that particular symphony. Doubly confusing: in that context, #10 would mean a 10th symphony, and an 10th only exists in some rough sketches of one movement that has been “completed” by various people (including AI). No one takes it seriously, and I was sure Blomstedt would not have recorded it (he hasn’t).
So I watched the video, then I understood that those are all 7ths ranked by preference. I don’t think I could rank them 1-10 like that. Any of them could be my favorite on a given day.
I liked the video. I used to read that critic’s (David Hurwitz) reviews on his Classics Today website back when it was free (it went to subscription-only back in maybe 2010 or so, and I never subscribed). He sort of put me on to Fricsay’s Beethoven. I was familiar with Fricsay as a great Bartok conductor. I saw a CD of his Beethoven 9th in a store, then checked some online reviews. Hurwitz gave it a rave, so I picked it up based on that. It became one of my favorites, so at some point I picked up more Fricsay Beethoven CDs as Japanese imports. Japanese are way more into this stuff than Americans.
Toscanini and Szell were the 7ths I grew up with. I get why Toscanini’s is important, but I always preferred Szell. I picked up Beecham’s in a used record store in high school, and snatched up Bernstein’s complete Vienna box when it came out in around 1980. At some point I snapped up Szell’s complete set when it was issued as a very cheap box in the late 80’s. I don’t think that set has ever been out of print. I’ve lived with all of those so long now, they’ll always be my favorites.
I’ve watched some of Hurwitz’s Mahler videos, which I enjoyed. He usually makes great choices, although of course no two people are going to have the same favorites for everything. There’s just so much out there. I haven’t seen enough of his videos to say for sure, but I think he’d be a great resource for building a library or looking for the best streaming options. Seems like he’s heard just about everything.
I haven’t heard any of Honek’s Beethoven, I guess I’ll have to go stream it. I’m suspicious of new Beethoven that gets rave reviews, because back in the aughties, everyone was raving about a new Beethoven set by Osmo Vanska in Minneapolis. Hurwitz gave it a rave. This was in the iTunes downloading days, which let you sample before buying. So I listened to some of Vanska’s Beethoven, and I absolutely hated it. It’s a fussy, micromanaged nightmare. Vanska absolutely strangles the music with interpretive “ideas.” It’s all Vanska, little Beethoven. Technically, Vanska’s a good conductor, in that he gets the orchestra to do what he wants. The problem is, what he wants is crap. He’d have been better off just letting them play. Most of his Mahler recordings are equally disastrous (I’ve streamed some). But then, after all that garbage, the crazy SOB recorded one of the best Mahler 8th’s I’ve ever heard. All of a sudden he’s laying aside his ego and simply letting Mahler speak and the orchestra play. Go figure.
Anyway, the moral of that Vanska rant is that I don’t trust new Beethoven that critics are all gaga over. Sometimes it just sounds good to them because it’s different, and later the appeal wanes. I noticed that Vanska never came up in that video, even though Hurwitz raved about his Beethoven in print when it came out. Wonder if he soured on it.
Glad you enjoyed the Kleiber, was it Erich or Carlos? I get the appeal of the Carlos Kleiber version, lots of energy and drive, and a great tempo in the 2nd movement. But I think the 3rd and 4th movements are missing the joy you hear in some others. Maybe he didn’t enjoy recording it. He didn’t record very much; according to Herbert Von Karajan, Carlos, despite his talent for it, didn’t much like to conduct, and only did it “when his freezer was empty.” His recordings were excellent and scarce, which built a mystique around him.
Carlos. He looks possessed at times but maybe that’s a conductor thing.
Once or twice he almost smiled.
The “Bavarian State Orchestra.” Fair enough.
If Werner Herzog isn’t involved I’m not sure it’s legit.