Most likely your wallet is as tired as mine if you love classic film music because September was filled with one great surprise after another.  In fact two of my personal favorites from this month are already out of print, and one is likely to follow soon.

First up is the massive multi-disc MGM Soundtrack Treasury from Film Score Monthly.  I struggled hard with this one but the combination of 1960s music and the variety of unusual fare from great composers made this one a final buy for me.  Part of the interest lay in my John Williams completion mode since he was the pianist for The Apartment a wonderful little score which starts off a series of great discs in the first 6 discs of the set.  I have to say that I like the Hefti disc the most here along with the aforementioned score.  And I found that personal taste tended to favor the first few discs of each separate container.  Still, there is a lot of good music to hear and it will be something I know I'll return to again. 

Next up was Boy on a Dolphin another of Friedhofer's Oscar-nominated scores.  This gorgeous stereo remastering is really a great listen as well.  Intrada had to limit purchases to one disc as this soon sold out!  I can't imagine a Friedhofer disc selling out so fast, but it is a mark of how many are beginning to discover his music and appreciate the rarity of its availability on CD.  It is a standard and firm piece of 1950s scoring.

Intrada's last set of surprises included The Boys From Brazil which I wrote about the other day.  Still humming away to that great waltz theme after a few days of listening to this wonderful Goldsmith score. 

Earlier this month I commented here on the completion of Vanska's Beethoven Cycle on BIS.  The last disc featured the 2nd and 7th symphonies, two works that make for a fine pairing.  This whole cycle is well worth your attention (and it will no doubt come soon in a boxed set I would guess) as a premier set of performances that should end up on the top five Beethoven cycles, and the first great one of the new millenium.

I am also eternally greatful to the work of Bill Stromberg and John Morgan for their restorations and as a Herrmann fan, their release of The Kentuckian/Williamsburg:Story of a Patriot is just another great recording in a stellar series from their Tribute Film Classics label.  I don't know what Naxos was thinking when they gave up on this project, but they have lost out.  There are some great Steiner and Korngold releases coming that should continue to make these releases historically memorable taken as a whole. 

So, there you have it, from Beethoven to Goldsmith, a lot of interesting, varied music worth checking out.  You can at least hear clips of the MGM library release on-line to savor the music, if in truncated form.  We haven't even gotten to Oscar bait season yet, nor the new Indiana Jones set! 

Symphony #2 in D, Op. 36 (BIS 1816)

Symphony #7 in A, Op. 92 (BIS 1816)

After a year of waiting, the final disc in Osmo Vanska’s Beethoven cycle with the Minnesota Orchestra appeared in August.  Without doubt, this is the premier cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies to appear in quite some time.  It is easily the most singly enjoyable, most musically accurate, and most vividly recorded series to date.  Here we get to hear two of Beethoven’s lesser performed symphonies, though the seventh seems to come in go in popularity.  I have always enjoyed Beecham’s performance of the second symphony recorded with the Royal Philharmonic because of the real playfulness in that performance and if I recall it was a little drier acoustically.  For me the Seventh has been of little interest on CD.  I cannot say that I really had a favorite performance of the work, though the sonic modern recording with Christoph von Dohnanyi in Cleveland with Telarc sees a lot more play time (mostly because it is coupled with the 5^th).  Klemperer’s recording with the Philharmonia is another personal favorite (though not as much so as his recording of the Eroica.) 

The Second Symphony has a couple of important features to point out.  One of these is its length.  Here Beethoven has added almost another ten minutes of music over and above his first essay in this genre.  It is stretching the limits of the genre as one of the longer symphonies at that time.  As the first symphonies play with the expectations of the Minuet, with a breezy third movement, here Beethoven does away with the Minuet third movement altogether and writes a full-fledged scherzo.  This is also one of Beethoven’s happiest works filled with a joie de vivre fully steeped in the 18^th century symphonic style.  It does not mean it is without the sort of impish humor that exists throughout the composer’s music, but the outer movements of this symphony in particular are close to what one comes to expect in the genre for the time.  There are some telling differences including a lengthier opening adagio to the first movement and there is little or no flirtation with minor keys except brief modulations through them in development sections.  Once again, instrumental choirs tend to stay pretty traditional but wind writing is far more detailed than the period often saw.  The second movement “Larghetto” is a bit breezy here, an effect more of the clarity of attack and attention to rests and musical pauses that allow the music to float through the silence with proper musical sense.  Also wonderful are the way the brass insert themselves into this texture.  This is the slow movement that in a sense sets the tone for the 19^th century symphony in its length and weightiness.  The recording is a perfect example here of matching the performance to one’s performance venue to a tee, a consideration often overlooked in even the finest of recordings.  It is another sign of the truly remarkable way these performances have been realized.  The fourth movement always strikes me as being one of Beethoven’s most startlingly funny openings.  It seems as if everything is off with an accent going in seemingly the opposite direction of what we would expect to open and then sudden shifts in keys throughout which really turn out to be no more than normal harmonic movement.  The greatest fun comes in the transitions of the symphony where things are truly stretched about as far as one could go.  It always struck me as if the orchestra gets stuck, or has to wait until someone turns the page before going on.  Is it Beethoven perhaps playing with the audience and suggesting that the genre is sort of stuck and must evolve?  Probably not, but the Eroica is on the horizon, and things will soon never be the same.    

The Seventh is one of the large scale conceptions of the symphony that finds Beethoven returning to the genre after trying his hand at the programmatic Pastoral.  It is in many respects throughout a study in rhythm and combines the motivic development from the 5^th with the lyrical style of the 6^th.  It takes motivic ideas recasts them rhythmically puts them together into themes and then deconstructs them into small packets of sound.  The 6/8 of the first movement adds to this dance quality of the symphony which is somewhat maintained throughout the subsequent movements.  Throughout the orchestral accents are realized with great detail and even when it seems like one foot has gone to sleep and things are off kilter, the orchestra responds with great energy.  The humor in this symphony, where the orchestra seems to play something that seems off rhythmically and then stops to ask “Was that right” has much in common with the way of the 2^nd symphonies playfulness.  Of all the Beethoven symphonies, this one demands careful attention as thematic ideas and motives are pulled apart and reassembled in exhilarating thematic statements.  The quick shifts to other key areas also make this a delightful movement to listen as one is constantly wondering where Beethoven will go next.  The glorious second movement is probably one of Beethoven’s finest essays in the genre and the orchestral crescendo and decrescendo that marks the emotionalism of this movement are handled beautifully here.  This is followed by the exhilarating scherzo of the third movement.  There is something throughout the symphony that seems to be capturing the dance of the people throughout and here in this movement it really asserts itself.  The horn lines in the central section of this movement are also wonderfully in tune (often this is the worst, or most tenuously painful, part of most performances) throughout and this is a brief glimpse into the fabulous brass performers in Minnesota.  Here the horns are as naturally incorporated into the texture as are the rest of the brass and they get a real chance to shine in the fabulous finale.  This is a last movement of celebration at a rustic level with great horn and trumpet punctuations adding the cadential punches necessary to move things along.  Even the timpani lines are about as perfect as you can get with a deep resonance and precision in attack to match the ensemble.  Things whirl away in the climaxes here and dizzingly pull the listener along to create a most exhilarating listening experience.        

Throughout this recording we again get all of the attention to detail, accents, and style that have truly marked this cycle.  The clarity of the recording allows for you to really hear every single line if you are familiar with the way this piece is constructed.  You hear each of the wind lines for instance as the two independent lines they are for clarinets or oboes or bassoons.  They are not played as being FIRST and second with one being subservient to the other but are conceived on the page and in the performance as being equally important to the texture and it shows.  The addition of more brass in the symphony opens up a bit more ambience in the overall texture but also creates the increased volume to the orchestra that their appearance in the music intends to emphasize the big cadential moments.  Having these two mostly happy Beethoven symphonies allows us to hear their similarities musically as well as discover how Beethoven’s style and interest in rhythm and melody had evolved in the decade that essentially separates their conception.  Easily one of the best 7^ths on disc with a finely-realized 2^nd to boot.  Though it might seem anticlimactic to release this lastly, one finds that the pairing alone makes this disc recommendable as we get to hear two works that often get overlooked in the composer’s oeuvre.  Vanska manages to remind us that these are no less amazing examples of Beethoven’s skill and this coupling points out the stylistic similarities better than one would have expected between these two great works.

The orchestra will launch a new cycle of the Beethoven concerti with Russian-born Yevgeniy Sudbin.  It will be hard to match the superb Murray Perahia traversal from Sony with the Concertgebouw and Haitink but I can’t wait to hear them try!  Too bad we couldn’t get more pure orchestral Beethoven from the ensemble, but maybe BIS will surprise us with at least one recording, and the orchestra has a planned season capper of the Missa Solemnis for the upcoming season.  What a time to live in MN!

The Beethoven Symphonies

I can easily encourage you to simply pick up all of the BIS releases with the Minnesota Orchestra as 5 recordings worth adding to your collection.  There are tons of choices for the more popular 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th, and 9^th symphonies obviously tuned to your own taste.  I find that in some cases I am forced to offer you a suggestion where Vanska’s is easily the ONLY recommendation!  Here are some individual recordings of the symphonies that you may wish to explore as well:

Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 21

Vienna Philharmonic Orch./Pierre Monteux

Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 36

Royal Philharmonic Orch./Sir Thomas Beecham

Symphony No. 3 in Eb, Op.55 (Eroica)

Cincinnati Symphony Orch./Michael Gielen                                                        

Philharmonia Orch./Otto Klemperer                                                                    

London Classical Players/Roger Norrington                                                       

Symphony No. 4 in Bb, Op. 60

London Classical Players/Roger Norrington                                                       

Symphony No. 5 in c, Op. 67

London Symphony Orch./Pierre Monteux                                                           

Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 (Pastoral)

London Classical Players/Roger Norrington                                                       

Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92

Cleveland Orch./Christoph von Dohnanyi                                                           

Philharmonia Orch./Otto Klemperer                                                                    

Symphony No. 8 in F, Op. 93

Marlboro Festival Orch./Pablo Casals                                                                

Vienna Philharmonic Orch./Pierre Monteux                                                         

Symphony No. 9 in d, Op.  (Choral)

Soloists, Arnold Schoenberg Choir,Chamber Orch. of Europe/Nikolaus Harnoncourt       

Soloists, Schütz Choir of London, London Classical Players/Roger Norrington    

Complete cycles?  Well Toscanini is always an informative conductor from a different time, but no less intense or finer performances than his will you find when it comes to attention to detail.  Some really enjoy Karajan’s 1960s Deutsche Grammaphon releases (I have a bit of a fondness for his 9^th from this cycle) as examples of 19^th century performance practice versions for these works.  Roger Norrington’s early-music approach is an interesting, and often times odd, testament to what happens when musicology runs amok, but Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Teldec set with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe learns much from that approach and creates invigorating live performances.  I’m a Monteux fan and cannot help but love his recordings of these works.  I have never been a fan of Bernstein’s recordings of these symphonies, though many love them.  In fact, I guess this can open the discussion here for others to share their favorite Beethoven symphony recordings.  I know there are fans of David Zinman’s recordings in Zurich as well.  Still this Vanska cycle will give you pleasure for years to come.  I also think that Skrowaczewski and Michael Gielen are two of the finest Beethoven interpreters and occasionally they get a recording with an orchestra that can help prove that, though not as often as one would like.  If Gielen ever gets the chance to record a cycle with an orchestra at its height with the same kind of sonics available in the BIS releases he would be a real contender for your Beethoven pocketbook.  BIS’s new releases of the Beethoven symphonies are a reminder that Classical music is not dead!