[78-L] fast Beethoven

[Gene Baron]

I agree too on the variability of "correct" tempi for orchestral performance
and the effect of room/acoustics/etc.  Music history books are full of
stories (true or not) about composers such as Wagner, who once (the story
goes) berated a conductor for taking something too slow or too fast only to
have the conductor point out that he was following Wagner's metronome marks
exactly.

Gene
gene.baron at gmail.com



On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Don Cox <doncox at enterprise.net> wrote:

>
>
> On 10/03/2011, DAVID BURNHAM wrote:
> > Scherchen's Beethoven 4 and 8 are also fast.
> >
> > I think they work well at that speed, but the orchestra gets
> > breathless in places. But slower renditions such as Klemperer's work
> > well too. It isn't just the tempo that matters, but the sharpness of
> > phrasing within that tempo.
> >
> > Beecham's is another fast Eroica, and very successful.
> >
>
> I couldn't agree more, Don.  I love Celibedache's interpretations which are
> almost invariably slower than the norm.  I love Mravinsky's readings which
> are
> often at breakneck speed.  and Pletnev recently came out with a Beethoven
> cycle
> which is quite controversial, (the Pastoral is bizarrisimo), and I've
> played and
> enjoyed them many times.  But it is a complete package, not just the
> speeds.
>  Playing very fast or very slow is quite taxing for the orchestra.  The
> last
> movement of Tchaikovsky's 4th by Mravinsky is very fast and very exciting.
>  The
> same can be said about Toscanini's reading of the orchestration of the
> Beethoven
> Septet;  the last movement is taken at a pace that I've never heard a
> chamber
> group manage.  Likewise, Celibedache's recording of "Bolero" is
> Magnificent, and
> one of the slowest on records;  I never want to hear that piece done fast
> again,
> (and I know many music lovers don't want to hear that piece again).  Ravel
> himself apparently said that Bolero should always require 4 sides, not 3.
>  I'm
> in Florida at the moment but when I get home, I want to see if I have the
> Beethoven 4 & 8 by Scherchen.
>
> db
>
>
>
> The 1928 recording of Bolero conducted by Ravel himself is on a Pierian CD,
> or
> some here may have the 78s. He does seem to have preferred it slowish.
>
> But the right tempo depends partly on the acoustic - a dry studio can
> permit a faster tempo than a large concert hall with a long reverb time.
> The presence, and even the mood, of an audience makes a difference. And
> the size of the orchestra.
>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> doncox at enterprise.net
>
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