BEETHOVEN: COMPLETE SYMPHONIES - ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (6 CDS)

So much is certain: there is no avoiding Beethoven.

That is especially true of the symphonies by the towering genius, works that have a unique place among the great masterworks of musical history. Beethoven set such enormously high standards in symphonic writing that many composers who followed him almost froze in awe. So it was with Johannes Brahms, who felt himself almost paralysed by Beethoven. “I shall never write a symphony! You have no idea how it feels to have such a giant always on your heels”, wrote the forty-year-old, to his friend Hermann Levi three years before he mustered enough courage to present the
first symphony. The complete Beethoven symphonies are here recorded by a truly “royal” orchestra; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the world’s most prestigious bodies of musicians. Through its concert series, tours, and recordings it confirms again and again the high quality its music-making has shown since its foundation by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1946. In 1993 the RPO began to record important works of classical music for their unique “Royal Philharmonic Collection”. It was in this connection that the present recording was made in 1994.

The conductors who took part are also by no means unimpressive. Among them are Barry Wordsworth, for many years conductor-in-chief of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and James Lockhart who in 1960s was musical director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The internationally successful Günther Herbig, a Karajan pupil, is also here along with the much acclaimed Claire Gibault, one of the few women to have made a  reputation for themselves as conductor.

CD 1
Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21
1 I. Adagio molto. Allegro con brio
2 II. Andante cantabile con moto
3 III. Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace
4 IV. Adagio. Allegro molto e vivace

BARRY WORDSWORTH, CONDUCTOR

Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 36
1 I. Adagio molto. Allegro con brio
2 II. Larghetto
3 III. Scherzo: Allegro
4 IV. Allegro molto

JAMES LOCKHART, CONDUCTOR

CD 2
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, op. 55 “Eroica”
1 I. Allegro con brio
2 II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai
3 III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
4 IV. Finale: Allegro molto. Poco andante. Presto

GUENTHER HERBIG, CONDUCTOR

CD 3
Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, op. 60
1 I. Adagio. Allegro vivace
2 II. Adagio
3 III. Menuetto: Allegro vivace
4 IV. Allegro ma non troppo

BARRY WORDSWORTH, CONDUCTOR

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 67
1 I. Allegro con brio
2 II. Andante con moto
3 III. Allegro
4 IV. Allegro

CLAIRE GIBAULT, CONDUCTOR

CD 4
Symphony No. 6 in F major, op. 68 “Pastoral”
1 I. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande Allegro ma non troppo
2 II. Szene am Bach Andante molto mosso
3 III. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute Allegro
4 IV. Gewitter, Sturm Allegro
5 V. Hirtengesang: Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm Allegretto

Egmont, op. 84
1 Overture

MARK ERMLER, CONDUCTOR

CD 5
Symphony No. 7 in A flat major, op. 92
1 I. Poco sostenuto. Vivace
2 II. Allegretto
3 III. Scherzo: Presto. Assai meno presto
4 IV. Allegro con brio

BARRY WORDWORTH, CONDUCTOR

Symphony No. 8 in F major, op. 93
1 I. Allegro vivace e con brio
2 II. Allegretto scherzando
3 III. Tempo di minuetto
4 IV. Allegro vivace

JAMES LOCKHART, CONDUCTOR

CD 6
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, op. 125
1 I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
2 II. Molto vivace
3 III. Adagio molto e cantabile
4 IV. Presto
5 Presto: “O Freunde …”

RAYMOND LEPPARD, CONDUCTOR

SOLOISTS: Gilian Webster, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Martin Hill, Robert Hayward