Editorial Reviews

The trouble with anthology recordings of this kind is that at root, just as with any other kind of music, a great classical performance depends less on a set of abstract qualities of excellence than on a creative response to a given set of circumstances. That said, this six-disc outing does better than most with the particularly difficult problem of offering a reasonable sample of Beethoven's music. Britain's EMI label has a deep catalog of recordings under its control, and the set can reach back to the late '50s for genuine classics like Walter Gieseking's effortlessly fluent "Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (Pathétique)," or as far forward as the 1990s. That work and several others are presented complete; the lack of complete works is a bane of Beethoven samplers, and a point in favor of this one even if the full works are, except for the "Pathétique," on the light side. The six CDs are each devoted to a single instrumental genre, with the first disc offering from one to three movements of each of the nine symphonies plus various shorter orchestral works. Even with six CDs there's no way to fit everything in, and the compilers tend to show a preference for the relatively slower slow movements and scherzos. Big sonata-form movements like that of the "Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57," are excerpted. This may seem unfortunate, but the emphasis is on the broad sweep of Beethoven's career. From that standpoint, the biggest complaint in the selection is the sparsity of works from Beethoven's transcendent late period; although six minutes of the "Ode to Joy" (with bass recitative) from the finale of the "Symphony No. 9" are presented, the listener will not really get an idea of what happened to the music of the by then totally deaf Beethoven at the end of his life. Shorter works like the "Duo for clarinet and bassoon in C major, WoO 25," could have been dropped in favor of part or all of one of the late quartets (and likewise with the "Rondo a capriccio in G major, Op. 129," known as "Rage Over a Lost Penny" in exchange for a late piano sonata movement). The remastering of this diverse set of sonic sources is not seamless but will meet the needs of a listener hoping to devote a series of commutes to getting to know Beethoven's music. Better, probably, to pick a Beethoven recital by a well-regarded pianist and buy a ticket, but this set will give the newcomer a taste of a lot of Beethoven. James Manheim, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

• Listener Rating:
• Ratings: 1