Beethoven- Symphonies 5 & 7

Earns the Title of "Best" Recordings -- And a Couple Others
Without question, you can call these masterpiece recordings the greatest performances of Beethoven's 5th and 7th. I have listened to many versions and these are good ones. The 5th is particularly astonishing. The momentum and power of the first movement is incredible. However, my slight preference for the Beethoven's 7th is: Hornoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Beethoven Symphonies. Compare the two. The winds and overall structure are excellent. Also, an equally good Beethoven's 5th is Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra Beethoven Fifth from the outstanding Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra's Complete Beethoven Symphonies. The "voice," dynamics and readings are superb and true to Beethoven, although the power does not erupt as much as as Kleiber and Wiener Philharmoniker's Beethoven Symphonies 5 & 7 Listen to a few versions and decide for yourself. They all are wonderful.

If you can own only one recording of Beethoven's 5th /7th , this is it!
Not much to add to the many excellent reviews here. Carlos Kleiber sets the standard for Beethoven's 5th and 7th. What a bargain!

A reappraisal of 'great' performances; a reaction against hyperbole.
If you're looking at this record, you will probably be convinced by the weight of reviews that this is THE performance of these two symphonies to own. This review, then, is likely to become insignificant in the scheme of things - maybe thats for the best. Ohhhh! I was so excited about finaly being able to hear, ney experience, the greatest performances of two of my favourite works. I didn't find the difinitive preformances here. Please, you must understand, music opperates on such a personal level - everyone is touched by it in so very different ways. This renders words such as "difinitive" near meaningless when it comes to music. I expect you are naturaly warey, therefore, when you see such words deployed in argument that is ultimately based upon oppinion. I have had the fortune to be touched very deeply by music in the past. These performances just didn't do it for me. They may do it for you, they may not. I am in no way contesting the OPINIONS of other conscientious Amazon reviewers. So, perhaps naively, I hope not to be ostracised from the music lovers community for having the strength of conviction to express my dissapointment against the hords of positive reviews. This review, it must be understood absolutely, is based on a very personal and oppinionated response. Here endeth the rant and here begineth the review. Sound: 3 stars. The accoustic is very dry, the captured sound is thin and brittle. This has robbed the VPO of their usual warmth and gold tinted sound. This is not unusual for '70s DG. For example, take the timpani. It is very forward in the overall balance but has little low end impact that one would expect of kettle drums. The drums' image is thus constrained to unusualy high registers for such an instrument. That may not be too much of a bad thing but, because the drums are forward in the balance, they force the treble and mid-range instruments to compete with them in a rather uneasy manner and thus the wounderful VPO strings, winds and brasses are lost behind the tinny drum. Furthermore, at the opening of the fourth movement of the fifth symphony, the brass fanfare is quite stringent and difficult (i.e. not easy) on the ear. Overall, the poor engineering has turned a wounderfully rich orchestral sound into a dull one which sounds quite wooden. Overall, the sound has little impact on the experience and their is no room for the of- wonderful VPO to expand beyond a very cramped sound image. Performance: 3 stars. Perhaps the sound would have been warmer, richer, if that richness had been present in the first place. The playing seems quite uninspired and routine. Listen, for example, to the stings (particularly 1st violins) in the exposition of the 7th's opening movement - I get the impression of sloppyness (can anyone else here the continual intrusion of extreem highs from the violins). Moreover, once we pass the rather exciting and elemental fanfare which opens the finale of the 5th, once the brass subsides, the rest of the orchestra trundles along completely underwhelmingly and without much tension or excitement while the horns in the finale of the 7th come across half-hearted and emotionaly moribund -their phrasing is also quite constrained and wooden. They even allow the rather barren woodwinds overpower them instead of balancing into a glorious ripe sound with a golden shimmer that woodwinds usualy add to brass chords. Interpretation: 2 Interpretation? What interpretation? True, there are those accelerandos and rallentandos but they appear quite arbitrary and unsubtle. They bring nothing to these symphonies - perhaps they would be more cogent if they were more subtle. Kleiber, the arch-pedant (perhaps this argument has now lost the little of the objectivity it once had), bends the elemental and free orchestra to a rather straight-forward, unimaginative and wooden litteral reading of the score - aural music is so transcendent of what is simply visualy written in the score. This approach can work, though, as it did for Sinopoli in his recording of Bruckner's 5th with the VPO. There is no charm here and what little spontineity there is sounds forced and contrived. Well I've said what I have to say. For all that I have said, maybe this performance should stay first choice (I have not stated the positive elements of this record because - at the time of writing - there are just over a hundred other reviews who's authers are in a better place to do that, see those reviews). Perhaps I am the one who is totaly in the wrong. Perhaps this will always be first in its class. Understand this, though this may be the first choice for Beethoven's 5th and 7th, there are many other records of these mighty symphonies and we would be the poorer for not sampling those records which you may even find to be as good as this - but never the same. Try Solti, Masur, Abbado, Vanska, Bohm, Bernstein, Karajan, Immerseel, Klemperer, Furtwangler, Toscanini, Davis, Wand, Jochum, Barenboim, Kubelik, Rattle, Sawallisch, Dudamel, Erich Kleiber etc. etc. etc. For all that I have said, I live in fear of the lynch mob. Perhaps I should find solace in my own words: "In the world of music, however, it is for the individual to make their own way - would we have it any other way?"

Definitive Fifth, Great Seventh
The Fifth is very, very polished and sounds just like it should. What more could you say about a recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? I mean, it's the Fifth Symphony! Next I'll review the Mona Lisa... I can say that this Fifth seems "faster" than some versions, but at the same time it feels like it has the exact right tempo. It is my favorite recording of the Fifth and probably my favorite recording of any of Beethoven's symphonies. The recording of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is great as well, and is my second favorite recording of that piece (Guido Cantelli's ancient Seventh is my personal favorite, and obviously such comparisons are very subjective). You cannot go wrong with this album.

Very enjoyable music
The Vienna Symphony delivers these famous Beethoven Symphonies with great skill and feeling. Very enjoyable.