Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Zubin Mehta, Marilyn Horne :: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

Magic

11/20/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As far as live recordings of Beethoven go, this one delivers a knockout punch to ANY of the competition. Recorded in late 1983, this full digital CD has much to offer, with very little to be seen as anything but stupendous. To begin with, the New York Philharmonic is at its very best for this piece under the baton of maestro Mehta. His conducting is subtle, and even (dare I say it?) light. He sweetens the musical phrases to pure perfection in the First movement, and allows for the pathos of the Second to come shining through. The Fourth movement is breathtaking, with such an attention to shading, and orchestral color thatone is left almost breathless. This is no heavy teutonic reading which believes that the only correct volume for this piece is FORTISSIMO. This is supple and very well balanced. As for the singers, they are every bit up to the challenge that Maestro Mehta has put them. Salminen is as basso-profundoish as ever, and resounds splendidly in the acoustics of Avery Fisher Hall. Marliyn Horne is one of the few Mezzo/Altos who refuses to be vocally outdone in a recording of the 9th, she sounds superb here, as the twilight of her major career was upon her. The same can be said for Margaret Price, who, although not at the end of her career, has such wonderful flexiblity of tone, and does not SCREETCH on the high notes, but handles them with grace and precision. Jon Vickers is the ideal choice of any tenor for this vocal part, and performes with tremendous heroic tone, even if he is a little more wobbly than in his earlier days, it is more than made up for in the sheer power of his voice. All in all, a little bit of magic preserved on disc."

Top of the Ninth

Ted Ficklen | Saint Louis, MO USA | 12/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great all-digital recording of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. I usually like my Beethoven played fast and this version clocks in at just under 69 minutes, a full two or three minutes faster than most other recordings I have heard. This recording is more in the Toscaninni tradition than the von Karajan tradition. Mehta is my new favorite, I prefer this now to my previous standard, a recording by Michael Tilson Thomas. Bravo!"

Good, but not fantastic

Prescott Cunningham Moore | 03/28/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was surprised when I read some of the other reviews stating that this was the ninth to own. I always thought it was a good recording, but not the best. Indeed, RCA did not think highly enough of it to put in on either gold or red label; rather, its on the silver label, RCA's budget line.



What we have here is a very solid reading of the symphony. The New York Philharmonic is in good form playing convincingly. Climaxes are strong, softer passages delicate, good balance, etc. The orchestral sound is, however, somewhat muddy and not transparent, especially in large tutti passages, where the bad acoustics of Avery Fischer all simply swallow the orchestra whole. In order to combat this, it seems the engineers have placed the orchestra in the distance, which only exacerbates the excessive tubbiness of the Philharmonic's sound. This is especially problematic in the choral finale, where really nothing is clearly audible. The soloists are all fine, but beginning to show sings of age. Miss Price especially is a bit too loud and struggles in some passages.



Mehta is fine, but it seems his contribution was more "time beating" than anything else. Sure, everything sounds fine, but this is the Philharmonic performing a work they have played hundreds of times over. Mehta does not really shape anything or draw out any unique aspects of the score. Just listen to Gunter Wand, also on RCA, as a direct comparison to hear how this symphony's sound world should really sound."