Ludwig van Beethoven Fritz Reiner Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven Symphonies Nos 5 7 Reiner (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

Reiner and the Chicago Symphony triumph with Beethoven.

10/16/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My first encounter with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony occurred many years ago when these two symphonies were released on LP. I absorbed Reiner's interpretations so thoroughly that I have since found it difficult to absorb any others. His insistence on precision, scrupulous attention to attacking a phrase, structuring a passage, and even pin-pointing a single note are most remarkable indeed. Such attention to detail has prompted numerous stories about Reiner's tyrannical agonizing over phrasing, dynamics, architectonics. These Beethoven symphonies (along with his Ninth) are so carefully structured under Reiner's conducting that one feels--at least I do--that he has some kind of mystical insight into the workings of Beethoven's muse. The fatalistic Fifth with its glorious and unparalleled linking that occurs between the third and fourth movements--one of the greatest moments in symphonic literature--and the "dance" of the Seventh with its pulsating rhythms and flashes of brilliant sunlight combine to showcase Reiner and his orchestra at their most powerful. Reiner attacks both symphonies with an energy that is--in my listening experience--unmatched. This same accuracy (Reiner's attention to careful musical pronounciation) is also apparent in the Coriolan and Fidelio overtures. Listen to the opening chord of the Coriolan: it is spoken crisply, accurately, and with great gusto. It strikes sharply and quickly. No other interpretation of this powerful overture is recorded with such majesty. These recordings from decades ago are audio spectaculars: RCA's "Living Stereo" is presented in its best light."

AWESOME!

Lincoln-63542 | Raleigh, NC USA | 07/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording dates back to the second part of the Fifties and is still young and fresh. This is the Great Chicago Symphony conducted by the builder of that greatness. And this is one of the best performed 5th's I have heard so far. The Seventh Symphony included is a real beauty: it's Second Movement is particularly touching and the Last Movement of the Symphony as rendered is an "allegro con brio" where YOU KNOW the members of the Orchestra are right at the edge of their seats putting their hearts on their playing. They play with passion and ingenuity! . The Coriolan Overture has a majesty and magnificence very hard to describe. Buy this CD and for that money you will get with bonuses the Greatness of Beethoven by means of this brilliant Maestro and the Orchestra he helped to put in the Map of the Best Orchestras in the World. A true Winner!"

Scrupulous performances indeed.

John Peters | Austin, TX | 11/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fritz Reiner is frequently associated with composers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Strauss and Wagner. In spite of this association, his performances of Beethoven's music are not to be ignored. Reiner was a stupendous interpretor of Beethoven and any listener of this CD will quickly understand why. The first movement of the 5th Symphony sets the pace for the entire performance. These are strait-forward interpretations but in no way does this subtract from their virtue. The playing and the precision of the orchestra is amazingly clean and disciplined (even by Reiner's standards if one can believe such a thing). In typical fashion, Reiner rules with a rod of iron and never lets the sound get carried away or even remotely perverse. In both symphonies and both overtures Reiner favors fast tempi and this is without a doubt very advantagous. The music is always moving and does not drag the way so many modern recordings of these works do. One of the most important aspects that these recordings have to offer is the fact that Reiner gives all of the movements in both symphonies equal attention to detail. He does not let the first and fourth movements completely dominate the second and third movements. In essence, he does not focus all of his energy on the powerful movements and let the minor ones flutter. For anybody who prefers very potent interpretations of Beethoven this is it."

Timeless Beethoven 5th and Coriolan Overture

Santa Fe Listener | 01/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reiner's versions of both the 5th symphony and the Coriolan Overture remain unsurpassed nearly forty years later. The 5th symphony has a freshness that clears away the haze of years of hearing overblown interpretations, and the acoustic of the hall lends a wonderful finality to the Coriolan performance. There are many fine recordings of the 5th (I think with special fondness of Norrington's and of Karajan's 1960s versions), but if I had only one version on that apocryphal desert island, it would have to be Reiner's."

At the highest peak of Beethoven conducting

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This generous CD (79 min.) fuses two recording sessions devoted to Beethoven. The first, from 1955, produced the Fidelio Over. and Seventh Sym., the second the Coriolan Over. and Fifth Sym. In both sessions the Living Stereo sonics are world-class. Nothing more could be asked in terms of impact, fidelity, and depth of sound, particularly in the Coriolan, which jumps out of the speakers--it's firghteningly close to real.

Reiner led thhe CSO for barely nine seasons, I believe, and yet he produced a wealth of great recordings. In this case the Coriolan Over. stands out as something exceptional. The combination of abandon and precision is astonishing; one hardly associates the meticulous Reiner with runaway passion, but here it is. The finale of the Seventh, indeed the whole of the Seventh, rises almost to this level and on its own is a performance to rival Carlos Kleiber's with the Vienna Phil. on DG, though Reiner is more exacting in ensemble and a touch less free in tempo. Some listeners may be disappointed that he suppresses the thrilling horn calls in the first movement, but that is a small blemish.

The Fifth Sym. lacks the unsurpassed inner tension we've come to associate with the great performances by Toscanini and Carlos Kleiber, but if those readings didn't exist, Reiner's would be on a par with Karajan's 1963 reading for DG. The CSO plays better than the Berlin Phil. of that era, however, and the recorded sound is much clearer. I cannot describe any peculiar touches that Reiner adopts in either symphony; he was an objectivist but of the best kind, without the sacrifice of expressivity and drama. One is amazed throughout at the orchestra's ability to play with perfect intonation and balance no matter how loud or fast the music gets.

I would wager that this is the best Beethoven recording ever made by an American orchestra, equalled only by Bernstein, who was Reiner's pupil, and even there the younger conductor is less impassioned than the older. Five stars without reservation."

Search - Ludwig van Beethoven; Fritz Reiner; Chicago Symphony Orchestra :: Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 / Reiner

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