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Man, it seems like I'm dissin' the VPO these days, ever since their "electronically assisted" concert in Berkeley last month, but really, it's just coincidence that I happened to buy one of their latest Blu-Ray discs, the first volume of the Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Christian Thielemann, and that it turns out to be such a turkey!
Turning to the Eroica (and it's true of the first two symphonies as well), I've rarely heard a performance where the intensity level has been this low - really unbelievable in this respect, with dramatic points of arrival so unprepared and few if any textural insights or surprises. I don't learn anything from watching Thielemann conduct, and in fact, his frequent underhand gestures look awfully gauche to me. (His pose on the cover above is typical.) Then there's the much vaunted discussion between between musicologist Joachim Kaiser and Thielemann. I've read some posts where the writers consider this aspect of the disc a big selling point, with lots of insights. To me, it comes across as smug and self-congratulatory - a real turn-off.
To be honest, I was not an admirer of Thielemann even before I purchased this blu-ray (his Schumann symphonies on DG suffer from the same debilitating lassitude), but then I saw a couple of Thielemann performances on YT that seemed promising. I shouldn't have been tempted. If this guy is the great young Austro-German hope of conductors today, then may the gods help us!
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Russell
Thanks for your observations, Chris. I had been curious about this series, especially given the great review the second volume (symphonies 4-6) got on Blu-ray.com (though I'm not entirely convinced of the credentials of their resident classical-music reviewer).
I find Mr. Thielemann pretty variable. I recently got his Brahms 'German Requiem' on DVD (mainly because I'm a huge fan of the baritone soloist (Christian Gerhaher)) and was quite pleasantly surprised by the performance overall; in fact, it was the first German Requiem I've heard that convinced me of the work's greatness. I also recall an SFO performance of 'Elektra' some years ago that was terrific. (And I will definitely try his new 'Elektra' on Blu-ray.) But I then got his new DVD of the Bruckner 4 & 7, and the performances were pretty flat. I've also heard many of his CDs (mainly DG), which didn't leave great impressions, either....
Russell
Rather surprising, since I believe that his previous Beethoven recordings had been panned for being too wayward; one would expect that at least, then, he might lead an interesting [if 'wayward'] performance.
Along these lines, I thought that Essa P. Salonen's 3rd [used in that movie; forgot the name], was also hideously underpowered and bland. It's hard to understand such performances these days, given the onslaught of HIP styles.
Well, in a certain sense, especially in the first movement of the Eroica, Thielemann's performances ARE wayward because of all the tempo adjustments he imposes, but to me, his are the types of tempo adjustments which always dissipate tension rather than build it up. Where tension SHOULD be building, Thielemann often lets the tempo run, which, to me, sounds amateurish.
Regarding Salonen's (Beethoven) Third, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that performance at all - I thought his Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh were all pretty good in the DG Concerts series, even with the lossy compression of iTunes. Which movie was Salonen's performance used in?
k
Having seen him in person with the NY Philharmonic, I can only admire his ability to bring out the *worst* in any orchestra. I've never heard recording by him worth a second listen and now avoid anything by him.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Aside from the conducting (which got mostly bad reviews), what did you think of the Rattle/VPO Beethoven series? I thought the orchestral playing on that was rather special--almost bought the set just for that.
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"You weren't afraid of being born--why would you be afraid of dying?" Alan Watts
Haven't heard the Rattle cycle - sorry!
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