CanadianMaestro
Headphoneus Supremus
Now playing #4 from this cheap, cheap set:
Not the definitive Beethoven set by a long shot, but if you collect Ludwig van's symphonies as much as I do, this is a must-have. The main criticism, from all sides, is that this is how Beethoven was played a few generations ago - big and slow. But darn it, it's done well. Yes, it's perhaps the slowest cycle *** out there (Eroica = almost an hour!!!), but it never drags. Carlo keeps the pace - slow as it is - moving without letting up, giving the whole set a kind of unrelenting drive which suits this music very well.
This is a great box for the analytical listener: woodwinds and violas are a little forward, and the leisurely pace allows my old ears to decipher what's being played (8th Symphony Finale sextuplets? Yes, you can count them!) and gives the players time to put some love into the fast passages (Eroica horn trio, so clear for a change).
*** I should say it's an almost-cycle: there is no Ninth! I don't mind much. To me, Beethoven wrote 8 symphonies and a "something else", a monster that defies any one-word description...
TL/DR: Sometimes I feel like these symphonies are just too short - so why not make them last a little longer? :wink_face:
If you want long symphs......do Mahler. Lots of excell sets for Him.