Beethoven Eroica

here's no question that Osmo Vänskä is a true Beethoven conductor. He captures the music's vitality, its eruptive character, and its dramatic syntax as well as anyone on the podium today. He understands the importance of accents, of giving proper weight to Beethoven's bass lines, and of uncovering ear-catching detail without micro-managing the tempo and fracturing Beethoven's large musical paragraphs. The only quibble I have with this performance of the Eroica stems from Vänskä's otherwise admirable deployment of a very wide dynamic range. A couple of times he drops to a "super-duper" pianissimo so quiet that you can barely hear the music, causing it to momentarily lose tension. This only happens a couple of times, most notably at the point of the first-movement recapitulation, and it's so unnecessary given the general excellence of the interpretation that you wonder why he bothers.

Michael Korstick - Ludwig van Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas
EAC+LOG+CUE | 10x FLAC: 2,04 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Oehms Classical # OC 125 | Country/Year: Germany 2012
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period, Piano

The recording is clean and conducive to the careful listening which Korstick consistently commands. (…) The pianist has declared his aim is to attain an "ideal", a distillation of Beethoven's piano writing. Perhaps a Platonic "essence" even. If this, rather than something personal, fluid, malleable and potentially as fallible as it is valid appeals to you, then you should investigate the cycle on Oehms. (…) For here is – if not a granite monolith – a commentary on what stone and a chisel can achieve.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 1 & No. 2
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / David Zinman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 214 MB | Full Artwork: 67 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Arte Nova # 74321 63645 2 | Country/Year: Germany 1998
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period

"…This set deserves the most enthusiastic recommendation which words can muster. It has few rivals even in the top price range. (…) Zinman is Beethoven: I can pay him no greater compliment." ~musicweb-international

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 & No. 8
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / David Zinman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 263 MB | Full Artwork: 73 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Arte Nova # 74321 56341 2 | Germany 1998
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period

"…This set deserves the most enthusiastic recommendation which words can muster. It has few rivals even in the top price range. (…) Zinman is Beethoven: I can pay him no greater compliment." ~musicweb-international

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 & No. 6
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / David Zinman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 298 MB | Full Artwork: 76 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Arte Nova # 74321 49695 2 | Country/Year: Germany 1997
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period

"…This set deserves the most enthusiastic recommendation which words can muster. It has few rivals even in the top price range. (…) Zinman is Beethoven: I can pay him no greater compliment." ~musicweb-international

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in minor Op. 125
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / Schweizer Kammerchor / David Zinman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 296 MB | Full Artwork: 75 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Arte Nova # 74321 65411 2 | Country/Year: Germany 1998
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period

"…This set deserves the most enthusiastic recommendation which words can muster. It has few rivals even in the top price range. (…) Zinman is Beethoven: I can pay him no greater compliment." ~musicweb-international

Stylistically, Hogwood is on firm ground, and there is much to be said for his insights into the music. He prefers not to "conduct" the symphonies in the conventional manner, but to "coordinate" their performance as a musician of the period might have done. His Eroica and Pastorale are outstanding, and his Ninth most impressive. The symphonies were recorded in the order of their composition, and the sound is consistently good throughout.