Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Yoel Levi, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra :: Beethoven Overtures

Good, but I've heard better

albertatamazon | East Point, Georgia USA | 07/11/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As a Georgia resident, I have had the opportunity to hear Yoel Levi conduct the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra many times--twice in live performance, and many more times on CD and radio. He has managed to obtain a beautiful tonal quality from the orchestra, one richer and more velvety than either his predecessor Robert Shaw or our newest conductor Robert Spano. He has been deservedly praised for this, but he lacks the quality that I look for most in a conductor, strong emotion and pure excitement. Toscanini had it, Leonard Bernstein had it, every other great conductor had it, including Robert Shaw, and now it seems that Spano also has it. But Levi's Beethoven is just too polite, and that is just all wrong for the composer. Levi never lets the music really rage in the exciting sections. He always seems to stop just short of it, almost as if he were embarrassed to go over the edge, and this music practically screams for excitement.



Compare Levi's Beethoven Overtures with Robert Shaw's recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the VERY SAME ORCHESTRA, and you will see what I mean. Shaw's soloists and chorus give you both beauty and depth of feeling in the "Ode to Joy", proving you can combine both. The orchestral playing in Shaw's recording, and in Robert Spano's recording of "Scheherazade" with the Atlanta Symphony as well, has an edge and a depth of feeling that makes simple excellence of playing seem almost secondary.



Unfortunately, Levi simply doesn't display enough of this required emotion. It's as if he were more interested in beautiful sounds than in what the music actually says. By the way, this CD does NOT include any "Magnificat"; it is all Beethoven and nothing else."

Virile Beethoven Overtures

Brett A. Kniess | Madison, WI | 03/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ludwig van Beethoven's overtures provide all of Beethoven's great musical traits on a small scale: tuneful melodies, creative, early Romantic harmonies, and natural dramatic expressiveness, set with specific dramatic backdrops. His most famous overtures are featured on this disk (minus one or two): Egmont, Creatures of Prometheus, Leonore 1-3, Fidelio, and Coriolan.



Egmont is an opera based on the life of Count Lamoral of Egmont, who, although Catholic, intervened on behalf of persecuted Protestants; Egmont was sent to trial and beheaded. The eight minute overture sounds like it is a movement taken from one of his symphonies: menacing and foreboding, huge rhythmical chords pound, along with a long, craggy, sinuous melody; however the gloom is dispelled with a cheery finale, fanfare-like and frenetic. A ballet in honor of the Empress Maria Theresa, the five minute Creatures of Prometheus is a youthful venture, with classically influenced harmonies and progressions, and the overall lightness goes together with the Greek subject. The flavor is rapid and bubbly with occasional interesting syncopations and development. The story of the Roman General Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus who conquered Coriolani, is the subject of the Coriolan Overture. He was eventually exiled from Rome, but not conquered in spirit, and led his former enemies to attack Rome. The serious subject is portrayed in the overture: heavy unisons and chord hits, a troubled melody; a great dread falls over the entire 8-minute work.



The three overtures from Leonore plus the Fidelio Overture are written for the same opera. It is a dramatic story of a woman rescuing her husband from prison and death, set after the French Revolution. Many overtures exist because of various circumstances in which the opera didn't catch on...French controlled Vienna for one. The eventual moderate success only occurred after a 10-year gestation period. The early Leonore 1, at 8+ minutes, has an infectious, bounding, innately joyous idea not carried over into the other overtures. Leonore 2 & 3 both have a similar peaceful chorale opening, and both have an exultant, folk-like allegro theme following, along with a large role for horn. The two overtures are over 13 minutes, but despite their similarities, No. 3 has stood the test of time and is the more fleshed out overture. The final overture, Fidelio, with its athletic outbursts interspersed with contemplative settings, contains some catchy ideas, as well as including a rustic dance, and ends gloriously at 6 minutes.



Yoel Levi and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra give full-sounding modern performances. The modern fullness gives the orchestra a thick-lush quality. This works for most of these works, bringing out the brooding and extroverted Romanticism of Beethoven, however, some urgency is lost in Egmont, a bit in Coriolan, although the mood is not lost in either. These are good performances, although a period orchestra might make more in forward-movement and lightness, this is a 20th century approach, which sounds great, especially with the lush Telarc sound. At 63 minutes the CD is expensive, Ruins of Athens or Consecration of the House Overtures would have filled out the CD nicely. As it is, compare this with other compilations; if you have the cash, these are virile overtures."

A Definite Surprise!

D. Seymour | Atlanta, GA USA | 04/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sixty melodious minutes. Who knew that a collection of Beethoven overtures could possibly make such an exciting recording? The program opens with Egmont. Egmont's first bars are ominous and brooding and it soon turns into an all-out rampage. This piece should be right up there with Finlandia for patriotic fervor. You may never get past the opening number, the excitement it generates is so great you will want to put it on single track repeat. The Creatures of Premetheus offers a scenic five-minute break where you can catch your breath before being plunged into Beethoven's 4 attempts to provide an overture for his opera Fidelio. Fortunately for us, he was never quite satisfied and consequently each one is better than the one before. The serious, sombre Coriolian finishes the set. This is a collection of some wonderful snippets of Beethoven. They are full of agitation and dischord just as all of Beethoven, but they have an frenetic "On with the show" feel to them that pulses through each overture. The sound quality is terrific and the Atlanta Symphony enjoys what it is playing. How could you not indulge in Beethoven?"