Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra :: Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8

Powerful and sublime

12/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Each time when I listen to this version of the seventh, I feel like having been transcended to more heroic part of history. Like hardly anybody else, Solti and the CSO capture the spirit of Napoleon and revolution, of war and peace, of triumph and of death. The 2nd movement is the best in terms interpretation that I have ever heard, for it is here where lesser performances usually give way to a too funeralistic, even impressionistic type of play. Solti's CSO play it very much with rythm, like a march, and as Sir George himself as eloquently remarked, this is the way he thought Beethoven would have wanted it.Powerful and sublime."

The more you listen...

12/25/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The definitive 8th symphony is from Karl Bohm and the VPO. Solti's 7th is really good. Is it worth the price? Probably not if your Beethoven budget is tight. Start with the Bohm cycle at Amazon's astonishingly low price, pick up the Kleiber 5 & 7(inexpensive also), and skip this."

"perfect" 7th, 8th is too, but...

12/11/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a child I was exposed to Beeethoven's 5th, 6th and 9th symphonies and loved them. Always wanted to hear the rest, I said, and now I finally am. What a ride! I'm amassing quite a collection very quickly and from my unschooled perspective I'm not always sure what is correct and what isn't. I _am_ certain that these two symphonies are just wonderful pieces of music. It _seems_ to me that you want the 7th to be played kind of straight, but the 8th should have some bounce to it (and certainly some "pace" at the climax). The Solti is my sixth recording of the 7th and to my ears is solid all around. Solid is a good word for the recording too, as the lower strings are much more pronounced then my other versions. If you were just listening to Karl Bohm and the VPO and then put the Solti on, it would sound positively booming: you can really hear those basses and cellos! Bad? No! Just not as "sweet." I guess it's whatever you prefer. The sound is certainly clear. The 8th also has that "all-around-solid, regular" quality but it seems to work much less well than with the 7th. Szell and '62 Karajan have more of that bounce and I get more joy out of them, but there might be more definative recordings out there."