Beethoven Symphony no. 7: Slow Recordings of 2nd Movement Allegretto
Johan Groenewald
The first purchase of a classical record often ingrains the
performance in the memory of the listener. In this particular instance
I'm thinking of my purchase of the DG/Heliodor recording of
Beethoven's 7th Symphony by Ferenc Fricsay and the Berlin
Philharmonic.
Fricsay's tempi in the 2nd movement Allegretto is the slowest I've
heard -- I confess that to my hearing it almost sounds adagio
hymn/anthem like. But this observation stems from the contrast with
other recordings e.g. the Erich Kleiber which makes me feel a bit
uneasy in the mentioned movement. But I also guess that a slow
treatment of the movement results in the danger of treating the
movement as a "stand alone" piece. Let's face the fact that it's a
well known and popular recognizable ("hey, I've heard that before!")
melody and that a slow rendering sounds pretty.
I've read that the recordings of Pablo Casals (Marlboro Festival
Orchestra) and Bruno Walter (Columbia Symphony Orchestra) also feature
slow versions of the 2nd movement.
So how slow do they go in the 2nd movement? Are they slower than
Fricsay and are there other conductors who are even slower.
Thanks
Johan Groenewald
Joshua Kaufman
>
> So how slow do they go in the 2nd movement? Are they slower than
> Fricsay and are there other conductors who are even slower.
What's odd...or perhaps sad....is that most conductors play it way too
slow. It's marked allegretto -- most play it adagio.
-Joshua
--
AOL-IM: TerraEpon ICQ: 5404138
Paul Goldstein
says...
Purely subjectively (by which I mean that I haven't compared actual movement
timings), I believe that Furtwangler's typical approach to this movement is the
slowest of all, but you are right, Fricsay and Casals are also very slow and
very inflected (which has the effect of making the piece seem slow). I strongly
favor literal interpretation of "allegretto" here, so my favorite VII.2's are by
Szell, Steinberg, and Monteux.
Paul Goldstein
Fabian Piller
"Joshua Kaufman" <terrr...@fuse.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:3D89FC81...@fuse.net...
> Johan Groenewald wrote:
> >
> > So how slow do they go in the 2nd movement? Are they slower than
> > Fricsay and are there other conductors who are even slower.
>
> What's odd...or perhaps sad....is that most conductors play it way too
> slow. It's marked allegretto -- most play it adagio.
Beethoven himself thought that it was played too fast and said it had to be
played "quasi andante" later.
Fabian
Ward Hardman
: Fricsay's tempi in the 2nd movement Allegretto is the slowest I've
: heard -- I confess that to my hearing it almost sounds adagio
: hymn/anthem like. But this observation stems from the contrast with
[snip]
: So how slow do they go in the 2nd movement? Are they slower than
: Fricsay and are there other conductors who are even slower.
The slowest-feeling 7/2 I know is the 1927 Stokowski/Philadelphia.
(It's also my favorite, ancient sound and all. ;-)
--Ward Hardman
"The older I get, the more I admire and crave competence, just simple
competence, in any field from adultery to zoology."
- H.L. Mencken
Martha & Russ Oppenheim
Ward Hardman wrote:
>
>
> The slowest-feeling 7/2 I know is the 1927 Stokowski/Philadelphia.
> (It's also my favorite, ancient sound and all. ;-)
>
Stokowski's stereo version with the short-lived Symphony of the Air also
features a very slow allegretto. But this disadvantage pales in
comparison to his omission of the second trio in the scherzo and his
arrogant cuts toward the end of the finale, IMO.
Joshua Kaufman
*shrugs* I myself prefer the faster tempo (I usually do for
anything...), but in this case a slow tempo works perfectly fine too.
notrump15-17
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