Repertoire: The IDEAL Beethoven Overtures

Whenever David inserts The 9th snippet into his videos, I feel the need to buy popcorn.

The Leonore Overture #3 is one of my favorite pieces of music OF ALL TIME!! The Coda gives me so much glee and joy that I am literally at tears every time I listen to it. One of my favorites is from a live Bruno Walter Fidelio performance from 1941 but that Skrowaczewski smokes too!!

Szell's Beethoven overtures are of course fabulous, some of his best stuff. In my never-ending quest to find great VPO performances, I've discovered that I really like Abbado with Coriolan and Prometheus. But the true stand-out is Lenny Bernstein with his live recording of Leonore No. 3 in Vienna. Amazing flute playing, those sweet strings, Viennese horns and Lenny at the helm - one of his best Beethoven recordings!

My partner had to come over and help me off the floor after I fell off the sofa laughing hysterically at your remarks about the Zur Namensfeier!!!!

I love Ruins of Athens by of all things....the Hanover Band. Also, love ZELL Leonore 3. Thanks, David.

I just listened to that Markevitch...great fun! Thank you for the recommendation.

That Skrowaczewski/Minnesota Leonore 3 excerpt is so good that I was all set to order the twofer. But something made me pause and take a look at my copy of Brilliant Classics' 85-disc "complete" Beethoven box. It turns out that the bulk of the S/M set is in there. [NOTE: There are a few different versions of the Brilliant box and I don't know if the S/M overtures are in all of them.]

King Stephan is an amazing overture!

I must tell you i cant wait for your great advices every day, grazie David!

Wow so many to choose from...thanks Dave.

Having listened to this hot on the heels of your Presto podcast interview with Mr. Cowan, it struck me how my listening has been intimidated by the weight of the discourse around Beethoven. We in Australia are so removed from it all! I'm relatively late to that discourse, and it is overwhelming. I do, however, find the Overtures less overwhelming (and really only knew the Coriolan and Egmont well before now) and look forward to making my own list one day. Thanks again for another starter pack.

My favourite recording for the Leonore no.3 is with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Bernstein

I love Klemperer in this material, his Egmont is one of my favorites. I just found that Szell disc so I'll definitely give that one a shot!

King Stephen Overture is a favorite of mine. It sounds like Beethoven started it in a dark mood, took some happy pills after a few bars, and decided he wanted to party.

Schmidt-Isserstedt and the Vienna nail the Consecration of the House Overture as nobody else does. He gets the most power by not hurrying too much, keeping always the necessary grandness, stateliness, and yet also the energy. Nobody else compares.

The Beethoven overtures are just as good music as his symphonies, in my opinion, and they should get treated like so. My list isn't necessarily my favourite performance of each work, but it doesn't have any weak links and only one duplication (Berlin Philharmonic twice) Leonore No. 3: Markevitch, Lamoureux Orchestra on DG. A sentimental favourite, but nonetheless a muscular and musical performance. The off-stage trumpet are particularly well played, as is the coda. Zur Namensfeier: Scherchen, Vienna State Opera Orchestra on DG. Very lively "tarantella". Is played like it was the best music in the world. Who does not want to hear Scherchen go nuts? König Stephan: Bernstein, NYP on Sony. Also a sentimental favourite in spite of the a bit weird sonorities. Very lively and well played. The slow sections are still exciting and not-boring. Coriolan: Klemperer, Philharmonia on Warner. Dark, broody, grim. Klemperer specialities. Slow, as you would expect, but it works very well. Beautiful and dramatic played. Egmont: Szell, Cleveland on Sony. Enough said. Weihes des Hauses: Jochum, Concertgebouw on Decca Eloquence. Just beautiful for all the reasons you explane in your video on Jochums orchestral recordings on Philips. You actually hear the bassoons! Geschöpfe des Prometheus: Karajan II, Berlin Phil on DG. Vintage Karajan/Berlin sound we all know and love. Beautiful introduction. You will never hear more beautiful runs in the strings in this work. Die Ruinen von Athen: Cluytens, Berlin Phil on Erato. Beautiful phrasing. Gets treated like the best work in the world. Very "gemütlich" in the quick passages, dramatic and beautiful in the slow. Nice to hear the Berlin Phil under somebody else than Karajan. Leonore No. 2: Walter, Columbia Symphony on Sony. Beautiful as only Walter can conduct it. Have the same qualities as his Mozart. Leonore No. 1: Munch, Boston on RCA. Gets treated like its the best work in the world. Boston and Munch plays the daylight out of it and it is fabulous. Fidelio: Bohm, Staatskapelle Dresden on DG. Also have the same qualities as his Mozart. Beautiful horn soli. Not terribly slow and very exciting. Beautiful phrasing. You can actually hear the timpani quite prominently. Thanks for good and constructive videos!

That chattering bassoon obligato in the Weihe des Hauses overture comes through beautifully in the Klemperer-Philharmonia recording - that liking of his for the woodwinds that you have pointed out a number of times really pays off in this passage. I think the slow march which begins this overture would work quite well as a graduation processional if some college don got sick of hearing Pomp and Circumstance every year.

The quick tune in the King Stephen Overture always reminded me of "Shortnin Bread" recorded by Nelson Eddie. "Put on the skillet, put on the lead (?), Mammy's gonna make a little short'nin' bread; That ain't all she's gonna to do, Mammy's gonna to make a little coffee, too. Mammy's little baby loves shortnin', shortnin', Mammy's little baby loves shortnin' bread."

Dave. I am running through all of your Beethoven videos again (just finished Dvorak). Please please do an overtures BEST video. I love all of them.

Thanks, Dave, for a great talk. Is that a new t-shirt? Haven't seen the label "Our ears don't lie!" before.