XPost: rec.music.classical.recordings

The Most Stupendence of all tim!

Posted annually since, I think, 1995. In 2014 I listened to all 2:49 of
the music, which came from the Brilliant Classics "complete" Beethoven
Edition and shall be doing so again today.

Symphonies 6,5 (old nos. 5,6 [see below]): Masur
Concerto: Gulda
Ah! Perfido: Kuhse
Mass: Davis
Fantasy: Schenck
Choral Fantasy: Mr. Klien

The Most Stupendous Concert of All Time

MUSICAL ACADEMIE
_Wiener Zeitung_
1808 December 17

On Thursday, December 22, Ludwig van Beethoven will have the honor
to give a musical _Akademie_ in the R.I. Priv. Theater-an-der-
Wien. All the pieces are of his composition, entirely new, and not
yet heard in public....

First Part.
1, A Symphony, entitled: "A Recollection of Country Life," in F
Major (No. 5). [Symphony New No. 6 in F, Op. 68. I read an article
arguing that the old numbering was really better.]
2, Aria. [Ah! perfido, spergiuro, barbaro traditor, Op. 65.
Composed in 1796, published 1805, probably not the first public
performance.]
3, Hymn with Latin text, composed in the church style with chorus
and solos. [Mass No. 1 in C, Op. 86: 1, Gloria; 3, Sanctus; and 4,
Benedictus only. Composed 1807, first performance 1807 September
13, published 1812.]
4, Pianoforte Concerto played by himself. [Concerto No. 4 in G,
Op. 58.]

Second Part.
1, Grand Symphony in C minor (No. 6). [Symphony New No. 5 in c
minor, Op. 67.]
2, Holy, with Latin text composed in the church style with chorus
and solos. [Not sure what parts were performed in which half.]
3, Fantasia for Pianoforte alone. [Not performed, if this was the
Fantasy in g minor, Op. 77, which was composed in 1809 and
published in 1810.]
4. Fantasia for the Pianoforte which ends with the gradual
entrance of the entire orchestra and the introduction of choruses
as a finale. [Fantasy in c minor for piano, chorus, and orchestra,
Op. 80, completed barely in time for the concert.]

Boxes and reserved seats are to be had in the Krugerstra?e No.
1074, first story. Beginning at half past six o'clock.

++++++++++++

Beethovens 1808 Akademie Concert
New York Times, 7.8.6
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/arts/music/06beet.html

Just Like Beethovens Big Night, but Longer

By JAMES R. OESTREICH

Correction Appended

The concert must have been life-altering for Beethoven and perhaps
for others. It was certainly historic. Yet few in the Theater an der
Wien in Vienna on Dec. 22, 1808, could have been thinking in such
grandiose terms. Most were probably just trying to get from one end
of a long and arduous evening to the other.

The event Akademie, it was called ran from 6:30 to 10:30 in two
parts and presented the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies
and other works by Beethoven. It was beastly cold, outside and in.
Beethoven was at loggerheads with the orchestra over sins past and
present, undoubtedly including those seemingly unplayable
double-bass passages in the Scherzo of the Fifth. And the Choral
Fantasia in C minor, written hastily as a capstone to the event but
not finished in time for adequate rehearsal, fell apart and had to
be restarted.

So it could not be said that the Mostly Mozart Festival recreated
that concert in any vivid sense at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday.
But there it was: more than two and a half hours of music, mostly
drawn from the Akademie. Mostly because we cant know what Beethoven
improvised during the concert for his final public appearance as
pianist: the Fantasia in G minor (Op. 77), perhaps based on it,
stood in here.

The festival spread the music over five and a quarter hours.
Splitting the two parts into self-contained concerts separated by an
hour or so was probably a sensible recourse. Even in Beethovens time
such length was considered unreasonable. (One can easily have too
much of a good thing, wrote Johann Friedrich Reichardt, a composer
and writer on music and politics, and still more of a loud.)

But it did seem pretty wimpy to break up each half with a full
intermission. Shouldnt there have been some sense that this concert
had been a stretch, for listeners and players alike? (The musicians
union may beg to differ.)

It wouldnt have availed much to cool the hall down 30 or 40 degrees
to authentic temperature with air-conditioning. And surely no one
could have wanted underrehearsed or outright bad performances, let
alone train wrecks.

There was little fear on that count, with the estimable Louis
Langr?e leading the festival orchestra and guests. If anything the
performance of Beethovens Pastoral Symphony was a bit too refined
(not something one could ever have said of the Mostly Mozart
Festival Orchestra 10 or 12 years ago). Come the Storm, and all one
listener could think of was the glorious ruckus that Paavo Jarvi and
the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen had raised two nights before
at the festival.

The Fifth Symphony was grittier and mostly compelling. Randall Ellis
played the oboe solo beautifully, and the lovely string playing at
the end of the Andante almost took your breath away. (Repeat, this
is not your grandparents Mostly Mozart orchestra.)

In an astonishing bit of luxury casting, the Swedish Radio Choir,
one of the finest choruses in the world, was brought in for
relatively brief but crucial contributions, in the choral fantasy
and in movements from the Mass in C major. (The choir will also
perform a cappella in the first half of a program on Wednesday.)

Jeffrey Kahane, the pianist, performed the Fourth Concerto deftly
and respectably, though with more skittishness than
contemplativeness and real power. And his performances in the two
fantasies tended to skate along the top of the keyboard, sometimes
sliding out of control.

Anja Kampe, a German soprano, gave a strong and expressive account
of the extended aria Ah! perfido. The other vocal soloists in the
Mass movements and choral fantasy were Susanna Phillips, Jennifer
Holloway, Philippe Castagner and Robert Gleadow.

Both audiences seemed pretty unanimously pleased, unlike Beethovens
crowd. Then again, for Beethovens listeners the music was all new:
an almost unimaginable amount to assimilate. What a night that must
have been.

The Mostly Mozart Festival runs through Aug. 25 at Lincoln Center;
(212) 721-6500.

Correction: August 8, 2007

A music review on Monday about a Beethoven program at the Mostly
Mozart Festival misidentified the key of the Mass in which movements
were played. It was C major, not C minor.

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