Beethoven Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 (plus Barry: Beethoven and Piano Concerto
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 (plus Barry: Beethoven and Piano Concerto
Thomas Adès, Britten Sinfonia
[ Signum / 2 CD ]
Release Date: Saturday 16 May 2020
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
The highly anticipated recording of Thomas Adès and the Britten Sinfonia playing Beethoven and Barry; specifcally the Beethoven Symphony Cycle and a selection of Barry's works. This CD features Beethoven's first three symphonies, interspersed with Barry's piece Beethoven and his Piano Concerto.
Beethoven intended to stake his claim to be the rightful successor to the Viennese classical tradition with the first of his symphonies, premiered in 1800. He had already began to lose his hearing by this point, and when he composed his second symphony, he placed on the page his spirit of defiance and determination against his deafness. The third marks a significant turning point in his style, as well as in the framwork of how a symphony was expected to be composed.
Gerald Barry grew up in rural Ireland. His music shows us how his upbringing had an effect on his compositional style - giving a piece a title such as Beethoven would suggest an attempt at emulating his legacy nearly two centuries after his death. Do not be fooled by this however; his music shows his major influence from radio, moving from the sublime and the ridiculous with carefree abandon.
"This set cuts pristine interpretations of Beethoven's early symphonies with Gerald Barry's 21st-century zesty homage…Stone's Beethoven swaps between falsetto and lower-range passages with impressive dexterity…Adès and the Britten Sinfonia present tightly knit performances [of the Beethoven Symphonies], and dynamic subtleties are largely preserved in the concert recordings." BBC Music 5 Stars
"Despite their unrelenting manic energy, there's a meticulousness to Adès's accounts of Barry's music that's largely missing from his Beethoven...That said, the opening movement of the Eroica had me on the edge of my seat." Gramophone
Tracks:
CD1
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
1. I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio
2. II. Andante cantabile con moto
3. III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace
4. IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
Ludwig van Beethoven
5. I. Adagio molto - Allegro con bio
6. II. Larghetto
7. III. Scherzo. Allegro
8. IV. Allegro molto
Gerald Barry (b. 1952)
9. Beethoven
CD2
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica'
Ludwig van Beethoven
1. I. Allegro con brio
2. II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai
3. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
4. IV. Finale. Allegro molto
Gerald Barry
5. Piano Concerto
