Zurich

About the Artist
The White Foliage cosists of two individuals seperated by hundreds of miles of frozen tundra known as North Dakota. Brought together in the beginning by a mutual love of Neutral Milk Hotel, Charlie Gokey and MJ Parker started off releasing a split cd with friends In Ink Please How to make better love on Fall Records in 2004. In 2005 the put together an ep by the name of Zurich which has been referred to as genius and one of the best debuts I have ever heard. The toured the midwest and the west and the midwest in the summer of 2005. In school during the non-summer months who knows what their minds will bring us next time around.

Product Description:
Second Cousin to psychedelia and kitty-corner to folk, assembled in the studio like one detailed, continuous piece of music, Zurich is the sound two 19 year old composers make in the face of romantic upheaval and rearranged lives. Written through the mail and recorded in a few intense sessions, Zurich is a heavily textured avant-pop record of nimble banjos, rumbling pianos and electronic manipulation.

Zurich,The White Foliage,Fall Records,Folk,Folk & Traditional,Pop,Rock

Average customer rating: Mahler and Zinman....almost great, but not quite Clearly interpreted A standard reading, but Zinman's name is hot right now Absolutely superb! Very musical sounding

Mahler: Symphony No. 1; Blumine [Hybrid SACD] Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Mahler | Mahler, Gustav | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3; Poulenc: Organ Concerto; Barber: Toccata Festiva Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9 [Hybrid SACD] Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 (The Mahler Arrangements) Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in c minor [Hybrid SACD] ASIN: B000MNP2Y4 Release Date: 2007-03-13

Customer Reviews:

Mahler and Zinman....almost great, but not quite.......2007-07-19

Many critical eyes have been focused on Zinman since his Baltimore days, and now even more so with "his" orchestra, the Tonhalle Zurich. He has been alternately branded a risk-taker, an emotionally flat de-romanticizer, a fresh-look-at-the-score reinventor....you name it. David Zinman can, and has on many occasions, delivered stunning performances of everything from Barber and Ives, to Beethoven. And, in the near-miss category, this new performance of the Mahler First almost rises to that plateau in the rare air occupied by Walter, Bernstein, Solti (no cat-calls now...the old "steamroller" could hammer this one out with the best of them) and a few others that reviewers like to throw sticks and stones over.

First, Zinman gets a lot of things right. Most importantly, he does not hurry. And, given his Beethoven cycle, for that we can be thankful. I was on several occasions surprised and pleased by his flexible tempos. There are just some Mahlerian moments and touches that you don't want to stumble pell mell through. The magical opening, with vapor-thin strings and chirping woodwind birdcalls, has a near ideal pulse. Massed horns give their hoops with the right rhythmic flourish, and all is well. The great "walking theme" has just the right element of jauntiness to make you smile in spite of yourself.

The second movement laendler, "Kraeftig bewegt.." might have used a little more pointing, but again, much happens as it should. Low strings sound their open fifths in true marcato fashion, not just swelling into position under the violins. The final accelerando into the reprise has just enough vim to carry the mood to a satisfying conclusion.

The third movement mock-funeral tread, often rushed into an anonymous muddle in lesser performances, is here just slow enough to hit that mark where sarcasm and pathos meet. The minor-keyed "Bruder Martin/ Frere Jacques" theme as launched by the bass--and played here as instructed in an almost world-weary fashion, almost a scrape--has the undertone of an oxcart pogrom. The little string/wind "yips," written to be echoes of the Yiddish folk tradition, don't quite make the point as they do with Bernstein. But (and again I'm pleasantly surprised), Zinman goes out of his way to enforce his conductor's rubato options as the big second tune is launched--what some listeners pick out as the "Fiddler on the Roof" prequel. With the addition of the oompah-style klezmerisms, Zinman leaves no doubt that this is no mere gypsy band that Mahler was recalling. The dreamlike tam-tam shimmer that heralds the reprise of the original funeral tempo is nicely caught as well, very bittersweet, and very right.

Zinman's "Sturmisch bewegt" Finale is stormy indeed, the opening bars sounding bomb-like, complete with short fuse sizzle. The successive thematic recapitulations that make up so much of this movement never sound labored. Textures manage to thin out when needed, just to spotlight those bits of development that Mahler has saved for last. Zinman drives it all homeward to a rousing conclusion, all the while keeping articulation precise, yet never letting accuracy become the end-all.

"Blumine" is featured as a bonus, almost in encore fashion. The dreamlike trumpet solo is nicely balanced against the ensemble, the nocturne-like character of the movement getting the nod. Happily, BMG have set this last, rather than inserting it to recreate the original performance order that Mahler subsequently abandoned. Programmable players can be set to accomodate any listener wishes to the contrary.

This is a good a time as any to echo other observations about the recording quality and dynamic range, which is quite good in the former, and extreme in the latter. Bass drum throughout the disc is palpable, brass are crisp without excessive harshness, and winds transparent. My only complaint is an overall lack of heft in the strings, perhaps due to the slightly back-of-hall balance. This thinness of texture is compounded by the same swimming ambience that sometimes gets the better of the engineers for Chandos and Naxos, and it's admittedly a tough thing to get just right. In the plus category, fortissimi register with full impact. Zinman's Mahler dips all the way down to triple-p, and then thunders back to quadruple-f.

While never really soaring to standing-O heights, what we have then is a solid second-tier effort, which heard live might generate enough frisson to take it to the top. Lest this sound like so much damning-with-faint-praise, I'll have to admit I'm currently wallowing in the glorious Abbado/Lucerne DVD cycle, with its stunning sonics, and often jaw-dropping musicality. If that team delivers the "Titan" of my dreams, then I'll truly be happy.

Clearly interpreted.......2007-06-12

Zinman's recordings are characterized by a clarity of articulation and an unwillingness to be unduly swayed by passion. These qualities lend themselves to very clearly and accurately performed pieces - A pleasing result, most of the time. With this Mahler, the combination of Zinman and the good accoustics make for a fine performance, however, it is lacking in the passion and gravitas characterized by other recordings. At times, the performance seems almost sterile and anticlimactic. An interesting addition to the Mahler anthology.

A standard reading, but Zinman's name is hot right now.......2007-05-30

Unlike the reviewers below, I found myself in no way captivated by this recording, except perhaps by its clear sonics. Zinman made his recent reputation with fast, faceless "reinterpretations" of Beethoven and Schumann, and by the luck of the gods his budget Beethoven cycle made a zillion dollars. This Mahler First, complete with the beguiling but discarded 'Blumine' movement, isn't zippy, however, and there are no period touches. The Zurich Tonhalle, one of Europe's good second-tier orchestras, plays well. Yet there's no special insight. In fact, the phrasing throughout is rather flat.

I don't say these things to spoil the party, and I know that RCA hopes that Zinman will lay some golden eggs for their label. But in case you own great recordings of the Mahler First by Bruno Walter (I'm thinking of his mono NY Phil. reading from the early Fifties), Claudio Abbado (his second recording on DG, from Berlin), Bernstein, Kubelik (both on DG), or James Levine (RCA), there's nothing better here. In fact, except for the chance to hear the infrequently recorded 'Blumine', this performance is pretty standard and fairly undernourished.

Absolutely superb!.......2007-04-11

In the same way David Zinman thrilled us with his Beethoven collection with the same forces a few years ago, he now begins what we can only hope is a similar transversal of Mahler's symphonies.

What a magnificent recording this is! The music is revealed and illuminated as only SACD recordings can - a point amazingly ignored by other reviewers here - even as they praised the superb sound, revealing the orchestration in all its splendor as never before....

Interpretively, Zinman sheds new light on this wonderful work, eschewing exaggerated emphases which in effect "cleans" the piece and permits an almost classical discipline, making one feel one is hearing the work for the first time exactly as Mahler wrote it. Admittedly, those of us accustomed to highly personalized performances such as Bernstein's terrific reading with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, say, may feel that the music here seems occasionally to be on auto-pilot. And it also must be said that there is no denying the Tonhalle strings cannot match the fulsome glory of some more famous bands, - but Zinman's cleansing process and his attention to balances brings rewards of their own. This is a unique and exciting experience.

Buy this SACD - no one who loves Mahler should be without it!

Very musical sounding.......2007-04-06

I've always liked David Zinman's work, and his new Mahler first is no exception. If this any is indication for the future, this is going to be yet another truly fine Mahler cycle (can't wait to hear this team in Mahler's 3rd). More than anything, I was just struck by the natural sounding, innate musicality dispayed throughout the performance. For a lack of a better overall description, Zinman crosses Bruno Walter's warmth and geniality, with Bernstein's attention to local effects. I can't remember ever hearing Mahler's col legno - hitting the strings with the wooden back of the bow - so clearly delineated in the scherzo as it is here. And while the third movement's opening funeral cortege is just a tad too slow for my own personal taste (I like Norrington's faster tempo), Zinman really plays up the sleeziness of the two East European village wedding band passages. It's nice to actually hear the bass drum there for once, also. But perhaps more than anything, Zinman scores points with me by toning down some of Mahler's bluster in the finale, but without also weakening the cohesion or structure in any way. For me, this was Roger Norrington's one big downfall (loved his inner movements). To be more specific, the brass don't dominate over everything. Yet, the trombones are plenty strong, and the horns cut through when they need to. There's also no shortage of percussion, as Zinman let's them take center stage at climactic moments. Chugging string parts are always clearly audible as well.

In short, I can't remember just enjoying the entirety of Mahler's first this much in several decades. The inclusion of an almost joyous performance of "Blumine" - taken here much quicker than usual - makes for a really lovely bonus. Please note that I'm only able to listen to this in regular two-channel stereo. Thus, I have no opinion on its multi-channel aspects.

Average customer rating: A straight-faced reading but very good sound Homerun for Zinman Very nicely done.

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Mahler | Mahler, Gustav | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Similar Items: Mahler: Symphony No. 1; Blumine [Hybrid SACD] Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3; Poulenc: Organ Concerto; Barber: Toccata Festiva Mahler: Symphony No. 9 Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in c minor [Hybrid SACD] Mahler - Symphony No. 2 ASIN: B000NA20LO Release Date: 2007-05-29

Customer Reviews:

A straight-faced reading but very good sound.......2007-07-01

This is David Zinman's second instlalment in his on-going Mahler cycle for RCA. Companies aren't rushing to make SACD recordings, but there seems to be a niche for them if you can keep your costs very low. In this case the lightweight Zurich orchestra sounds refreshingly unpretentious, and the sonics are extremely clear and natural. I am listening on regular two-channel gear, but the effect is still very nice.

As to the interpretation, I don't know what the two earlier reviewers are heaing that is dazzling, new, and exciting. This Mahler Second is almost faceless. Zinman provides somewhat faster tempos, but is that all one can base a Mahler recording on? In terms of emotional depth and dramatic richness, there's very little here. I've always considered Michael Tilson Thomas to be a superficial Mahler conductor, but he's Furtwangler compared to zinman. Sheer virtuosity cana't carry the day because the Zurich Tonhalle doesn't have it. It saddens me to think that there is an audience out there for "mahler lite," a betrayal of this great artist's intentions as surely as a Rembrandt comic book.

Homerun for Zinman.......2007-06-21

Prior to hearing this M2 I never thought of David Zinman as a Mahler conductor. But overall this new M2 is very impressive and puts the music across very convincingly. We have fine playing, excellent sound quality and an interpretation that strikes all the high points without the baggage of other conductors. It's interesting to compare this new Mahler 2 to Fisher. While Fisher is impressive, I find Zinman more consistently enjoyable. The difference is in the details, as they say.

Right from the start Fisher does something I don't like. At the beginning of the first movement the score calls for a wild upsurge from the bass section where the basses accelerate. This happens three times in the first movement. Fisher slows way down and then speeds up to achieve this affect - Rattle and Blomstedt also do this. To me it sounds terribly mannered and ruins the very affect Mahler asked for. Zinman, to his credit, does not employ this mannerism and the first movement sounds much better for it.

In the second movement Fisher tries his hand at rubato but it doesn't sound convincing. MTT also does this but manages to pull it off better. Zinman is more subtle and achieves more coherence without sounding stiff. Also, the timing is about 10:30, not 11 as stated by the previous review. The third movement is diabolical in Zinman's hands, played at a flowing tempo but with all the right decisions.

Zinman puts the fourth movement across better than Fisher for two reasons. First, I don't care for the excessive vibrato from Fisher's Contralto. Zinman's Contralto sounds better to me even though she is miked a bit closely. Second, Zinman allows us the hear the wonderful brass chorale in the beginning, where Fisher's brass chorale is very low and subdued. I suspect he has the brass play from a distance or off stage. Maybe the score calls for this but I prefer the chorale to be loud enough so I can at least hear the dam thing. Most conductors play the chorale the same way as Zinman.

In V both recordings are excellent and I think it's a toss up. Fisher's ending may be a touch more cataclysmic but I don't care for his Soprano. I also find Fisher's off stage instruments are too far away and too difficult to hear. Zinman's perspective is better but his percussion is not always as loud as Fisher. But this is really a matter of taste. Zinman does just about everything extremely well and gives us a beautiful ending. At the end of the day I prefer Zinman, but both performances are fine.

Very nicely done........2007-06-01

Disclaimer: I do not own an SACD player, so I'll be reviewing this in two-channel stereo only.

Zinman's sudden decrescendo on the symphony's very first note - a string tremelo - might make you think that this is going to be a lightweight presentation of Mahler's gargantuan "Resurrection" symphony. But you'd be deceived in thinking that, as Zinman pours on dazzling brilliance with his bright cymbals and trumpets at the symphony's first ugent climax. This is the real deal. So; that being the case, let's jump to what matters most: the finale's ending.

The dueling mezzo and soprano - Anna Larsson and Juliane Banse - work very well together on their tutti passage, if also a tad operatic sounding. When we get to the unison choral proclamation of "aufverstehen" (rise up), we get plenty of organ peddle, just as Mahler indicates. Best yet, when the chorus cuts out, we get more organ peddles and plenty of deep bells (played ad lib., as opposed to the spare interjections that Mahler wrote out). These are very nice sounding bells!!! - a refreshing change. At the very end, you can hear the alternating salvos from the high and low pitched tam-tams (large orchestral gongs), but not quite as much as on Ivan Fischer's excellent performance on Channel Classics. Still, this is a very well balanced and well nuanced ending with plenty of heft and excitement to go around.

Everything else in the finale is as exciting and driven as it should be too. My one and only complaint with the fifth movement, is one that I have for more than half the recordings of Mahler 2 out there! At the final climax of the long march episode, Mahler writes a series - five in total - of quick strokes on the deep tam-tam that accompany the trumpets. These five rapid strokes are followed up by three interspersed ones. Well; as is so often the case, you simply can't hear them. This may seem like a minor point, but just listen to how much more effective this very same passage is on the underrated Leonard Slatkin recording (Telarc). But beyond this, I have no complaints. At "geschlagen" (to strike), the unison bass drum and cymbal strokes lift you right out of your chair, just as they should. All in all, this is a fine presentation of the long finale, with no excess dragging in the slower, quieter passages that dominate so much of its landscape.


Anna Larsson is excellent in the fourth movement, if also a bit more hushed and rapt sounding than usual. I'll take it, so let's move on (backwards).

At nearly 11 minutes with the second movement, and closer to 10 minutes with the scherzo, Zinman is a tad slower with the second movement than I care for, and a tad faster with the scherzo than I like too - I wish those numbers were flip-flopped. But the musicality involved is never in question, as the four major sections of the orchestra are very well balanced: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The harps are also more front and center than they usually are too. In the second movement, Zinman does a marvellous job of hamming it up at that remarkable passage for pizzicato strings, harps, and piccolo flute (my favorite section in the entire symphony, other than the ending).

Although Ziman's scherzo is rather fast and fleet, he still get his clarinets - among others - to shape their phrasing with lots of crescendos and decrescendos. One passage that does fall somewhat flat, is the one where the four trumpets suddenly begin serenading back and forth to each other (accompanied by harps, arpeggiated strings, and trilling flutes). But the scherzo's main climax has plenty of heft, if also wanting just a tad in explosive power. Overall, I prefer the slower than normal tempo that both Klemperer and Ivan Fischer use for this movement. But Zinman still manages to plow up more fertile ground here than Boulez (DG), who truly just skated upon the surface in his scherzo movement (very odd). Zinman also makes the most of Mahler's wooden sounding col legno markings (hitting the strings with the wooden back of the bow). All of this brings us back to where we started: the first movement, which is a microcosm of the numerous moodswings Mahler conjures up throughout the symphony.

Simply stated, I like Zinman's first movement. He stears a course that's between Walter's strict classicism (if such a thing exists in Mahler), and Bernstein's "live for the moment", overt romanticism. At the central climax, Zinman is quite clear in dealing with its dense textures and rhythmic polyphony (dissonant trumpets; descending strings; suspended cymbal crescendo), with plenty of heft at the orchestra's fortissimo, unison octave jump (descending, accompanied by two bass drum strokes) that cap this passage, and lead back into the recapitulation. You may have heard one or two central climaxes that are more powerful, but few that are as well balanced and just plain musical sounding. I alo like the strict, mentronomic tempo that Zinman keeps during the movement's final funereal procession - there's no rushing into that last climax (capped with a ringing gong stroke).

Until now, I've been focusing on what happens in this recording in the most musical and objective means that I can muster. After all, how one reacts to what they hear is always a personal matter. At this point, it's difficult to make "best ever" type proclamations when so many outstanding recordings already exist. All I can tell you is that this is yet another really fine presentation of Mahler's eternal "Resurrection" symphony. Let's face it, we're really spoiled for choices when it comes to the Mahler symphonies. For that, let's be thankful. Now bring on Zinman's Mahler 3rd - I'll bet it's going to be next to outstanding.

Average customer rating: Warmth Likely to Become Bach Favorite for Guitar

Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar Manufacturer: Warner Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Albinoni | Albinoni, Tomaso | ( A ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by J.S. Bach | Bach, Johann Sebastian | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Vivaldi | Vivaldi, Antonio | ( V ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music Trio Sonatas | Sonatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Lute | Instruments | Early Music | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Guitar | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Lute | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music Isbin, Sharon | ( I ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music More Titles at Least 20% Off | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Albinoni, Tomaso | ( A ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Bach, Johann Sebastian | ( B ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Vivaldi, Antonio | ( V ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Isbin, Sharon | ( I ) | Performers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Opera & Vocal | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Similar Items: Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Villa-Lobos: Concerto for guitar; Ponce: Concierto del sur Journey to the Amazon Dreams of a World Greatest Hits Latin Romances for Guitar ASIN: B00008CLIT Release Date: 2003-04-22

Tracks:

1. Allegro
2. Largo
3. Allegro
4. Allegro
5. Andante
6. Allegro Assai
7. Adagio
8. Allegro Non Molto (Quasi Andante)
9. Larghetto
10. Allegro
11. Adagio
12. Prelude For Lute In D Minor BWV 999
13. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring

Customer Reviews:

Warmth.......2005-08-16

Kudo's to Ms. Isbin, her masterful playing brings warmth to the classical pieces thus removing the pretense and stiffness generally assoicated with classical music

Likely to Become Bach Favorite for Guitar.......2003-04-29

I've always enjoyed Parkening and others who do Bach on the guitar. Here, noted classic guitarist Isbin provides a beautifully crafted and performed set of baroque favs on guitar.

She plays with controlled passion and clarity, and to my ear her Bach is even more clean and phrased superior to Parkening's.

The selection is well chosen, with great addition to instrument's reportoire of Vivaldi's Concerto in A major.

I find her Albioni's Adagio very well done! The dynamics are well done as well as tempo in this spirited rendiiton.

Ms. Isbin certainly is one of the premiere performers of this instrument, and here is a well done collection from the baroque era, which many of us consider to be one of the best.

Average customer rating: Early Beethoven Concertos Beautifully Played

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Similar Items: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Violin Romances Beethoven: Missa Solemnis ASIN: B000N60H9K Release Date: 2007-03-13

Tracks:

1. I. Allegro Con Brio
2. II. Largo
3. III. Rondo: Allegro Scherzando
4. I. Allegro Con Brio
5. II. Adagio
6. III. Rondo: Molto Allegro

Album Description

"I don't think I've ever heard Bronfman play better." - Gramophone

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1958, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel at the age of thirteen and later to the US, where he pursued his training at the Juilliard School and the Marlboro and Curtis Institutes under Rudolf Serkin, Rudolf Firkusny, and Leon Fleisher. Bronfman celebrated his international debut in 1975, accompanied by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. He soon acquired an excellent reputation as a pianist on the stages of the world's major concert halls. Highlights of recent years include concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Yefim Bronfman also gives regular piano recitals in the leading concert halls of the US, Europe, and Asia. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri, and Juilliard Quartets. Other long-term musical partners include Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Shlomo Mintz, and Pinchas Zukerman. Bronfman became an American citizen in 1989. Born in 1936, American conductor David Zinman has risen to the pinnacle of his career in the last decade. His discography of over one hundred recordings has won five Grammys and two Grands Prix du Disque. Founded in 1868, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra is Switzerland's oldest symphony orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

Early Beethoven Concertos Beautifully Played.......2007-07-03

David Zinman conducting the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and pianist Yefim Bronfman have recently collaborated on a recording of Beethoven's five piano concertos and the triple concerto on the budget-priced Arte Nova label. In this recording of the first and second concertos, Zinman, his orchestra, and Bronfman are an ideal match. Zinman has become known for his period performances of Beethoven using modern instruments. His set of Beethoven symphonies has been highly acclaimed. His recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis has received mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it greatly. The performance of these concertos is crisp, articulate, boisterous, and ambitious. It brings out the drive, humor,originality and roughness-around-the-edges of early Beethoven. Yefim Bronfman is a powerhouse pianist. But he plays these early concertos idiomatically, lightly, smoothly, and with great flair.

Of Beethoven's five concertos, the fourth and the fifth are mature middle-period works. The third concerto, in C minor, is something of a hybrid between Beethoven's early and middle styles while concertos 1 and 2 are works of the young Beethoven. Beethoven did not compose a late-period concerto, but these five works offer an excellent way of tracking Beethoven's development from his early years in Vienna to his period of maturity. More importantly, they contain unforgettable music.

Beethoven composed the first two concertos for his own performance as a rising young composer in Vienna in his early to mid 20's. The earliest of his concertos is concerto no. 2 in B-flat major, opus 19. This work probably was written in some form before Beethoven moved to Vienna from Bonn at the age of 22. He revised and reworked it many times for his own use before publishing it at last in 1801. Beethoven described the work to his publisher as "A concerto for pianoforte, which, it is true, I do not make out to be one of my best. At the same time it would not disgrace you to engrave this concerto." The second remains the least-familiar of Beethoven's concertos.

Particularly in its opening movement, the work has a bumptious, patchwork quality, probably due to Beethoven's many revisions of the score as well as to his youth. But the work has lovely movements, particularly in its lyrical second theme and in the delicate runs and movement of the piano part. The highlight of the work is the Adagio, a flowing and serious slow movement which builds dramatic tension in long solo passages for the piano towards the end. The finale of the second concerto is a boisterous rondo with a short, catchy and humorously syncopated theme. If Beethoven was correct in regarding the concerto as "not one of my best" he was also right that the work did not put him or his publisher to shame. The work, which owes a great deal to Mozart and Haydn, well rewards hearing.

The piano concerto no. 1 in C major, opus 15 was composed in 1795 also primarily as a performance vehicle for Beethoven. This work is much more cohesive than the B-flat major concerto and was also published in 1801, several months after its companion. The opus 15 is a festive, high-spirited work, replete with tympani and trumpet as befitting an orchestral piece in C major. The opening movement features a range of themes, but it focuses on a march-like military phrase introduced at the outset by the orchestra and on a solo martial theme given to the piano. The piano part is full of filigree, long runs, trills and singing themes. Beethoven wrote a famously difficult cadenza for this early work. The largo, opens with a lyrical, reflective theme in the piano which is clung to and developed over the course of an extended movement, culminating in another floridly elaborate piano solo towards the end. The final rondo, which Beethoven is said to have composed in two days, is lively and rhythmical with some strongly accentuated dance themes as it proceeds. In this concerto, Beethoven comes into his own voice as a young composer while still building of the work of his great predecessors.

Zinman and Bronfman offer a thoroughly enjoyable and idiomatic performance of early Beethoven. This is a lovely disc and at its low price offers an excellent way to get to know and love this music.

Robin Friedman

Average customer rating: Beethoven minus Romantic cobwebs

Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Violin Romances Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Tetzlaff, Christian | ( T ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Beethoven: Complete Overtures ASIN: B000FII25M Release Date: 2006-06-13

Tracks:

1. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
2. Larghetto
3. Rondo
4. Adagio, Allegro Con Brio
5. Adagio Cantabile

Album Description

"One of the most brilliant and inquisitive artists of the new generation." -NEW YORK TIMES

As is generally known, Beethoven later transcribed his violin concerto as a piano concerto, for which he wrote some additional solo cadenzas. Christian Tetzlaff has in turn transcribed these original piano cadenzas for the violin. According to Tetzlaff, the cadenzas by Fritz Kreisler that are usually heard are "alien - in purely harmonic terms, but also in terms of the concept and the idea behind them. Beethoven pursues an entirely different approach in his original piano cadenzas". Voted the 2005 Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, Tetzlaff regularly gives guest performances as a soloist and chamber musician in all the international musical centers, such as at New York's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Vienna's Musikverein as well as in London, Paris, Berlin, and Munich. He has been awarded several prizes for his numerous CD recordings, including two Diapason d'Ors, the Edison Prize, the Echo Prize, and nominations for the Grammy Awards. This recording offers one of today's leading soloists along with conductor David Zinman, whose Beethoven recordings are praised by critics and fans. David Zinman has risen to the pinnacle of his career in the last decade. After bringing the Baltimore Symphony to major status, he became musical director of the Aspen Music Festival and then took the helm of Zurich's beloved Tonhalle Orchestra, with which he has undertaken highly successful tours of Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Zinman's discography, which includes over 100 recordings, has won five Grammys and two Grands Prix du Disque. Zinman's complete Beethoven symphony set with this same orchestra received the Award of the German Record Critics in 1999 and has since gone from one rave review to another. Founded in 1868, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra is Switzerland's oldest symphony orchestra. Today it gives over 90 concerts each season, featuring more than 50 different programs with the world's leading conductors and solo artists.

Customer Reviews:

Beethoven minus Romantic cobwebs.......2006-06-25

As in his remarkable Beethoven symphony cycle, Zinman and his Zurich orchestra allow the listener to hear the concerto from a fresh perspective; the cadenzas used by Christian Tetzlaff, Germany's finest violinist at present (yes, above Mutter - just compare their Mozart concerti),derive from Beethoven's transcription of his violin concerto for the piano. When the cadenza first appears this listener REALLY took notice, and some will find the piece virtually unrecognizable at this point, but I found it fascinating and successful-far removed from the heavily romanticized accounts of the work most will be accustomed to. The finale, which at a slow tempo can be quite laborious, sparkles like no other of recent vintage. I can imagine some will abhor this recording for the first movement waywardness, but any one who has enjoyed Zinman's Beethoven symphonies will delight in this new recording and gain a refreshing view of this, arguably the greatest of all violin concerti. Excellent sound-better than that heard in the symphonies. I want to hear now the rest of the piano concerto cycle with Zinman and Bronfman.

Average customer rating: Classics Today 10-10 Zinman, Tonhalle, Shaham, Mork & Bronfman: Brilliant Beethoven 2

Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Septets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Cello | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Violin Romances Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven: Complete Overtures Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 ASIN: B000EQ46XM Release Date: 2006-04-11

Tracks:

1. I. Allegro
2. II. Largo - Attacca
3. III. Rondo. Alla Polacca
4. I. Adagio. Allegro Con Brio
5. II. Adagio Cantabile
6. III. Tempo Di Minuetto
7. IV. Tempo Di Minuetto
8. V. Scherzo: Allegro Molto E Vivace
9. VI. Andante Con Moto Alla Marcia. Presto

Album Description

FOUR GRAMMY AWARD WINNING ARTISTS ON ONE DISC. As Beethoven himself was well aware, his Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello - commonly called the "Triple Concerto" - was unique in musical literature. No one had ever written for this combination of solo instruments and orchestra. The Triple Concerto was first performed in Vienna in 1804, and apparently never again in Beethoven's lifetime! The work was neglected for years and is still a little overshadowed by the other Beethoven concertos, but this is in large part because it is seldom heard due to its extraordinary requirements for three major virtuosi. This recording offers three of today's leading soloists along with conductor David Zinman, whose Beethoven recordings have already become first choices with many listeners. Since making his debut at London's Festival Hall in 1981, pianist Yefim Bronfman has regularly played with the most renowned European, American and Far Eastern symphony orchestras. He was! awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1991. Israeli-American violinist Gil Shaham (b. 1971) studied at Juilliard and in 1990 was awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has pursued an extremely active international career and made numerous CD recordings. Gil Shaham plays a Stradivarius dating from 1699. Truls Mørk has long been one of the most renowned international cellists and plays with the world's leading symphony orchestras and conductors. An enthusiastic chamber musician, he undertook a successful tour of the U.S. with violinist Gil Shaham and pianist Yefim Bronfman in 2003. Born in 1936, American conductor David Zinman has risen to the pinnacle of his career in the last decade. His discography of some 100 recordings has won five Grammys and two Grands Prix du Disque. Founded in 1868, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra is Switzerland's oldest symphony orchestra. Included as a major bonus is a splendid performance of Beethoven's early and massive chamber work masterpiece, the Septet, Op. 20.

Customer Reviews:

Classics Today 10-10.......2006-05-23

10 for performance
10 for sound

and I add

10 for price

Zinman, Tonhalle, Shaham, Mork & Bronfman: Brilliant Beethoven 2.......2006-05-11

Here we get part two of the ongoing series that seems to aim at getting all the Beethoven piano concertos, safely in the can. The familiar bottom line for this series? Get this CD right away. No matter who else already sits on your fav shelf for this music, you will find it quite easy to add this new recording of the Beethoven Triple Concerto, and the early Septet. Cheap price, too. But nothing cheap, nothing cheap at all about either the recorded sound, or the quality of these performances.

If you have heard - and liked - the approach that Zinman & Tonhalle took to their prize-winning set of the complete Beethoven Symphonies (which deservedly earned the German record critics prize, and is also at budget prices on Arte Nova) - you can settle into your home system, or mp3 player, or car stereo for lots more of that same Beethoven - intelligent, vital, heartfelt.

To recap.

Zinman & Tonhalle have been influenced by all the paths opened up in the period instrument performances of baroque and classical music over the past five or six decades; without really having to play on gut strings and period instruments. So what's left? Well, somehow Zinman & Tonhalle manage their Beethoven with clarity, wit, punchy phrasing, and the wide open humanism that are the hallmarks of Beethoven's musical personality. There is not one ounce of romanticized fat in any of these Zinman-Tonhalle versions of the symphonies, and that is all to the good, since Beethoven is not at all confined to what the nineteenth century made out of him and made out of his music. In addition to the clarity, the tonal transparency that period peformance suggests, Zinman-Tonhalle also give us the rough-hewn punning, the startlingly clear and high musical intellect, and the energy that fairly bursts from Beethoven's unprecedented approach to both harmony and rhythm. Listening to Beethoven played this way, you easily credit his supposed reputation as the finest improviser of his era.

Into this notable Beethoven mix now comes pianist Yefim Bronfman, plus violinist Gil Shaham, and cellist Truls Mork. Each soloist certainly has his chops. More to the point, all three soloists and Zinman-Tonhalle are worthy and alert partners throughout. Conductor & pianist see eye to eye, without losing their own insights and musical commitments. The three trio players have the sort of rich tonal point that is generic to each of their instruments, combined with a vigor and fluency that can only put older listeners in mind of the much-lauded Beaux Arts Trio. We get an alchemy - inside the trio, and between the trio and orchestra under Zinman - that is way more than the simple sum of the parts.

The Triple Concerto is something of an acquired taste, even for people who already love the five piano concertos. If you approach the Triple open-mindedly, and are willing to listen to it on its own eccentric terms, you reap the rewards of making a good, new friend. Now, I admit I find many performances of the Triple less than compelling. Not so, this one. That same core Beethoven vitality that marked part one of this recording project, enlivens this CD. What would be filler musical material as played by other trios, under the magic fingers of Bronfman, Shaham, and Mork becomes involving and communicative. You never wish that the players - and Beethoven himself - would just get on it with, because, well, they are.

As a reference point, Bronfman's playing is closer to, say, Wilhelm Kempff or Wilhelm Backhaus or the young Leon Fleischer in this repertoire, than to more highly italicized styles of neo-romantic piano playing. Gil Shaham hardly needs an introduction to anybody who pays attention to the violin. His other recordings of the concerto literature are technically excellent, and replete with the mind one associates with Heifitz or Szeryng, and the heart one associates with Grumiaux or Kreisler. Truls Mork rounds out the trio, and suffers not in the least by comparison with the high excellence of his partners. We do not get told about what piano Bronfman might be playing, but Shaham is playing the Comtesse Polignac Stradivarius, and Mork is holding forth on a Montagna. Are you there yet?

If the Tonhalle strings do themselves proud in accompanying, that is not to undervalue or disrespect the amazing contributions of the woodwinds and the brass. Simply everybody showed up for the sessions, and nobody was playing by rote.

The sound is rather close and clear, somewhat in the old Szell-Cleveland manner; without any multi-miked glare and without any fuzz. From top frequency to bottom, the orchestra departments are all present, and nobody is sacrificed to make room. The possibly tricky balances between the trio, and the orchestra, and within the trio - are placed just right.

Filling the CD is an early chamber piece, the Septet - Contemporary with the eighth piano sonata (Pathetique) and the first symphony. Yes, the Septet is lighter, more occasional music in the galante mould, but nevertheless full of Beethoven's wit, charm, and engaging intellect. The trio players are complemented by others from the Tonhalle - on clarinet, bassoon, horn, and double-bass. What fun. If you are ever going to bother with the Septet, now is the time, and this is the recording.

Five stars, then. Now stop reading & click your way to happy, amazed ownership. Yeah. These guys are still just that good.

Average customer rating: Fascinating, but mostly just a blueprint ONE OF THE VERY BEST No More Excuses Probably the best cycle on the market Beethoven Rediscovered!!!!!

Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies Ludwig van Beethoven , David Zinman , and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Romantic | Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Bargain Box Sets | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music All Bargain Titles | Classical General | Classical | Today's Deals in Music | Formats | Music Similar Items: Beethoven: Complete Overtures Robert Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4 Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 Beethoven - The Complete String Quartets / Alban Berg Quartet ASIN: B00000IFP6 Release Date: 1999-04-27

Tracks:

1. Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21: I. Adagio molto - L.V. Beethoven
2. Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21: II. Andante cantabile con moto - L.V. Beethoven
3. Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21: III. Menuetto - L.V. Beethoven
4. Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21: IV. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace - L.V. Beethoven
5. Symphony No. 2 In D Major, Op. 36: I. Adagio molto - L.V. Beethoven
6. Symphony No. 2 In D Major, Op. 36: II. Larghetto - L.V. Beethoven
7. Symphony No. 2 In D Major, Op. 36: III. Scherzo. Allegro - L.V. Beethoven
8. Symphony No. 2 In D Major, Op. 36: IV. Allegro molto - L.V. Beethoven

Tracks:

1. Symphony No.3 In E Flat Major Op.55: I. Allegro con brio - Ludwig Van Beethoven
2. Symphony No.3 In E Flat Major Op.55: II. Marcia funebre - Ludwig Van Beethoven
3. Symphony No.3 In E Flat Major Op.55: III. Scherzo - Ludwig Van Beethoven
4. Symphony No.3 In E Flat Major Op.55: Finale - Allegro molto - Ludwig Van Beethoven
5. Symphony No.4 In B FLat Major Op.60: I. Adagio - Allegro vivace - Ludwig Van Beethoven
6. Symphony No.4 In B FLat Major Op.60: II. Adagio - Ludwig Van Beethoven
7. Symphony No.4 In B FLat Major Op.60: III. Allegro vivace - Ludwig Van Beethoven
8. Symphony No.4 In B FLat Major Op.60: IV. Allegro ma non troppo - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Tracks:

1. Symphony No. 5 In C Minor Op.67: I. Allegro con brio - Ludwig Van Beethoven
2. Symphony No. 5 In C Minor Op.67: II. Andante con moto - Ludwig Van Beethoven
3. Symphony No. 5 In C Minor Op.67: III. Allegro - Ludwig Van Beethoven
4. Symphony No. 5 In C Minor Op.67: IV. Allegro - Ludwig Van Beethoven
5. Symphony No. 6 In F Major 'Pastorale' Op.68: I. Allegro ma non troppo - Ludwig Van Beethoven
6. Symphony No. 6 In F Major 'Pastorale' Op.68: II. Andante molto moto - Ludwig Van Beethoven
7. Symphony No. 6 In F Major 'Pastorale' Op.68: III. Allegro - Ludwig Van Beethoven
8. Symphony No. 6 In F Major 'Pastorale' Op.68: IV. Allegro - Ludwig Van Beethoven
9. Symphony No. 6 In F Major 'Pastorale' Op.68: V. Allegretto - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Tracks:

1. Symphony No.7 In A Major Op.92: I. Poco Sostenuto - Vivace - L.V. Beethoven
2. Symphony No.7 In A Major Op.92: II. Allegretto - L.V. Beethoven
3. Symphony No.7 In A Major Op.92: III. Presto - L.V. Beethoven
4. Symphony No.7 In A Major Op.92: IV. Allegro Con Brio - L.V. Beethoven
5. Symphony No. 8 In F Major Op.93: I. Allegro Vivace E Con Brio - L.V. Beethoven
6. Symphony No. 8 In F Major Op.93: II. Allegretto Scherzando - L.V. Beethoven
7. Symphony No. 8 In F Major Op.93: III. Tempo Di Menuetto - L.V. Beethoven
8. Symphony No. 8 In F Major Op.93: IV. Allegro Vivace - L.V. Beethoven

Tracks:

1. Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op.125: I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo - Ludwig Van Beethoven
2. Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op.125: II. Molto Vivace - Ludwig Van Beethoven
3. Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op.125: III. Adagio Molto E Cantabile - Ludwig Van Beethoven
4. Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op.125: IV. Presto - Ludwig Van Beethoven
5. Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op.125: V. Allegro Assai Vivace Marcia-End - Ludwig Van Beethoven
6. Symphony No. 9 In D Minor Op.125: VI. Allegro Assai Vivace Marcia-End Beethoven's Original - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Amazon.com essential recording

If you're looking for a real bargain set of Beethoven's complete symphonies, look no further. David Zinman leads the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich through the big nine. Unconventional--this is the world-premiere, modern-instrument recording of the New Barenreiter Edition (translation: slight variations in the scoring)--and with Zinman's typically fast tempos, these are spirited, though probably not definitive, performances. Herbert Von Karajan's 1963 cycle of Beethoven's symphonies must still be considered the essential versions and, costing only 10 dollars more than this set, it's just as much of a bargain. But, for Beethoven lovers on a tight budget, folks looking to add one more Beethoven cycle to their music library, or experts who want to hear what the fuss of the Barenreiter Edition is about, this set shouldn't be passed up. Zinman and Tonhalle have delivered a winner, with excellent sound and a great sticker price. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating, but mostly just a blueprint.......2007-04-27

Jonathan del Mar, son of Philharmonia Orchestra musician Norman del Mar, spent a great many years working on a "critical edition" of the Beethoven Symphonies using Beethoven's original manuscripts and comparing them, bar-by-bar and note-for-note, with the published editions. The result was the Barenreiter-Edition, first recorded here (and, to my knowledge, ONLY recorded here) by the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and conductor David Zinman.

First, let me say that I have only the highest respect for Zinman. He is one of my favorite conductors, and I have long felt that only the lack of a high-powered agent has kept him from being one of the world's best-known podium masters. But in these performances, using the "critical edition" as a sort of leash, there is little or no rubato at all, except for some very, very subtle modifications in the Adagios and in the Allegretto finale of the Sixth Symphony. Otherwise, this is Beethoven in VERY strict tempos, and I do mean strict: the tenor solo of the Ninth is taken at such a clip that it's difficult to imagine any other tenor, in live performance, agreeing to be subjected to it. The oft-maligned Toscanini sounds like a mere snail in comparison.

Nevertheless, there are some good things and good performances. Despite a second-movement "Andante cantabile con moto" taken at an incredibly brisk "con moto," his reading of the First Symphony is supremely satisfying, the best I have heard since Munch and Toscanini. His "Eroica" completely vindicates the Toscanini approach as every single movement is taken quicker than the Italian Maestro did it (the second movement "Marcia funebre" at least six per cent quicker), and I was surprised to hear the famous Trio taken with a repeat. His Fourth is the most satisfying reading since the 1939 Toscanini broadcast, and his Sixth has the most ingratiating "At the brook" and "Joyous merrymaking after the storm" since the equally old 1939 Toscanini-BBC Symphony recording. (Herbert von Karajan, in his last Beethoven symphony cycle, also took the Sixth at written pace but with a much stiffer, less flexible rhythm, which nullified its pastoral effects.) In addition, I heard little turns in the wind instruments in the first movement that are not evident, or at least not as cleanly played, in any other recording or performance I've ever heard.

Yet, as an overall set of the Nine, it remains a learning device for burgeoning conductors and not an edition that one will turn to time and time again for interpretive inspiration. For this I do not particularly blame Zinman, who was making a point, but he could have and should have "lived" with these new scores for a few years, modified his interpretations somewhat, and THEN have recorded his mature, seasoned reflections on them. Also, and I hate to be the one to carp about this, but WHY are the vocal soloists in practically every Ninth Symphony since Karajan's last one simply horrible?? Zinman is scarcely alone here: Haitink, Dohnanyi, Robert Shaw and anyone else of worth also have woefully inadequate singers on their Ninths. But of course, I happen to be very particular about singers anyway, so my favorite Beethoven Ninths are always defined by both the conducting and the vocal quartet, my picks being Toscanini 1939 (Novotna, Thorborg, Peerce, Moscona), Schmidt-Isserstedt 1967 (Sutherland, Horne, King, Talvela) and Karajan 1977 (Tomowa-Sintow, Baltsa, Schreier and Van Dam). I exclude 1952 Toscanini, even though his quartet was wonderful, simply because I have always been uncomfortable with his pacing and phrasing on that particular Ninth (no, it's not too fast, on the contrary, it's the slowest of all his Ninths, but the music just doesn't flow - everything sounds "vertically" phrased.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts regarding this set. I don't think you'll find finer modern (within the last thirty years) performances of the First, Third, Fourth or Sixth anywhere, but I prefer Karajan's 1977 readings of the Second, Seventh and Ninth, and his 1983 version3 of the Fifth and Eighth.

ONE OF THE VERY BEST.......2007-04-07

One man's view:
Amazing! Every one of these is full of energy, joy and "snap." The sense of exuberance makes all a pleasure. I like the peppy tempos here, the lack of passivity all the way. (Also it's the deal of a lifetime on the price.)
--check out Solti too, Very fine. More weight.
--also Szell.
=\=\=
--P.S. - check out O'Conor and Arrau on the LVB complete piano sonatas. Beyond belief!
=\=\=\=

No More Excuses.......2007-02-27

I love it! Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich have shattered the myths that Beethoven's metronome markings had to be a mistake, or that original instruments are needed to adhere to them. This is a truly remarkable set, outstanding from beginning to end and delivered with studied energy, irresistible momentum, plenty of lyricism, and abiding good humor. I would describe this Beethoven as earthy (in a romantic, anti-aristocratic, folk-dance kind of way) and wiry (small, but exceedingly strong). One can hear and appreciate all the subtleties of the orchestration and all the lines of attack without ever losing touch with melody and cadence. Plenty of personality, too: I can listen to these performances and, occasionally at least, imagine Beethoven giving the finger to the powdered-wig crowd.

This is Beethoven at his best and most accessible: never sentimental, stodgy, puffed-up, or blown out of proportion, and always thoughtfully energetic! Very enthusiastically recommended!

PS: Read Peter J. Lawson's online review for MusicWeb International for more detail. He paints a better picture than I could ever hope to. I disagree with him in his faint praise for the fifth, however.

Probably the best cycle on the market.......2006-05-17

I love this set.
Brisk tempi, good detailed sound, fine orchestral playing, lean and transparent, but powerful etc.

However: I must confess that the performances lack something:
If you listen to the 3rd symphony, without ever heard the rest of Zinman's performances, you'll pretty much get an idea of what the 5th or 7th is gonna sound like...it's a matter of how you look at things: you could say Zinman is consistent in his interpretations or you could say his performances lack character, a personal touch, everything is handled the same way.

For me his choice of tempi are spot on, I agree with them and the orchestral playing is refined without being too polished...although sometimes I wished it to be a bit rougher, like Savall in Beethovens 3rd for instance.
The 3rd is given an excellent performance, but in comparison with Savall without an edge and maybe "heart".
In Savalls 3rd you'll hear an involvement with the music, kinda as if Savall never heard Beethovens 3rd in his life before and is now obsessed with the music, there's so much tension, spirit and involvement in his reading.
Zinman plays it how it should be played, but nothing more...

The 7th is excellent, but there's a lack of lower strings and bass.
etc etc.

Overall this set is really very very good, for me these recordings are my (personal) reference performances..but not necessarily my favorite performances of each individual symphony.

Beethoven Rediscovered!!!!!.......2005-10-22

I was curious to listen to David Zinman and the Zurich Orchestra after all I had read in the CD guide books and magazines. This is my sixth full cycle (Karajan 1963 and 1977, Klemperer,Bernstein/VPO and Toscanini) and these days is definetely my favourite. Zinman brings new life to the symphonies- period. The Barenreiter edition may play a role in the freshness of the music but the passion of maestro and orchestra makes you feel as if you are present in the music hall, being a spectator of a live performance.
The first symphonies were the greatest surprise for me, and I can now see the maturation of Beethoven, where as the older approaches interepreted these pieces as small "Eroicas". There is no doubt there are better interepretations of individual symphonies out there - ex. Carlos Kleiber on the 5th, Klemperer on the "Eroica"-old style or Furtwangler on the 1952 recording of the "Choral" - but this fact can not overshadow what I find as an excellent set at a great price.

Average customer rating:

Vivaldi, Tartini, Boccherini: Cello Concertos Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Boccherini | Boccherini, Luigi | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Tartini | Tartini, Giuseppe | ( T ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Vivaldi | Vivaldi, Antonio | ( V ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Cello | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music $9.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Boccherini, Luigi | ( B ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Tartini, Giuseppe | ( T ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Vivaldi, Antonio | ( V ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Instrumental | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music Similar Items: Mstislav Rostropovich: Cello Concertos Schubert, Debussy / Rostropovich, Britten The Glory of Rostropovich: 80th Birthday Tribute Great Recordings Of The Century - Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto / Oistrakh, Rostropovich, Richter Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas ASIN: B000LC4B5M Release Date: 2007-03-13

Average customer rating: Inspired Beethoven Concertos Excellent - The Historically Influenced Performance I've been seeking A Fine Collaboration: Zinman and Bronfman Zinman, Tonhalle Zurich, & Bronfman=Athletic, Brilliant Beethoven Outstanding!

Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 Beethoven , Zinman , and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Violin Romances Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Beethoven: Complete Overtures ASIN: B000AMPZNU Release Date: 2005-09-13

Tracks:

1. I. Allegro Con Brio
2. II. Largo
3. III. Rondo: Allegro
4. I. Allegro Moderato
5. II. Andante Con Moto
6. III. Rondo: Vivace

Album Description

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1958, Yefim Bronfman emigrated to Israel at the age of 13 and later to the U.S., where he pursued his training at the Juilliard School and the Marlboro and Curtis Institutes under Rudolf Serkin, Rudolf Firkusny and Leon Fleisher. Bronfman celebrated his international début in 1975, accompanied by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. He soon acquired an excellent reputation as a pianist on the stages of the world's major concert halls. Highlights of recent years include concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and the Vienna Philharmonic. Yefim Bronfman also gives regular piano recitals in the leading concert halls of the United States, Europe and the Far East. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets. Other! long-term musical partners include Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Shlomo Mintz and Pinchas Zukerman. Yefim Bronfman became an American citizen in 1989. Born in 1936, American conductor David Zinman has risen to the pinnacle of his career in the last decade. After bringing the Baltimore Symphony to major status, he became musical director of the Aspen Music Festival and then took the helm of Zurich's beloved Tonhalle Orchestra. Zinman's discography of some 100 recordings have won five Grammys and two Grands Prix du Disque. Founded in 1868, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra is Switzerland's oldest symphony orchestra. Today it gives over 90 concerts each season featuring more than 50 different programs with the world's leading conductors and solo artists. David Zinman sees Piano Concerto No. 3 - the only one in a minor key - as a kind of "Eroica" for piano and orchestra. Just as Beethoven opened the door to an entirely new symphonic world with his third symphony, the Eroica, he also broke new ground with his third piano concerto. For Yefim Bronfman, the Fourth is the concerto "with the broadest emotional spectrum, and at the same time possibly the most dramati."

Customer Reviews:

Inspired Beethoven Concertos.......2007-07-16

David Zinman conducting the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and pianist Yefim Bronman have collaborated in a series of outstanding performances of the Beethoven piano concertos, especially the third and fourth concertos included on this CD. Zinman has become noted for his period readings of Beethoven while Bronfman has made a reputation as a romantic, highly-charged pianist. But a unity of spirit and music-making pervades this CD. Zinman brings a light, transparent sound to his orchestra which tends towards the stacatto in places and emphasizes the woodwinds. Bronfman plays with sensitivity, lyricism, and finesse. He also brings dazzle to the many virtuosic passages.

With the passage of the years, Beethoven's Third Concerto in C minor opus 37 has become my favorite of the five. It is Beethoven's only minor-key concerto and its performance raises a host of interpretive issues. Some performers and scholars see the third as dating from around 1800 which would put it in the company of the first and second concertos as early Beethoven. Others see the music more expansively and, not surprisingly, date the work from the years 1802-1803 when Beethoven, aware of his impending deafness, radically changed his compositional course. Other interpretive questions about the third include the extent to which Beethoven used Mozart's great C minor concerto, K. 491, as a model for his own.

Zinman and Bronfman bring a lightness to this work which reminds me of early Beethoven while bringing out as well the great advance Beethoven attained in the third from its early predecessors. Zinman's performance of the lengthy orchestral introduction to the work lacks the ponderousness of some other readings and mitigates the difficulties some critics have seen in the symphonic character of the work. And from the moment Bronfman enters with the piano's series of rising scales, the performance is his. The third is the Beethoven concerto in which, from the moment of its entry, the piano is at center stage, and Bronfman makes the most of it. Bronfman plays smoothly with the long passages of filigree and arpeggios enlacing the themes of the movement while bringing out with force the flamboyant large downward runs which are a feature of this movement. The cadenza is full of virtuosity.

The second movement of this work establishes Beethoven's own character at the outset, as it is placed in a remote key of E major, giving an etherial quality to the music. The piano is again fully at center stage with long reflective passages and beautifully lacy passages accompanied by winds and by the cellos. Carl Czerny, Beethoven's pupil, said that this theme "must sound like a holy, distant and celestial Harmony." In Zinman's and Bronfman's hands,it does.

The third movement is a dance-like idiosyncratic rondo which begins in the minor key but moves into C major for a triumphant prestissimo conclusion. There are fugal passages in the episodes and several echoes of the second movement. Bronfman's playing is vigorous.

Beethoven's fourth concerto in G major opus 58 is the favorite Beethoven concerto of many listeners. This work shows that Beethoven's middle style was much more complex and varied that the "heroic" Beethoven of the third and fifth symphonies, the "Emperor" concerto, and the "Waldstein" sonata. Bronfman establishes the tone of the work at the outset with his lucid performance of the piano's opening solo. As someone who struggles with the piano, his performance reminded me of the beauty of quiet, smooth, and lyrical playing. There are some unforgettable passages near the end of the opening movement where Bronfman accompanies the orchestral recollection of the main theme with exquisitely light chords. The second movement involves a duet between soloist and orchestra. Zinman's orchestra plays brusquely and with a marked stacatto touch which is an ideal foil for Bronfman's pleading solos. The finale is brisk and flowing with lovely interchanges between Bronfman's piano and a solo cello.

At its budget price, this CD is difficult to resist. This CD offers a classic performance of two great Beethoven concertos.

Robin Friedman

Excellent - The Historically Influenced Performance I've been seeking.......2007-01-27

Zinman showed the understanding he brings to Beethoven, including being influenced by the musicological research of period-instruments leaders, with his symphony cycle.

Now, we're starting to get the same excellence on the piano concerto cycle. Quick, precise tempos combine with voluminous phrasing to give us wonderful music.

Bronfman has renown already and seems to work well with Zinman; and, he's not known as an overly romanticising pianist. (That said, I wonder how Stephen Hough would have paired with Zinman.)

Anyway, this is what I've been looking for. Buy it.

Only regret? The whole cycle isn't out yet as a boxed set! C'mon, we're waiting!

A Fine Collaboration: Zinman and Bronfman.......2006-02-05

David Zinman has clearly made the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra his own since he became music director. The orchestra has become a finely tuned, golden hued, thoroughly vital ensemble and the fact that this pairing has resulted in perhaps the most popularly selling set of the complete Beethoven symphonies speaks volumes. Of course, the added bonus is the fine recording techniques of Arte Nova Classics AND the very affordable price of their releases!

Yefim Bronfman continues to mature into one of our finest pianists before the audience today. Though his proclivity for the 20th century masters (Bartok, Prokofiev, etc) has been well established, his probing and facile accounts of the Beethoven concerti are as profoundly romantic as they come. On this particular CD he essays both the Beethoven 3rd and 4th piano concerti with a firm grasp of the fine architecture of each piece, a phenomenal technique, and a sensitivity to the interplay with the orchestra. David Zinman's thinking is in the same vein and the response he draws from the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra is vital and balanced and matches Bronfman's phrasing perfectly.

For a truly fine recording of these concert hall favorites this superb (and very inexpensive!) belongs in everyone's library. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 06

Zinman, Tonhalle Zurich, & Bronfman=Athletic, Brilliant Beethoven.......2005-11-02

Okay, so let's get right to the bottom line: Get this CD right away. No matter who else already sits on your fav shelf for this music, you will find it quite easy to add this new recording of the Beethoven 3rd & 4th piano concertos. Cheap price, too. But nothing cheap, nothing cheap at all about either the recorded sound, or the quality of these performances.

If you have heard - and liked - the approach that Zinman & Tonhalle took to their prize-winning set of the complete Beethoven Symphonies (which deservedly earned the German record critics prize, and is also at budget prices on Arte Nova) - you can settle into your home system, or mp3 player, or car stereo for lots more of that same, Beethovenish vitality.

To recap.

Zinman & Tonhalle have been influenced by all the paths opened up in the period instrument performances of baroque and classical music over the past five or six decades; without really having to play on gut strings and period instruments. So what's left? Well, somehow Zinman & Tonhalle manage their Beethoven with clarity, wit, punchy phrasing, and the wide open humanism that are the hallmarks of Beethoven's musical personality. There is not one ounce of romanticized fat in any of these Zinman-Tonhalle versions of the symphonies, and that is all to the good, since Beethoven is not at all confined to what the nineteenth century made out of him and made out of his music. In addition to the clarity, the tonal transparency that period peformance suggests, Zinman-Tonhalle also give us the rough-hewn punning, the startlingly clear and high musical intellect, and the energy that fairly bursts from Beethoven's unprecedented approach to both harmony and rhythm. Listening to Beethoven played this way, you easily credit his supposed reputation as the finest improviser of his era.

Into this notable Beethoven mix comes pianist Yefim Bronfman. He certainly has his chops. More to the point, Bronfman and Zinman-Tonhalle are worthy and alert partners throughout. Conductor & pianist see eye to eye, without losing their own insights and musical commitments. Put Tonhalle, Zinman & Bronfman together in Beethoven, and you get alchemy that is way more than the simple sum of the parts. The 3rd concerto may have been an improvement on the first and second piano concertos, even in the composer's mind; but the 4th reaches even higher and deeper. As a reference point, Bronfman's playing is closer to, say, Wilhelm Kempff or Wilhelm Backhaus or the young Leon Fleischer in this repertoire, than to more highly italicized styles of alleged romantic piano playing. This Beethoven cannot ever be confused with Chopin or Schumann or Rachmaninoff. That is just as it should be.

If the Tonhalle strings do themselves proud in accompanying, that is not to undervalue or disrespect the amazing contributions of the woodwinds and the brass. Simply everybody showed up for the sessions, and nobody was playing by rote.

All of this Beethovenian energy and sheer joy in living would be nothing if the recording engineers had not done their job, too. The sound is rather close and clear, somewhat in the old Szell-Cleveland manner; without any multi-miked glare and without any fuzz. From top frequency to bottom, the orchestra departments are all present, and nobody is sacrificed to make anybody else's point. The piano is placed just right, as a solo instrument with the rest of the orchestra, and not playing in another room somewhere on its own spot mike with the pianist wearing headphones.

One hopes dearly that this is the beginning of a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle from Bronfman, Zinman, Tonhalle. One even dreams of Arte Nova being brave enough to redo their old Beethoven sonata cycle with Yefim Bronfman to replace Alfredo Perl. There is not a bit of glassy tone here, no matter how crisply Bronfman plays; and that would serve the piano sonatas very well (if anybody at Arte Nova is listening).

Five stars, then. Now stop reading & click your way to happy, amazed ownership. Yeah. These guys are just that good.

Outstanding!.......2005-11-02

Pianist Bronfman and conductor Zinman team up and deliver an outstanding recording of the Beethoven 3rd and 4th piano concertos. From the very opening measures of piano concerto #3 one realizes that this CD is going to be something special. Not only is the pianist great, but so is the orchestral accompaniment. Of the five piano concertos that Beethoven wrote, only his third was written in a minor key and it is awesome! It ranks along side his 3rd (Eroica) and 5th symphonies as one of his most passionate and outstanding compositions. I love all five of Beethoven's piano concertos, but the third is my favorite. The coupling of concerto #4 is also very fine. Here Beethoven is at his most lyrical, with a beautiful second movement. It is very obvious that both the pianist and orchestra are in sync in every way and relishing every moment. At a bargain price this is one CD that should not be missed!

Average customer rating:

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 Zinman , and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Beethoven | Beethoven, Ludwig van | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Violin Romances Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet Beethoven: Complete Overtures ASIN: B000J3EBLC Release Date: 2006-11-14

Tracks:

1. I. Allegro
2. II. Adagio Un Poco Mosso
3. III. Rondo: Allegro
4. Choral Fantasy In C Minor Op.80
5. Meeresstille Und Gluckliche Fahrt In D Major Op.112

Album Description

"An Emperor which offers increasing musical dividends - an unmissable bargain ... There are plenty of big-name Emperors around, but this latest entry holds its own against any competition. Yefim Bronfman's touch is light and fleet, while he, David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra form a warmly responsive partnership." - GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE

Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1958, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel at the age of thirteen and later to the U.S., where he pursued his training at the Juilliard School and the Marlboro and Curtis Institutes under Rudolf Serkin, Rudolf Firkusny, and Leon Fleisher. Bronfman celebrated his international début in 1975, accompanied by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. He soon acquired an excellent reputation as a pianist on the stages of the world's major concert halls. Highlights of recent years include concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Yefim Bronfman also gives regular piano recitals in the leading concert halls of the United States, Europe, and the Far East. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri, and Juilliard Quartets. Other long-term musical partners include Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Shlomo Mintz, and Pinchas Zukerman. Born in 1936, American conductor David Zinman has risen to the pinnacle of his career in the last decade. After bringing the Baltimore Symphony to major status, he became musical director of the Aspen Music Festival and then took the helm of Zurich's beloved Tonhalle Orchestra. Zinman's discography of some one hundred recordings has won five Grammys and two Grands Prix du Disque. Ever since 1999, when the Tonhalle Orchestra was awarded the German Record Critics' Award for its seminal recording of all Beethoven's symphonies, the oldest symphony orchestra in Switzerland has been the focus of international interest. Under the leadership of David Zinman, the Tonhalle Orchestra has undertaken a number of successful concert tours throughout Europe, the U.S., and Japan. In addition to its concerts at home and its touring schedule, the orchestra and Zinman are devoting increasing time to recording projects. Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto is the most dramatic of his five piano concertos, and one of the most popular in the entire genre. First performed in 1812, it is still a concert staple. First-time listeners to Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" are inevitably taken aback by its similarities to the far more famous final movement of the Ninth Symphony, and indeed it was to become a sort of model or study for that magnificent finale. The "Choral Fantasy" was especially written for a mammoth concert of Beethoven's works given in December of 1808. Seldom heard in concert today, Beethoven's dramatic choral piece Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage was composed in 1814/15 to two poems by Goethe, and dedicated to the great German poet who received a copy of the score from Beethoven in 1822, the year of its first performance.

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