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Beethoven: Symphonies No 7 & 8 / Zinman, Tonhalle Orchestra


Release Date: 04/12/2005 
Label:  Arte Nova   Catalog #: 563410   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor:  David Zinman
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 1 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews

The world premiere of these symphonies on modern instruments using the New Bärenreiter Edition. The recording follows the new critical edition of the original manuscript of Beethoven’s symphonies prepared by Jonathan Del Mar and recently issued as part of the complete edition of his works. David Zinman’s Beethoven symphony cycle has garnered rave reviews worldwide, winning the German Record Critics’ prize in 1999. It is hard to believe today, but it was not until the premiere of the Seventh Symphony on December 8, 1813 that the Viennese public first waxed enthusiastic about a Beethoven symphony. All the previous symphonies had been received somewhat coolly, or with hostility. Unfortunately, the Eighth symphony was premiered on the same Read more concert, and its reputation suffered in comparison, a perhaps unfair judgment which has continued to the present day in many quarters. This disc continues the reissued series of Zinman's Beethoven symphonies available on single discs.

From Gramophone: "No one who relates to Toscanini's Beethoven on the one hand or Gardiner's on the other will take issue with David Zinman's 'short ride in a fast machine' approach to the Eighth Symphony (with apologies to John Adams). Zinman's record is billed as the "world premiere recording on modern instruments according to the new Barenreiter Edition" and, like its predecessor (Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, 12/97), packs a fair punch.
"The Eighth, I have to say, is exhilarating in the extreme. Every strand of argument bristles with life, especially among the first movement's centre pages, while in the finale, even the ludicrously fast metronome marking (minim=80) finds the Tonhalle players keeping up the pace...Zinman's view of the Eighth makes for essential listening."
- GRAMOPOHONE
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Works on This Recording

1. Symphony no 7 in A major, Op. 92 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor:  David Zinman
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Period: Classical 
Written: 1811-1812; Vienna, Austria 
2. Symphony no 8 in F major, Op. 93 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor:  David Zinman
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Period: Classical 
Written: 1812; Vienna, Austria 

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 1 Customer Review )
 Exhilarating and a little disconcerting February 20, 2012 By Karl C. See All My Reviews "I just heard the Seventh on the radio, and it struck me so much that I had to look it up to see what was going on.

What was going on was that they were playing a different version of the symphony than I remembered. Jonathan Del Mar's version for Bärenreiter has some different notes. Apparently it is the same version used by Sir John Gardiner in his famous period recordings, but for some reason the differences stood out a lot more, perhaps because Zinman's version uses modern instruments. I caught the changes with the radio turned down to barely audible, while I was writing a paper.

The changes are a bit disconcerting for me, but you might like them if you don't have the old version engraved in your brain (as I do.) The performance certainly slashes right along, with crisp, biting attacks. More than that I cannot say. I will probably buy these, just out of sheer curiosity. I feel like a hyena catching his first whiff of Szechuan food. It is unfamiliar but hyper-stimulating, and certainly worth investigating, and perhaps wolfing down. " Report Abuse
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