This is an interesting set. It dates from the early 1960's and in the
US was originally issued as a Reader Digest set. At the time I first
heard about the set from my teacher Rudolf Kolisch [leader of the
Kolisch and Pro Arte Quartets] who wrote a seminal paper in the late
30's/early 40's called [in English] Tempo and Character in Beethoven's
Music. Briefly stated, Kolisch argued that Beethoven had some very
specific tempi in mind, differentiated pricisely on these tempi (e.g.
Allegro con Brio meant something specific, Allegro something else. And
that the players of his time e.g. the Walter's, Furthwanglers,
Klemperers were missing this point with their turgid tempi. Kolisch
acknowledge that Toscanini was closer than most to an ideal for tempi
but wasn't very precise in the differentiation...in essence a bit
sloppy (I don't agree with that view). In lectures of his that I
attended when this set came out in the US, Kolisch praised them highly
as being the closest to his views (and confirming comments of other
posters that the tempi are brisk) and Leibowitz (who was a friend of
Kolisch) was very scrupulous in following these tempi indications.
I also heard Kolisch perform the entire Beethoven Piano/Violin cycle
three times (in fact I was the page turner for these cycles) and
indeed these were very exciting compared to the norms of the time.
Listeners today may not find them so extraordinarily fast as tastes
have changed in the past 45 years. I did not hear the Leibowitz set at
that time (I couldn't afford another Beethoven 9, I was a poor college
student), but I have acquired them since. They are fine performances,
exciting because of the tension and tempi. They are sonically somewhat
dated (they were in stereo originally though) and they are done with a
Parisian orchestra while OK is not up to BPO VPO standards.
As a modern alternative, I find the Zinman set on Arte Nova, also a
bargain set to be very enjoyable.
As I am an orchestral musician and have played all the Beethoven
concerti and all the symphonies except #2 (I do that next fall) I am
gratified that my conductors are familiar with the Kolisch paper (It
is still almost manditory reading in graduate music study) and capture
much of the character Kolisch (and Leibowitz and Zinman) achieve.
[Some of the HIP movement bands also have similar tempi, but I, being
a certified old fogey, have not warmed up to that conceit.]
Jon Teske, violinist
Post by TheresaHi,
I just noticed that Scribendum offers a box with Leibowitz
conducting the 9 LvB symphonies for about half of the price that
the Chesky CDs would cost. I haven't a single CD from Scribendum.
Is it a good offer or what are the negative sides? (Those Chesky
CDs are premium priced here in Germany.)