Will Rattles Beethoven set be released individually?

Does anyone know if EMI will release individual CDs from Rattle's Beethoven set? After reading the reviews I'm eager to hear some selected symphonies, but those same reviews have left me too wary to invest in the entire set.

I don't _know_ this at all, but based on experience I would suppose that these symphonies are very likely to be released by EMI individually at some point.

No plans have been announced, but it would be reasonable to expect single disc issues to come out in time, perhaps as double-layer disks in a high-resolution format.

And you are right to be wary; to my ear, most of the performances in the set are disappointing, as is the engineering. The only performance I've yet heard that comes close to matching the hype is the 9th. I haven't heard 1 and 5 (the 5 is said to be similar to the one that came out a year or two ago coupled with the Brahms concerto).

It's a set to cherry-pick. Another virtue of this approach is that you don't waste 20 minutes on the promotional DVD.

Tony Movshon

I asked this question to EMI last year and they replied that yes, the symphonies will be released individually.

In my opinion, 1-4 are excellent. The 9th is one of the best! His Pastoral is also worth listening to (possibly the most idiosyncratic performance I have encountered!)

Has a cycle ever been released without individual issues eventually following? I can't think of an instance.

Paul Goldstein

I can't answer your question but would note that the whole thing isn't very expensive - presently 25 pounds via MDT or $36 at cduniverse.com, for instance.

Having played through the whole thing once and several bits and movements more than that - which may of course not be enough to form a serious judgment - I'm inclined to support your wariness. I was greatly taken with the Eroica (a vastly better performance, though not much different in design, from a performance he gave with the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years ago), especially the first movement, until the coda of the finale, which is curiously staid and reserved (unlike all that comes before it), but disappointed in varying degrees by everything else.

Among other irritations are curious lurches in tempo and dymamics in 1/i and 7/iv (as a result 7/iv lacks the cumulative drive and tension it benefits from); an underplayed introduction to 2/i; a chronic if not universal lack of really incisive attacks and crisp rhythms resulting in (among other things) a tendencey to slackness between obvious climactic points; underpowered/underplayed/underrecorded (I can't tell which factor if any is more responsible than the rest) cellos and basses (especially damaging in 7/iv); oddly soft timpani attacks (again, the recording may have something to do with it - at times they disappear into a generalized bass murk; strangely, this isn't a problem in 9, where they move from vaguely on the left of the soundstage to a clearly focused position on the right and sound engagingly crisp and present throughout; a different player? Better engineering? Harder sticks?); bizarre phrasing and balances at certain points in 9/iv; a general tendency not to let rip - with one or two very rare exceptions, the orchestra sounds like it's slightly holding back. 4 and 6 struck me as pretty dull throughout (even the storm in 6), 8 almost successful throughout (it would have been better with just a bit more tension and greater dynamic contrasts and, in key points in i, more assertive cellos and basses). 5 sounds less like a timpani concerto than the recording that came out a few months ago, and suffers less from Rattle's ridiculous diminuendos in the trio of iii; here they're less pronounced.

In addition to other flaws in the recording I mentioned, the recorded sound throughout (3 and 9 are somewhat better, the latter having a fairly realistic sense of space if rather lacking impact; the soloists, evidently placed between the orchestra and the choir, sound a bit distant, especially the tenor, who sounds rather small to be leading a march) is a bit diffuse and lacking impact. The second violins, on the right, often make a rather thin, feeble sound, thereby undermining the point of splitting them in the first place.

As a HIP-influenced modern orchestra effort I think it's better than Abbado's, but I think one can do much better (e.g. Fey (I hope he records the whole lot) or Harnoncourt). Frankly, I would rather hear the VPO just be the VPO and not try to jump onto someone else's bandwagon.

Mine's now on ebay....

. . . where all mediocre CDs go to get new homes.

Paul Goldstein

That's the one I'm interested in.

This week Performance Today (NPR) has been playing this set in order - one symphony a day. So far I have heard 1 through 4. I think the recorded sound is rather poor. There is no sense of space and the sound is a bit shrill. I have heard much better sound from the VPO on some London recordings.

-MIKE

I've never found single-disc issues of these:

Batiz, Mexico State Symphony Orch. Georgescu, Enescu Philharmonic (Electrecord) Kord, Warsaw Phil (CD Accord) Menuhin, Sinfonia Varsovia (IMG) Maazel, Cleveland Orch (CBS; some issued singly, but not all) Polizzi, Budapest SO (Harmonia Mundi)

Regards, Eric Grunin

The Menuhins were available singly, at least in the UK. And may be still.

Paul Goldstein