Antonin Dvorak Symphonies Nos 7

With the Berliner Philharmoniker under Herbert von Karajan, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony resounds with melodic force, the Eighth is a masterful blend of grace and wit, and the Ninth - directed by Karajan himself - is a vital and explicitly dramatic reading of Beethoven's revolutionary work.

"Bernstein stamps his outsize personality on every bar and regularly has you convinced it is Mahler's own" (Gramophone). Leonard Bernstein, whose performances of the Seventh were instrumental in pushing the woek towards mainstream status, conducts it here with white-hot communicative power. When he prepared the huge "Symphony of a Thousand" with the Vienna Philharmonic for the 1975 Salzburg Festival there had been only one previous Austrian performance. The DVD encompasses the exultancy of the opening movement, Mahler's setting of the final scene from Goethe's Faust, Bernstein drives the music to the final redemptive blaze of glory.

In many ways Mahler’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are the most unusual works that the late Romantic composer ever wrote. The Seventh was the last in a series of middle-period pieces that were purely instrumental in character. Two movements headed “Nachtmusik“ (night music) and the remarkable writing for a guitar and a mandolin help to create a sequence of darkly Romantic visions. And even within Mahler’s markedly eclectic output, the Eighth Symphony enjoys the status of an exotic outsider thanks not only to its two-movement form combining an early medieval hymn and the final scene from Goethe’s Faust but also to the vast forces for which it is scored, earning it the title of “Symphony of a Thousand”.

In many ways Mahler’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are the most unusual works that the late Romantic composer ever wrote. The Seventh was the last in a series of middle-period pieces that were purely instrumental in character. Two movements headed “Nachtmusik“ (night music) and the remarkable writing for a guitar and a mandolin help to create a sequence of darkly Romantic visions. And even within Mahler’s markedly eclectic output, the Eighth Symphony enjoys the status of an exotic outsider thanks not only to its two-movement form combining an early medieval hymn and the final scene from Goethe’s Faust but also to the vast forces for which it is scored, earning it the title of “Symphony of a Thousand”.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 & No. 8
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich / David Zinman
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 263 MB | Full Artwork: 73 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Arte Nova # 74321 56341 2 | Germany 1998
Genre: Classical | Style: Classical Period

"…This set deserves the most enthusiastic recommendation which words can muster. It has few rivals even in the top price range. (…) Zinman is Beethoven: I can pay him no greater compliment." ~musicweb-international

William Schuman juggled many careers in his full and productive life: teacher, administrator, conductor and composer of ten symphonies and a significant representation of music in many genres. Dating from 1960 and 1976 respectively, Schuman’s Seventh and Tenth Symphonies were commissioned for and inspired by two anniversaries, the 75th season of the Boston Symphony and the bicentennial celebration of the United States. Given the composer’s long connection with the city of Boston and his important work in creating an American symphonic “sound”, these symphonies are emblematic of Schuman’s musical roots.

If any admirers of the great German late-modernist composer Hans Werner Henze missed the performances on these two discs when they were first released in 1992 and 1997, they should by all means try this EMI set. The first disc features Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performing Henze's magnificently tragic Barcarola and his dramatic Symphony No. 7. Rattle brings both manic energy and iron control to the music and the Birmingham musicians respond with the kind of expressive fervor usually reserved for Mahler or Bruckner. And the second disc …..

James Leonard @ AllMusic

Aleksandr Lazarevich Lokshin was a Russian composer of classical music. He was born on September 19, 1920, in the town of Biysk, in the Altai Region, Western Siberia, and died in Moscow on June 11, 1987. An admirer of Mahler and Alban Berg, he created his own musical language; he wrote eleven symphonies plus symphonic works including "Les Fleurs du Mal" (1939, on Baudelaire's poems), "Three Scenes from Goethe's Faust" (1973, 1980), the cantata "Mater Dolorosa" (1977, on verses from Akhmatova's "Requiem"), etc. Only his Symphony No.4 is purely instrumental; all other symphonies include vocal parts.

From Wikipedia

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 was completed in 1812 and conducted its premier on December 8, 1813 in the University of Vienna. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 is widely viewed as a symphony of dance, where as, Wagner described it as “the apotheosis of the dance.” Its highly enjoyable, haunting 2nd movement was often most encored.