The history of the musical partnership between Herbert Blomstedt and the Staatskapelle Dresden began over 50 years ago: in 1969 the conductor, who was born in the USA and grew up in Sweden, stood for the first time at the podium of the over 450-year-old Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. To date, over 500 concerts have been added. It shows Blomstedt’s great devotion and enthusiasm that he went behind the Iron Curtain in the middle of the Cold War and became chief conductor of the orchestra from 1975-1980. In addition to a Schubert cycle, he also recorded all the Beethoven symphonies for the GDR classical label ETERNA. As much as Blomstedt set great value upon the audio transparence of the orchestral fabric, he filled each of the nine Beethoven symphonies with life. After all, as he once described the main feature of these works, it is the music that wants to appeal to the listener. Hence, we are touched and swept along, flattered and captivated by Blomstedt and the Staatskapelle, with arcs of suspense and mood reaching from sublime to jagged, from grippingly impulsive to exquisitely beautiful and longingly cantabile. On the one hand, the musicians completely refrain from heavy romantic expressiveness in the process. On the other hand, the recordings lack that detached analytical “rationality” often found in radical readings and among the advocates of historical performance practice. For all his accuracy, Blomstedt’s Beethoven always possesses human traits, ranging from sensitive to friendly. A perspective that is not at all surprising for such a conductor. Although he has been ranking among the world’s first-class conductors since those Dresden years, he has preserved a warm-heartedness in his dealings with the orchestra setting him radically apart from many other colleagues behaving like despots. “To have governance over a hundred people, that was never my goal,” was a phrase summing up his musical self-conception early on. The tapes on this recording, whose recording sheets in the booklet give an insight into the internal processes behind the scenes, have been remastered natively in analogue to carefully reproduce the original sound of the tapes.

Beethoven: Complete Symphonies Staatskapelle Dresden & Herbert Blomstedt

Composer

Ludwig van Beethoven

Further information

Genre

Klassik - Instrumental

Publication date:

17.04.2020



The history of the musical partnership between Herbert Blomstedt and the Staatskapelle Dresden began over 50 years ago: in 1969 the conductor, who was born in the USA and grew up in Sweden, stood for the first time at the podium of the over 450-year-old Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. To date, over 500 concerts have been added. It shows Blomstedt's great devotion and enthusiasm that he went behind the Iron Curtain in the middle of the Cold War and became chief conductor of the orchestra from 1975-1980. In addition to a Schubert cycle, he also recorded all the Beethoven symphonies for the GDR classical label ETERNA. As much as Blomstedt set great value upon the audio transparence of the orchestral fabric, he filled each of the nine Beethoven symphonies with life. After all, as he once described the main feature of these works, it is the music that wants to appeal to the listener. Hence, we are touched and swept along, flattered and captivated by Blomstedt and the Staatskapelle, with arcs of suspense and mood reaching from sublime to jagged, from grippingly impulsive to exquisitely beautiful and longingly cantabile. On the one hand, the musicians completely refrain from heavy romantic expressiveness in the process. On the other hand, the recordings lack that detached analytical "rationality" often found in radical readings and among the advocates of historical performance practice. For all his accuracy, Blomstedt's Beethoven always possesses human traits, ranging from sensitive to friendly. A perspective that is not at all surprising for such a conductor. Although he has been ranking among the world's first-class conductors since those Dresden years, he has preserved a warm-heartedness in his dealings with the orchestra setting him radically apart from many other colleagues behaving like despots. "To have governance over a hundred people, that was never my goal," was a phrase summing up his musical self-conception early on. The tapes on this recording, whose recording sheets in the booklet give an insight into the internal processes behind the scenes, have been remastered natively in analogue to carefully reproduce the original sound of the tapes.

Tracklist - These are the tracks you will hear on the album

Beethoven: Complete Symphonies
Staatskapelle Dresden & Herbert Blomstedt
1 Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio (Remastered)
2 Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: II. Andante cantabile con moto (Remastered)
3 Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace (Remastered)
4 Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace (Remastered)
5 Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": I. Allegro con brio (Remastered)
6 Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": II. Marcia funèbre. Adagio assai (Remastered)
7 Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace (Remastered)
8 Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": IV. Finale. Allegro molto (Remastered)
9 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio (Remastered)
10 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: II. Larghetto (Remastered)
11 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: III. Scherzo - Allegro (Remastered)
12 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: IV. Allegro molto (Remastered)
13 Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: I. Adagio - Allegro vivace (Remastered)
14 Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: II. Adagio (Remastered)
15 Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: III. Allegro vivace (Remastered)
16 Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: IV. Allegro ma non troppo (Remastered)
17 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: I. Allegro con brio (Remastered)
18 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: II. Andante con moto (Remastered)
19 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: III. Allegro (Remastered)
20 Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: IV. Allegro - Presto (Remastered)
21 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": I. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande. Allegro man non troppo (Remastered)
22 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": II. Szene am Bach. Andante molto mosso (Remastered)
23 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": III. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute. Allegro (Remastered)
24 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": IV. Gewitter, Sturm. Allegro (Remastered)
25 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": V. Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm. Allegretto (Remastered)
26 Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: I. Poco sostenuto - Vivace (Remastered)
27 Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto (Remastered)
28 Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: III. Presto (Remastered)
29 Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: IV. Allegro con brio (Remastered)
30 Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: I. Allegro vivace e con brio (Remastered)
31 Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: II. Allegretto scherzando (Remastered)
32 Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: III. Tempo di menuetto (Remastered)
33 Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: IV. Allegro vivace (Remastered)
34 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso (Remastered)
35 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: II. Molto vivace (Remastered)
36 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: III. Adagio molto e cantabile (Remastered)
37 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125: IV. Presto (Remastered)

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