Word: beethovens
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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There are very few composers, if any, who can stand beside Handel in choral writing. After centuries of evolution, music for voices as a definite expressive element reached the apex of development in his works, a peak that never again has been reached. Later masters, such as Mozart and Beethoven, studied his writings sedulously in an effort to compose as tellingly for voices as he did; yet, in net effect, his works stand unrivalled...
...themselves, making them sing in sweeping comprehensive melodies and in intense close lines that make counterpoint quiver with life. Yet he had a perfect understanding of the capabilities and incapabilities of the singers, and never wrote beyond their capacities, so that the music never is unnatural or strained, as Beethoven so often is. Mozart, on the other hand, lacks Handel's great strength, though his delicate melodic line cannot be challenged...
...Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini conducting; Victor: eight sides). Most famed of living maestros gives the most famed of all symphonies a fiery performance. But the asbestos-lined acoustics of Radio City's broadcasting Studio 8-H, where it was recorded, make it sound somewhat brittle...
...only Toscanini was at fault; the recording was nowhere near the excellence of something like "La Mer" by Koussevitsky, also on this month's release. The base is shallow and distorted, and the highs are brittle and sharp-all of which is exceedingly destructive to Beethoven...
There are three other well-known versions of the Fifth: Koussevitsky (victor), Weingartner (Columbia), and Furtwaengler (Victor). The last two are the recognized experts in Beethoven-rendition. The Weingartner is well-read, albeit a little conservative but gives Beethoven itself a chance rather than garbing it in a cloak of false colors. The Furtwaengler is a truly magnificent recording, not as literal as the Weingartner, but with tremendous sweep and surge, and recorded beautifully, even though it was issued several years ago. The Furtwaengler is best, but all three are better than Maestro Toscanini's version which sound like...