Collins Classics OFFICIAL - Beethoven (FULL ALBUM)
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- Symphony No.8: spoti.fi/1nxxIx6
Symphony No .7 in A maior, Op.92 0:00
Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 42:27
Conducted by Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos
Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra
Recorded at Waithamstow Town Hall (UK)
You will find bellow, a part of the english text that originally came with the CD. It gives the historical context of this symphony, an idea of the state of mind Beethoven was in at the time of the composition and some explanations of the track in itself.
Symphony No. 7 in A maior, op. 92
Completed in May, the Seventh Symphony was
first performed in public at a Vienna concert on
December 6, 1812, given in aid or the soldiers
wounded in the Battle of Hanau in the previous
October.
Beethoven conducted, in spite of the increasing
deafness which had hampered the rehearsals.
Although Beethoven's rather regrettable ‘Battle’
Symphony given at the same concert had an
even greater success, the Seventh made its
immediate mark: the Allegretto had to be given
twice, and the whole symphony had to be
repeated four days later
The symphony begins with a long introduction to
the first movement proper. Out of the initial
A major chord there merges the first theme of
the introduction, soon to be joined by the rising
scales of its pendant.
Having already touched on the remote key of
F major even before the appearance of these
scales, Beethoven ventures into C major for the
second theme of the introduction, a dolce strain
for the first oboe supported by other woodwind
containing the springing rhythmic germ which is
to inform the Vivace. A tattoo of Es leads into a
change from common-time to Six-eight for this
main body of the first movement with its
buoyant, dance-like first subject. Its repeat by
the full orchestra leads to the second subject
which, more conventionally than that of the
introduction, is in the dominant E major, but, like
it, is led by the oboe and supporting winds
before its immediate repetition by the strings.
After the double-bar, the development section is
based largely on elements of the first theme and
the salient rhythmic formula it shares with the
second.
The recapitulation is as long as the exposition,
but Beethoven re-presents his themes
differently; not only orchestral colour but mood
and manner are varied. The coda is remarkable:
a syncopated figure derived from the opening
theme engenders a mighty crescendo against a
dominant pedal point encompassing four
octaves before the feverish final bars. It was
Beethoven's junior contemporary, Weber, who
declared on hearing this passage: ‘Beethoven is
now ripe for the mad-house‘.
The famous Allegretto unfolds in A minor, and,
between the diminuendo woodwind chord which
opens, and closes it, hardly a bar is not informed
by the rhythmic pulse established at the outset
Soon a second melody emerges as a
countertheme to the first, and is repeated in an
orchestral tutti.
The key changes to the major for a woodwind
melody which the tirst violins entwine with
flowing triplets. But these tum to downward
scales to admit the initial theme in A minor, more
insistent than ever and giving rise to a fugato.
The return of the A major section is followed by
a coda in which the initial theme in the minor is
heard in antiphonal dialogue between various
instrumental groups before the final chord.
The Presto extends the normal pattern of a
scherzo based on a minuet in which two
repealed sections are followed by the two
repeated sections of a trio, and that by a return
to the first part, but without repeats He adds to
this pattern by repeating once again both the trio
section and the first pan. This begins and ends
in F major but also dailies in A major. The trio is
in D major, with a held and rarely relinquished A
providing a pedal point like a high drone The
coda is short and sharp" Beethoven‘s finale
releases even more energy than the ebullient
Presto.
The movement begins its furious course in A
major after a peremptory summons by two
dominant chords. Two well-contrasted themes in
the tonic are followed by a third theme in C
sharp minor, quieter but strongly pointed by its
dotted rhythm and misplaced accents. The
development explores keys as remote as a
hushed B flat major before a return of the initial
summons introduces a recapitulation crowned
by an overwhelming coda.