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Goethe's play Egmont, a sort of Shakespearean historical drama spiced with subjective Romantic excess, attracted Beethoven, who wrote incidental music for it in 1809. The music has elements in common with that in the opera Fidelio, but Beethoven never struggled with the music in the same way, and the Egmont music is in some respects more assured. Nevertheless, recordings of the work have been sparse, probably because of the decline of the incidental music genre. The longtime recording of choice was made by George Szell and the Vienna Philharmonic with soprano Pilar Lorengar in the 1960s, but this well-engineered effort by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, gives it a run for its money, with modern sound. The score consists of a large overture that is often performed by itself, a concluding "Siegessymphonie" (Victory Symphony) reprising the overture; arias for Klärchen, the mistress of the doomed Flemish king Egmont; entr'acte pieces; spoken-word summaries reflecting Beethoven's intention to see the work performed on the concert stage; and finally a melodrama passage at the end in which the narrator describes Klärchen's suicide. The transition from this passage to the final Siegessymphonie anticipates late Beethoven, and de Billy perfectly captures its sense of tragedy evolving into conventional but transcendent music. Soprano Maria Bengtsson has presence and depth, and the orchestral set pieces are dynamic but not overdone.
© TiVo
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Egmont, Op. 84 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Tobias Moretti, Artist - Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer - Bertrand de Billy, Conductor - Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestra - Maria Bengtsson, Artist, MainArtist
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
Album review
Goethe's play Egmont, a sort of Shakespearean historical drama spiced with subjective Romantic excess, attracted Beethoven, who wrote incidental music for it in 1809. The music has elements in common with that in the opera Fidelio, but Beethoven never struggled with the music in the same way, and the Egmont music is in some respects more assured. Nevertheless, recordings of the work have been sparse, probably because of the decline of the incidental music genre. The longtime recording of choice was made by George Szell and the Vienna Philharmonic with soprano Pilar Lorengar in the 1960s, but this well-engineered effort by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, gives it a run for its money, with modern sound. The score consists of a large overture that is often performed by itself, a concluding "Siegessymphonie" (Victory Symphony) reprising the overture; arias for Klärchen, the mistress of the doomed Flemish king Egmont; entr'acte pieces; spoken-word summaries reflecting Beethoven's intention to see the work performed on the concert stage; and finally a melodrama passage at the end in which the narrator describes Klärchen's suicide. The transition from this passage to the final Siegessymphonie anticipates late Beethoven, and de Billy perfectly captures its sense of tragedy evolving into conventional but transcendent music. Soprano Maria Bengtsson has presence and depth, and the orchestral set pieces are dynamic but not overdone.
© TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 16 track(s)
- Total length: 00:46:27
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: Maria Bengtsson Tobias Moretti Radio Symphonieorchester Wien Bertrand de Billy
- Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
- Label: Oehms Classics
- Genre: Classical
(C) 2011 Oehms Classics (P) 2011 Oehms Classics
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