Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Midnight
3. Fate
4. What Good This Deafness
5. Mephistopheles
6. What Is Eternal
7. Moment
8. Vienna
9. Mozart
10. Dreams of Candlelight
11. Requiem (The Fifth)
12. I'll Keep Your Secrets
13. Dark
14. Für Elise
15. After the Fall
16. Last Illusion
17. This Is Who You Are
18. Beethovan
19. Mephistopheles' Return
20. Misery
21. Who Is This Child
22. Final Dream

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2146 in Music
• Released on: 2000-04-11
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's first two recordings, a pair of late-'90s Christmas albums, hinted that some day TSO might evolve into a latter-day ELO or even an ELP. Instead, this overwrought concept album shares more common ground with ALW (Andrew Lloyd Webber) or Meat Loaf. TSO, in fact, aims to retrace a path once traveled by producer Jim Steinman, the mastermind behind the theatrical, over-the-top rock opuses that briefly transformed Mr. Loaf and Bonnie Tyler ("Total Eclipse of the Heart") into mass-audience favorites. TSO ringmaster Paul O'Neill (once a guitarist in Broadway productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair) here ditches the holiday themes and instead scores a simple-minded fairy tale (whose text spans a 32-page CD booklet) that involves Beethoven's soul, the devil, and an imaginary Symphony No. 10. Too often, the music is the servant of the project's thin plot, and the rock-classical instrumental bravura that initially attracted public attention to TSO (at times, the group sounds like a symphonic Boston) is obscured by overheated vocal rantings. Meanwhile, the guitar-driven rendering of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ("Requiem") is mundane. Yet, one vocal track, "After the Fall" with singer Patti Russo, jumps off the record as a Tyler-esque knockout, raging with emotion and melodic luster. It doesn't save the album, but it helps. --Terry Wood

Customer Reviews

Bombastic, but fantastic.
To my great relief, TSO returns to form (and better) with Beethoven's Last Night. Their 1998 release, The Christmas Attic, was enjoyable but a let-down: it seemed like a rehash of their first album instead of a new idea.

But Beethoven's Last Night is something else altogether. Across 22 tracks (73 minutes of music), TSO unfolds the harrowing story of Beethoven's last night on earth, including remembrances of his love and life, deals with the devil, and the saving grace of Fate. Like most of O'Neil's writing for TSO and Savatage, it's a tear-jerker and bound to leave you with a smile on your face.

The songwriting is volcanic, bombastic but widely varied; the pounding heavy metal that introduces Requiem (The Fifth) is interrupted by a ghostly children's choir, creating a goosebump-inducing shock. I got chills up my spine at least five times during the course of the album. The musical asides - little bits of the Moonlight Sonata and countless others by Beethoven and Mozart, polyharmonic choral sections, a children's choir (only very briefly, don't worry) -- make for a rich, multilayered repeat listen.

The vocal performances are stunning in their perfection. Beethoven sings like an operatic baritone, Theresa veers between rock siren and delicate soprano, Mephistopheles sneers and rasps, Twist (Fate's deformed son) mocks and leers, and in the end Fate sings us to sleep with a simple, beautiful lullaby.

Paul O'Neil's songwriting can be uneven -- you wince a bit when he rhymes "dismembered/remembered" and "minute/in it," and intros a song with an 80's-power-ballad drum fill -- but he hits much more often than he misses, and the music and vocals are good enough to gloss over the rough patches.

Who is the market for this album? A heavy metal fan with a weakness for musical theater. A classical music fan who likes Andrew Lloyd Weber and can stand an electric guitar or two. Someone who isn't put off by serious emotion and high drama. And someone with a good attention span -- the album demands to be listened to all the way through reading along in the (20+ page)liner notes, at least once. Think of it as the soundtrack to the best Broadway musical/rock opera that never was. If you like the genre, you'll love this.

Beethoven's Last Night
If you don't end up crying by the end of this album, you have no heart! This CD is simply amazing! I love rock operas and concept albums, whether they be done by Savatage (who are pretty much the same guys that are in Trans-Siberian Orchestra but with one (and sometimes two) singers) Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Queensryche, Iced Earth, or the many other bands who have caught on to the idea. This has got to be The Rock Opera of all rock operas! I don't really feel like taking the time to tell you all what it's about, so I'll just say that it's about Beethoven's Last Night! The band intigrates a lot of Beethoven's music into the album wonderfully, though most of the music is original. Paul O'Neill is an extremely gifted lyricist and his lyrics shine on this album. This album is extremely moving and intelligent (which most music today lacks). There are very slow, emotional songs and some more upbeat ones, but this is a pretty steady album and really needs to be listened to from start to finish without interuptions. Highlights are: Mephistopheles, What Is Eternal, The Moment, The Dreams of Candlelight, Requiem (the Fifth), I'll Keep Your Secrets (my personal favorite on the album), Who Is This Child, and A Final Dream. This album is loaded with emotion, intelligence, and extreme talent. If you're into rock operas, progressive rock, or just thought-provoking music in general, I highly recommend this!

Beethoven Would Be Proud
This has to be the best of my 350 CDs. This has almost a Broadway-esque sound to it. Yet the rock is not lost in the ballads and instrumentals. "What Is Eternal" "Vienna" and the other 20 tracks are among the best on the album. DO NOT PASS THIS ALBUM UP, YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPPOINTED. Jody Ashworth & Patti Russo (former Meat-Loaf vocalist) deserve 110% for their superior divine performances as Beethoven & Theresa on this album. Also, Jon Oliva portrays the devil (how fitting) and Guy Lemonnier plays a Young Beethoven. This album cobines the classical, unloosable genius of Beethoven & Mozart and the rough rock edge of the TSO. I take my hat off and lay in mud for Paul O'Neill & Robert Kinkell, who wrote all of the songs for this album. The music is unbelievable, the lyrics are powerful and emotional and the story is realistic enough to possibly be true. The TSO is definately the most gifted band ever to walk the face of the earth. sory Metallica, Beatles, and Led Zeppelin, but you've met your match. This album will remain a classic, I guarantee it.